US internet companies look to the cloud Two US consumer internet companies have announced new services that could push cloud computing deeper into the everyday lives of millions of workers, changing the way they juggle work between multiple devices or interact with other workers. Dropbox, the cloud storage company that claims 200m individual users, revealed a new service to make it easier to access and share work information from different devices. Meanwhile, Amazon.com showed off a "virtual desktop" service that would simulate a Windows PC on a range of other devices, including personal iPads or laptops. Both companies are "instrumental in the move from device-centric growth to services-centric growth" that is transforming how work is done, said Frank Gillett, an analyst at Forrester Research. For Dropbox, the move represents a second push into the profitable business market. The San Francisco-based company began selling to businesses earlier this year but has been hampered because its users can only have one Dropbox "identity" on any of their devices, making it impossible to use both personal and corporate accounts. "It was one of the significant flaws in their architecture," Mr Gillett said. Under an overhaul of the service launched on Wednesday, personal and corporate accounts will be linked through a single sign-on and interface, making it easier for users to switch between the two and choose whether to store information under their personal or work profiles. IT departments will be able to control sensitive corporate information that their workers store and access from their mobile devices - for instance, by limiting who it can be shared with outside the company - without infringing on a user's personal files, the company said. Dropbox has added roughly 100m users over the past year, double the number of additions seen the year before, making it one of the fastest growing consumer internet companies. It has also become one of the leading companies in the "consumerisation" of IT, as individuals use services from their personal lives at work, eventually prompting their employers to adopt the technologies more formally. Thanks to the viral way in which its service is adopted, Dropbox has the chance to build a far more profitable presence in the business market than other "software-as-a-service" companies, said Drew Houston, chief executive officer. "A business that you don't have to spend 50 per cent of your revenue on sales and marketing on - that's a wonderful opportunity for our investors," he said. By contrast, Box, a similar cloud storage and syncing service aimed at business users, has taken a more traditional sales approach, adding to its need for extra finance as it expands. "The nature of the landscape is not going to lead to a single winner," said Aaron Levie, chief executive of Box, who said his company was targeting larger businesses than those likely to adopt Dropbox. "We're in a good cash position right now but we're growing very aggressively," Mr Levie added. Box, which has about 900 workers compared with 400 at Dropbox, is about to embark on significant international expansion, according to its chief executive. He would not comment on reports that Box had already hired advisers to help with a stock market listing, but said it had "operationalised the key business aspects you'd need as a public company" in preparation. Amazon's move into the virtual desktop market, meanwhile, points to an older approach to adapting technology for a more mobile workforce. The idea predates the smartphones and tablets on which many workers now rely. Shares in Citrix, the software company that had been a leader in this market, slipped by nearly 5 per cent on the news. The move is set to open a new front in the rivalry between some of the leading technology groups, with Microsoft likely to follow Amazon by producing its own "virtual" PCs, said David Johnson, an analyst at Forrester. The Amazon service does not run the most recent versions of Windows or Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser, limiting its attraction to the businesses it is aimed at. However, "it opens up devices to Amazon getting a foothold," said Mr Johnson. Eventually, the company could develop services tailored for particular types of workers, or those in different industries, he added.