www.ciremagazine.com

COMMERCIALIN V ES T MEN T

The Magazine of the

Institute

September | October | 2010

Running

EmptyOn

Can offi ce investors rev up

for a recovery?

Working with

Receivers

Get the Cash Flowing

Building the

CCIM Brand

This article brought to you by Commercial

Investment Real Estate, the magazine of the

CCIM Institute.

To read the entire issue or fi nd out more about

the Institute, go to www.ciremagazine.com.

September | October | 2010

TechnologysoluTions

hhas your e-mail message ever bounced back because the file attachment was too large? At one time, a cD-RoM disk sent via carrier pigeon might have been the fastest way to circumvent this problem — especially if a file transfer protocol, or ftp, site wasn’t available. Fortunately, several Web sites now offer file-sharing ser-vices. Ranging from feature-laden project-collaboration platforms to simple file-hosting sites, they provide a more-efficient, effective way to share a variety of digital media.

Mik

e K

emp/

Pho

tolib

rary

tion information with my clients from start to finish,” he says. Lee recently sent marketing brochures, property pho-tos, videos, sales compa-rables, and other infor-mation for an Irvine, Calif., office transaction through DropBox. “It saves me time because I don’t have to create a Web site and organize it each time I add a file,” he explains.

Upping the time-saving ante, DropBox recently unveiled apps for iPhone, iPad, Android, and BlackBerry mobile devices. The apps allow users to sync photos and videos to their fold-ers, share links to files, and export files to other mobile applications.

DropBox’s free basic version provides 2 GB of

online storage. The Pro 50 version, which costs $9.99 per month, and the Pro 100 ver-sion, which costs $19.99 per month, offer 50 GB and 100 GB of storage respectively.

Client ComfortA cloud-computing platform “must be easy not only for the account owner to utilize but also for the client,” says Dave Lewand, owner of CreGrow, a commercial real estate marketing firm. Lewand’s projects include corporate Web sites and property brochures, which both require daily collaboration with clients. After researching a variety of plat-forms, Lewand chose Box.net because it lets his clients customize file and folder struc-tures so they can collaborate comfortably.

“Throughout the Web site development process, my client has real-time access and the ability to comment upon all creative work,” Lewand says. “And our communi-cation occurs within a protected environ-

by Rich Rosfelder

Commercial Investment Real Estate

Send in the CloudsDuring the last few years, cloud-computing platforms, which provide Internet-based storage and services including secure file sharing and syncing, have become indis-pensable to professionals in many collab-orative industries, including commercial real estate.

Most of these platforms offer the same basic features. Users can share files by giv-ing others access to a file folder via invita-tion. Invitees can view and modify files in

shared folders or add their own files to the folders, which are automatically backed up. In most cases, the folders also can be synced across multiple computers and operating systems, allowing users to access and mod-ify their files from almost any computer or mobile device.

An informal poll suggests that DropBox is the cloud of choice for many CCIM mem-bers, including Allan M. Lee, CCIM, senior associate with NAI Capital in Los Angeles. “I use DropBox to share complete transac-

Time to share?

September | October | 2010ciremagazine.com

ing up for a service that you might never use again.

Drop.io allows users to upload up to 100 MB fi les and create sharing points, or drops, with unique URLs at no cost. Guests can use the links to download or modify fi les.

But don’t start uploading top-secret fi les

ment” that users can access on desktop computers and mobile devices, he adds.

Like DropBox, Box.net off ers a free basic version, which provides 1 GB of storage and has a 25 MB fi le-size limit. Additional stor-age space is available with the Individual and Business versions, which cost $9.95 per month and $15 per user per month respec-tively. Box.net’s Enterprise version provides unlimited storage and custom integration with several applications and Salesforce.com. Contact Box.net for additional cost information.

Simpler Sharing Cloud-computing platforms are useful when collaborating with a team or regu-larly sharing fi les. But when a large fi le needs to be transmitted quickly, there’s oft en no reason to spend extra time sign-

willy-nilly: Th ough drops can be cus-tomized to include a password, expi-ration date, and guest permissions, fi le encryption only is available with Drop.io Manager, which off ers paid subscription plans that include addi-tional features and storage space.

Senduit, another free fi le-sharing service, has an even simpler inter-face. Aft er selecting a fi le, users are prompted to choose an expiration time — from 30 minutes to one week.

Senduit then provides a private link to the fi le that can be e-mailed to whomever users care to share with.

But this time, the e-mail won’t bounce back.

Rich Rosfelder is associate editor of Commer-cial Investment Real Estate.

Box.net: www.box.netDrop.io: www.drop.ioDropBox: www.dropbox.comSenduit: www.senduit.comSpiderOak: www.spideroak.comYouSendIt: www.yousendit.com

WheRe cAn you shARe?