The best known file sync and share tools are the freebies and the cheapies, clearly not ready for business prime time. Would you trust your company’s data to SkyDrive and the free Google Docs? We thought not.
Fortunately there is now a bevy of enterprise and business grade file and sync tools that are reliable, safe and manageable.
Some of these tools come by way of partnerships where one provider has half the equation and the other holds the other part.
In other cases, one vendor goes it alone, which is what is happening with Intermedia’s new SecuriSync.
SecuriSync doesn’t break ground in terms of core features, as it offers the basic ability to store files and folders and have them synced between the cloud and mobile and PC devices in real-time. And these files can be shared with those to whom you grant permission. All old hat.
What Intermedia thinks is different is “strong control over sharing permissions, at-rest and in-transit encryption, remote wipe capabilities and a 99.999% SLA protects all user content,” the company said.
On the IT and MSP side, SecuriSync is designed to more manageable, management which is done through the HostPilot control panel. In many cases clients or partners are already using the control panel for other Intermedia services and have user information already, so they can just add the new file and sync services without much fuss.
Another plus is that SecuriSync, like other Intermedia services, can have users managed through Microsoft Active Directory. This should ease user provisioning as well grouping users and applying policies, passwords and permissions.
On the end user side the tool can offer up files through Microsoft Outlook and Office.
Meanwhile SecuriSync was built to work with the company’s Office in the Cloud site, which includes a hosted PBX, Microsoft Office and Microsoft Exchange.
Partner Angle
Intermedia sells through a variety of partners, including MSPs. Here partners can gray-label the services, where the partner branding and Intermedia branding are both represented.
“Billing, branding, bundling, pricing and every aspect of a customer's SecuriSync experience are controlled by the partner,” the company said.
This all pleases partner TWT Group. “We can, for the first time, respond positively to requests from our customers who are looking for a file sync and share solution we can deploy in their businesses,” said Shawn Freeman, an owner at TWT. “We deployed our gray-labeled SecuriSync solution very quickly, building on the organizational knowledge we already had. The customer appreciates the control and ease of management, while the increase in revenue from an added service helps us grow our business.”
File Sync and Share on Fire
File sharing and sync is a hot area as more and more users are more and more mobile and use more and more devices. And instead of loading all the PC and mobile devices with client software and having the file sync and share engine on an in-house server, it is far easier to plunk it all in the cloud. This is true for small shops, and just as true for enterprises who must meet the demands of hundreds or thousands of increasing mobile and multi-device end-users.
The file sync and share space is now big enough that Forrester Research follows it as a category, as it did in its recent “Forrester Wave: File Sync and Share Platforms, Q3 2013” report. “The explosive proliferation of powerful mobile devices has led to employee demand for
solutions that will allow seamless access to enterprise content from any device.
Solutions like Dropbox, originally developed for consumer usage, have barged into the enterprise, forcing IT to reconsider how to balance its portfolio against consumer demands,” Forrester wrote. “File sync and share is borne of two requirements: the need to sync files on all devices and share files with colleagues and partners. These two capabilities cover scenarios ranging from email attachment replacement to file system replacement, from casual partner collaboration to compliant workflow in regulated industries.”
Edited by
Ryan Sartor
