SpiderOak streamlines its enterprise secure-cloud pricing to $5 per user

Cloud storage provider SpiderOak has simplified the pricing of its enterprise service, updated its management console and introduced a mobile app for Android and iOS.

Enterprises will now pay $5 per user, per month, no matter how many devices those users have or how much data they store. That's intended to be cheaper in most cases than the company's previous rates, which began at $600 per month for 1TB of cloud capacity for a minimum of 100 users. But the company also wants to make its service easier to buy.

"We took out all of the unknowns and made it very easy for companies to establish budgets for this product," CEO Ethan Oberman said. While the previous pricing made sense to IT departments because it was based on usage, business managers didn't like the fact that their outlay could change from month to month.

SpiderOak provides cloud-based storage, synchronization and sharing of data, with encryption from end to end. The company doesn't have the keys to decrypt its customers' files, so its data centers only have encrypted data, adding another layer of protection, Oberman said. The keys are managed by virtual machines behind the enterprise's firewall.

Prices for the consumer version of SpiderOak remain the same. The company offers 2GB of cloud storage free and 100GB for $10 per month, or $100 per year if billed annually.

Also on Wednesday, the company introduced a new mobile app specifically designed for enterprises, which is available now on the Google Play and Apple iTunes stores. Up until now, enterprises have used the same app SpiderOak provides to consumers. The new software is easier for companies to customize for their configurations, such as storing data in a private cloud instead of in SpiderOak's infrastructure, Oberman said. Soon, the mobile app will also include additional features such as remote wiping of data from a device, the company said.

SpiderOak also redesigned and updated its enterprise management console. Among the new features in SpiderOak Blue Enterprise Management Console 2.0 is the ability to add new users directly through the console instead of using SpiderOak's usual method of going through enterprise directories such as LDAP and Active Directory. This can be useful for giving contractors or temporary employees access to SpiderOak, Oberman said. The new console is available now.

Stephen Lawson covers mobile, storage and networking technologies for The IDG News Service. Follow Stephen on Twitter at @sdlawsonmedia. Stephen's e-mail address is stephen_lawson@idg.com