Enterprise cloud storage biz Egnyte gets closer to Google with Drive integration

Enterprise cloud storage startup Egnyte already has ties to Google thanks to Google Ventures contributing to its third round of funding. Its offices are also right next to the Google campus in Mountain View, Calif.

But now Egnyte is getting closer to Google with its just-announced integration with Google Drive, Google’s consumer and business cloud storage product.

The latest version of Egnyte supports Google Drive access from Egnyte folders. This adds more enterprise-friendly functionality to Drive, including the ability to share files externally without needing a Google account, more security, and real-time auditing.

“This marries the features people want in Google Drive like collaborative editing to the experience you get with Egnyte,” Egnyte CEO Vineet Jain told VentureBeat. “We’re giving you the power of Google Drive, which is fully based in the cloud, on-premise.”

Egnyte even lets you place Google Drive and Microsoft Office files side by side inside folders and can automatically open the corresponding program for each file, creating a more seamless approach.

It makes sense for Egnyte to get closer to Google because having the search giant on its side will help it fight Box, its biggest rival. While Jain wouldn’t go into specifics, he did at least say he was interested in working with Google on further projects.

Egnyte was founded in 2007 and has raised $32 million in funding from Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Polaris Venture Partners, and Floodgate Fund.