Egnyte, the file-sharing, file-storage, not to mention backup hybrid cloud for business, is integrating with third-party public cloud storage starting with the ever-popular - and increasingly cheap - Amazon S3, Google Cloud Storage, Microsoft Azure and NetApp StorageGrid so its EgnytePlus users can access and share their files in the ether.

The company thinks it's the first integration of its kind.

EgnytePlus combines Egnyte's own cloud storage with the user experience and performance of local storage.

The company reckons that the promise of the cloud to deliver competitively priced utility-like service has been unrealized when it comes to SaaS solutions. But since Amazon, Google and Microsoft slashed their cloud storage prices 25%-30% just in the last quarter, this "race to the bottom" signals a commodity market that enterprises have to leverage.

Egnyte's new widgetry will let customers contemplating or already operating in a heterogeneous storage environment take advantage of these new cloud economies.

By integrating a third-party cloud storage provider, they can extend their existing data storage infrastructure to the public cloud, while still maintaining seamless access for employees, contractors and clients.

Egnyte CEO Vineet Jain says the "cloud is not enough. There's a lot of hype about what a cloud can do, but the fact is you can't really beat the speed and security of local access for file sharing. The cloud, on the other hand, offers data mobility or accessibility despite bandwidth limitations, governance issues and outages."

He figures business need a choice of local storage or type of cloud and - since all files aren't the same - they need to control what files live where. "It's a fact that the overwhelming majority of Fortune 500 companies use multiple on-premise storage vendors and at least one cloud storage provider."

So the way he sees it, "Egnyte has the only file-sharing solution available to give enterprises choice and control across their diverse storage environments."

Egnyte's file-sharing infrastructure is optimized for heterogeneous environments and built on a three-tier platform consisting of a sharing tier, a replication tier and an archive tier. Each tier lets Egnyte optimize how data is handled. By integrating third-party cloud storage vendors, Egnyte's sharing tier lets the file structure of data stored in third-party clouds become visible to Egnyte users without fully replicating the data.

IT's user permissions are respected, while giving end users mobility.

To take advantage of third-party storage, Egnyte says it's a minimum 500-seat deal, and it begins with a minimum 10% discount that could rise depending on the size of the deal.

Egnyte's Cloud, which replaces traditional, pricey and complicated VPN and FTP solutions as well as file servers and tape backup, is aware of any transaction, creating a single global namespace for NAS devices and third-party cloud storage providers behind the firewall.

Businesses share over a billion files every day using Egnyte technology. Founded in 2007, the company is backed by $33 million from Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins, Floodgate Fund and Polaris Venture Partners. Google has poured enough money into the joint to rate a board seat.

Egnyte has three data centers, two on either coast in the US and one in Amsterdam.