Major Update for FTP-Stream

Posted on January 16, 2012 by Antony Freeman| 1 Comment

Advance look at FTP-Stream Version 3

Current FTP-Stream customers will know that we are working hard on FTP-Stream version 3. Actually more than an update, it’s a complete ground up rewrite a fresh streamlined management and file transfer interface.

Responding to customer requests and building on our core USPs, there’s plenty of new functionality enhancing: security, accountability, branding and ownership, global acceleration and support for file transfer protocols beyond the limits web browser such as FTP and SFTP.

Multiple Global Access Points

FTP-Stream is available at New York, Hong Kong and London. We’re now building out our points of presence and will add around a dozen in 2012. The first two in Mainland China are already up and running,  and will soon be followed by: Dubai, Sydney, US West Coast and Tokyo. Each will have accelerated connectivity to our core network enhancing our “always local, always fast” offer.

FTP(S) and SFTP Support

Whereas many competitive services work over the Web only, our strength is support for the three major file transfer methods (HTTP, SFTP and FTP including FTPS). However so far some of advanced functions like folder sharing have been restricted to the Web interface. Folder sharing and permissions will be hugely flexible in V3 with identical functionality across all protocols.

Security and Access Controls

Two frequent requests will be included – restrictions by IP and two factor authentication.

Previews

V3 will offer previews of all ‘viewable’ file types, that includes all image formats, Office documents, PDFs, and audio files.

File and Folder History and Search

Comprehensive logging and reporting is vital for accountability and compliance. This will be greatly enhanced in V3 including instantly available history for every file and folder. Furthermore, using this data users will be able to filter file and and folder listings using a wide range of criteria including user applied tags.

Open API

We’ll release an open API for developers and system integrators to build managed file transfer into third party applications.

Management Interface

At last we’ll combine the administration panel with Web file management, and of course introduce a long list of usability improvements.

Desktop App

A comprehensive desktop app for Mac and Windows providing full management and file transfer functionality.

Schedule

We’ve frozen development on the current version to concentrate on V3 – tentatively scheduled for release late July 2012.

If there’s something on your wishlist please mail me antony@maytech.net, we’d love to hear from you.

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Which file transfer service is best for my business?

Posted on January 13, 2012 by John Lynch| Leave a comment
There are many different file transfer services and the one that suits you best depends very much on what you need to do. For example if you simply need to send a few files occasionally that are too big for email the service you need is very different from the service you need if you want to impose a central file sharing policy for your department or organisation.

Often, simple files sharing by many departments can ultimately turn into a requirement for a central policy as the need for accountability, control and enhanced security arises, so scalability is often good to consider at the outset.

With the above in mind, and presuming secure file transfer is a must, in most cases you’ll also need to consider how you want your staff and customers or partners to send and receive data – over the web, via  FTP or secure FTP or a mix of all three.

Many companies are still using FTP so flexibility in the method used should be a consideration too. Many solutions market themselves as replacements for FTP but FTP is reliable, will be around for a long time to come and is also secure if you use SFTP. Flexibility in access method is important.

Here are some file transfer services to consider.

On Premise solutions
Microsoft Sharepoint – a sophisticated online collaboration tool but mostly used within the enterprise due to security considerations.

In-house FTP server software such as IPSwitch or CuteFTP server for installation on corporate servers providing controlled external access to files and folders on the LAN. This is generally a license model and makes use of local internet up-links and require ongoing server and firewall administration.

Dedicated file transfer solutions such as Aspera and FileCatalyst offer proprietary managed file transfer. By exploiting the UDP protocol such solutions claim faster transfer speeds especially over long links. Dedicated client software is needed on every point to transfer files.

Cloud solutions
Instant or casual, consumer origin file sharing – two well known examples Dropbox and YouSendIt, offer low initial costs and little investment in setup and are easy to use. They are turning their attention to business use in recent time. Files are transferred on a ubiquitous platform which is a consideration where corporate identity is an important factor and they often require users to register in order to download files. There can also be limits to file sizes too.

Solutions geared towards business to business file exchange include Sharefile, FTP-Stream or Egnyte. All have relevant business features. Some offer good branding potential with FTP-Stream offering complete ownership of your identity such that it is often perceived as an extension to the corporate website.

Also Box.net – now Box.com is a sophisticated service but principally tuned to online collaboration as opposed to heavy duty external file transfer. If your business is global ensure that the service has a global network and check the file size limits as well as the access method it supports.

We’d love to hear any comments or experiences on the services outlined in this post and if you would like a free consultation about your file transfer requirements get in touch with us us here.

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Cloud managed file transfer checklist

Posted on December 19, 2011 by John Lynch| 2 Comments
When it comes to organizations and businesses updating their FTP systems most are moving towards managed file transfer solutions. There are many considerations when choosing a suitable solution for your business. Do we want an in house FTP Server software solution for installation on our corporate servers, a dedicated file transfer solution requiring dedicated client software to transfer files, or do we look to the cloud?Recent clarification of what exactly defines “cloud computing”  by NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology – U.S. Department of Commerce) in September 2011, is much welcomed and really helps to define what exactly the “cloud” element of a managed file transfer solution means. NIST define cloud computing as:

                  “A model for enabling ubiquitous, convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurable computing resources (e.g., networks, servers, storage, applications, and services) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimal management effort or service provider interaction.”In summary this definition lists five essential characteristics of cloud computing:

  • On-demand self-service  - buy anytime and ability to provision yourself.
  • Broad network access  - capabilities are available over the network and accessed through client platforms  e.g. laptops, workstations, mobile phones and tablets.
  • Resource pooling – the provider’s computing resources are pooled to serve  multiple consumers using a multi-tenant model. Customer generally has no control or knowledge over the exact location of the provided resources but may be able to specify location at a higher level of abstraction (e.g., country, state, or datacenter).
  • Rapid elasticity or expansion – highly scalable.
  • Measured service –  automatically controls resource use which can be monitored, controlled and reported providing transparency.

These 5 characteristics provide a useful checklist or benchmark when initially considering large file transfer solutions and will aid understanding of what a real cloud offer is. We’ll look at each of the file transfer options in more detail in a later post.

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Is encryption at rest just tickbox security?

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Antony Freeman| Leave a comment

Acronyms fly, great claims are made, a fog of misleading statements clouds a true understanding of security provided by Cloud Managed File Transfer vendors.

FTP service providers trumpet expressions such as ‘AES-256 at rest encryption’, sounds impressive but what does it mean in practice and what’s the true value of on-disk encryption?

OK so you’re carrying around a USB stick with the nation’s secrets or FedExing a drive loaded with healthcare records – two scenarios where encryption is both effective and vital. The decrypt key is recorded or communicated separately from the encrypted media which if compromised yields unreadable data.

Take another scenario – a cloud file sharing provider boasts on-disk encryption, sounds good, but bear in mind that before files are downloaded they must be decrypted, to decrypt you need the key, the key will be stored proximate to the encrypted drive. Which of course means that a hacker who has penetrated the system, or a malicious insider can read files just as if they were never encrypted.

For this exact reason, according to Information Week, popular online storage provider Dropbox, who proudly proclaim AES-256 encryption, was forced to modify its claim from:

“Dropbox employees aren’t able to access user files…”

and now:

“we have strict access controls that prohibit employee access to user data.”

So where does Maytech stand on this with its FTP and SFTP hosting service? Well firstly we believe that security is more about continuous examination of all our facilities, procedures and code, and since retired media never leaves our tier 3 data centers alive, we say that on-disk encryption adds little significant benefit. However, this technology has entered several public standards and is increasingly requested by customers — sometimes you have to go with the flow… So yes OK we’ll tick that box and will be rolling out on-disk encryption for all our services in Q1 2012.

Much more interesting and relevant to secure cloud file sharing is end-to-end encryption, and I’ll come to that topic in a future blog

If you think technology can solve your security problems, then you don’t understand the problems and you don’t understand the technology. — Bruce Schneier

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Large file transfer to China – reliability is key

Posted on December 1, 2011 by admin| Leave a comment

Large file transfer to China over the public Internet is often slow and unreliable. People often contact us looking for help. They’re fustrated with the unreliable exchange and the length of time downloads can take in China. Often their executives can be waiting four or five hours for a 750MB downloads to complete. Not a great use of time when you are waiting for that all important file to present to customers.

Latency and congestion at the international gateway leads to slow data rates and broken transfers. However if you’re a business running on a tight schedule you need a reliable and fast method of electronic file exchange to ensure that you are in control of the delivery of your files.

The days of sending a DVD by air really do seem a little old fashioned now. In today’s world of immediacy your HD movies, complex CAD files or 3D visualizations need to be delivered as soon as possible without question. We don’t like to play the waiting game anymore and in fact don’t need to.

There are plenty of services out there that will get your files from A to B but not always from A to C. “C” being China.

FTP-Stream China utilizes an uncongested fiber network with interconnected data centers in U.S., Europe, and Hong Kong. Following a substantial investment in additional capacity and link optimization – we’re now moving large files to China at an unprecedented 100 Mb/s.

Organizations can setup fast and dependable work flows with partners in China and SE Asia region. Slow and broken large file transfers are now a thing of the past.

If your organization needs to transfer data to or from China please let us know what your experience is.

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