Excuse Me!
Managed File Transfer (MFT) ever heard of it? Well until just the other day neither had I, but apparently since the late 1990’s this little niche of an industry has been growing steadily to meet the demands of those of us who wish to exchange large amounts of data on a regular basis. And when you stop and think about it, it’s not surprising that this has happened. Nearly all of us exchange files of one kind or another every week, it’s just that some of us do it on a more industrial scale (think of those running databases and sharing info between one or more business units).
These folk are almost always going to need more than just a good FTP file storage and exchange site.
First and foremost they are going to want to know that the channel used to carry the transferred data is secure. For those that are really concerned about security that will mean the target file being encrypted not only whilst being transferred but also while it is at rest on whatever server it is stored.
Coming close on the heals of this requirement is the ability to have the transfer made not just person to person but also the possibility of transferring between person and process/application, or process/application to person and even process/application to process/application. This will allow the accommodation of automating the exchange, which in turn may require the integration of third party products such as content and anti-virus scanners.
Managing these exchanges is also extremely important to the corporate user, since keeping control of their data is paramount when considering the potential cost of a data loss or breach. The ability to refer to an audit trail of what was shared with whom is almost as important as preventing the unauthorised access to the data in the first place.
These folk are almost always going to need more than just a good FTP file storage and exchange site.
Professional Needs
What these professional guys require is a whole raft of additional features that go beyond just the ability to transfer a file form one person to another.First and foremost they are going to want to know that the channel used to carry the transferred data is secure. For those that are really concerned about security that will mean the target file being encrypted not only whilst being transferred but also while it is at rest on whatever server it is stored.
Coming close on the heals of this requirement is the ability to have the transfer made not just person to person but also the possibility of transferring between person and process/application, or process/application to person and even process/application to process/application. This will allow the accommodation of automating the exchange, which in turn may require the integration of third party products such as content and anti-virus scanners.
Managing these exchanges is also extremely important to the corporate user, since keeping control of their data is paramount when considering the potential cost of a data loss or breach. The ability to refer to an audit trail of what was shared with whom is almost as important as preventing the unauthorised access to the data in the first place.