The IBOC concept is of course not new, it is a rehash of ideas that we visit over and over again in information networks. It does however encapsulate some of those ideas nicely and provides a coherent metaphor from which to work. By comparing it with other similar concepts issues can be highlighted.

Jon Udell wrote about a his idea for a "hosted lifebits" service. He'd be "willing to pay for the service of consolidating all this stuff, syndicating it to wherever it’s needed, and guaranteeing its availability throughout — and indeed beyond — my lifetime." In his scenarios that "stuff" amounts to pretty much the entire breadth of his digital creations, be they blog posts or medical records. Jon's emphasis appears to be on permanence: the services would come with guarantees that data will persist. In contrast, while permanence could be provided, with an IBOC there is an equal or larger focus on the capabilities provided by using content by reference.

Vendor Relationship Management, notably Project VRM created by Doc Searls, has many of the same goals as an IBOC: Individual control over the distribution, use and reuse of personal information and content mediated through software tools. However, VRM is primarly concerned with economic relationships whereas an IBOC is more concerned with social and educational relationships (as mediated through content).

Dropbox with its "[a]lways have your stuff, wherever you are" tagline is helping to popularize some aspects of the IBOC concept: One place to put all your stuff and sharing ~URIs instead of files when you want to share with friends or colleagues. As yet no highly visible presentation services which operate with Dropbox URIs have shown up.

Locker "is an open source project that helps me collect all of my personal data, from wherever it is, into one place, and then lets me do really awesome stuff with it." That "awesome stuff" includes sending data to other services and synchronizing with its original source. This could indeed be awesome but is a few steps shy of the IBOC model because full datasets, not URIs, are being transferred. It also preserves the idea that the services are the natural home for pieces of content, rather than being solely for presentation.

The Mine! Project has very similar goals to an IBOC with an emphasis on using cryptographic techniques to ensure that URIs and content are not exposed to unwanted parties and access is strictly trackable and quickly revocable. The IBOC concept is more immediately concerned with maximizing distribution while maintaining good but not strict control.