Box is rolling out new tools that will allow developers to build into the cloud-storage company's enterprise applications.
Box CEO Aaron Levie introduced the tools, called Box View and Metadata, during his keynote presentation at the Box Developers Conference in San Francisco Wednesday.
"We have an all-new enhanced way to add context to your content, the ability to build really rich applications that go well beyond typical file servers and file-sharing," Levie said. "We want to enable you to build applications that take advantage of far more of the toolkit of Box that we're now building out."
With Box View, the company has created a new way to view and embed documents on the web and mobile. Box View takes PDFs, Microsoft Office and other types of document files, and converts them into an HTML version that can be easily opened and viewed on mobile or web.
Developers will be able to use Box View to build customized document viewers for the web or mobile.
"While Box View works great with content stored in Box, you can use it with content stored anywhere — any apps, any device," said Ryan Damico, Box's director of platform. "We've taken this complex technology, and really tried to hard to make it available in a simple-to-use package for developers."
Levie added that the company is opening up Metadata, a tool that allows customizable data to be added to files stored in Box, to all developers. The addition of Metadata lets users add an extra contextual layer of information to their files. Metadata is also being integrated into Box's software development kits for iOS, Android and Windows Phone 8 developers.
Levie did not mention Box's recently announced $250-million initial public offering during his time on stage, although he did speak at length about the company's success with developers, and emphasized that Box was well-positioned, going forward.
"We're at the center of the greatest shift in business that has ever occurred," he said. "Every job is becoming software-enabled, every industry is becoming digitized."
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