One of the players, SugarSync (RWW review here), today announced a development that further blurs the lines between synchronisation and collaboration services. With SugarSync's new functionality users can send any file from their desktop, web or mobile SugarSync application, regardless of the size of the file or number of recipients.

Once recipients have started downloading the files, the sender receives a notification advising them of the fact. SugarSync also time limits the email to 1 day to further enhance security.

Why this changes the synchronisation game

Previously synchronisation services were primarily about multiple device access and backup. LiveMesh has promised collaboration but this has been Windows-centric. SugarSync solution is cross-platform and as such heralds something of a game-change.

SugarSync in action

I've been using SugarSync for around six months now to back-up and sync files between multiple machines and the web. My experience has been exactly what one would hope for with a service like this - seamless and silent. SugarSync works in the background and keeps everything beautifully up to date. Every now and then I find myself taking a peek to make sure that the product has done what it's meant to and, as yet, I haven't been let down.

The changes rolled out today give SugarSync a point of difference over some of the other sync providers, while taking a large step into the domain of the collaboration solution providers.

A guest post by Ben Kepes of diversity.net.nz, a blog that focuses on SaaS, cloud-computing and Web 2.0 for the real world

The service, which offers a free 45 day trial, costs $49.99/year for 10GB of storage with plans running up to $249.99/year. The company is running a special 50% off the first year promotion, but 200 ReadWriteWeb readers can have the promotional price extended to two years by clicking this link.

SugarSync provides both a PC and Mac client, as well as mobile clients for the Blackberry and Windows Mobile and a browser-based application.

How Does It Perform?

SugarSync is the product of nearly four years of work by the crew at Sharpcast, and the result is quite nice. It's an easy to use system that can free your data from a single, physical location. It has some nice features, such as the ability to share photos with friends, or the ability to lock certain versions of files online so that even if they're updated locally you still have a backup of the original. It also has some things we wish it did better, such as automatic file versioning, which is absent in this release.

In January, we said that Sharpcast reminded us of Feedburner, "in that it wants to become the leading platform for a new type of media service that only came into being in the Internet age." In Feedburner's case that service was RSS, whereas for Sharpcast that technology is file syncing.

Unlike Feedburner, though, SugarSync is entering a slightly more crowded space. They face competition from BeInSync, Windows Live FolderShare, and the currently in beta Y Combinator startup Dropbox. Even so, SugarSync comes to the table with a very nice product that is super easy to use and quite polished (it should be after 4 years!), so we still expect that our earlier prediction that it could be a future acquisition target to hold true.

Have you tried SugarSync? What about any of its competitors? Which do you like better? Let us know in the comments below.

Note: An earlier version of this article erroneously stated that SugarSync costs $49.99 per month for the 10GB package. That is incorrect. $49.99 is the yearly price at that storage level.