Egnyte Blog

Egnyte in the News

2010-09-08T08:25:00.000-07:00

"HP and Dell Keep Bidding, But 3PAR Is Not the Only Cloud Storage Option"

By Tony Bradley, PC World

August 30, 2010

Two weeks ago most of the world had never heard of 3PAR. Now, it has been the center of tech headlines and doubled in value thanks to a bidding frenzy between Dell and HP. HP appears to have the edge right now, but the good news for whichever tech giant ultimately loses the battle for 3PAR is that there are other virtualized storage providers out there.

The leapfrogging bids, and billion dollar spike in value make it seem that the very future of Dell and HP are at stake in the struggle to acquire 3PAR. 3PAR would expand the services offerings for either company -- enabling more diversification from the waning server and desktop hardware sales revenue, and providing a cloud-based storage offering that is appealing to many business customers.

Both HP and Dell need to focus on the goal, though. At some point, the skyrocketing bids for 3PAR represent a burning desire to beat the rival company and "win 3PAR" more than a strategic investment. The fact is that there are other virtual and cloud storage providers out there, and some of them can be snapped up for far less than $2 billion.

I spoke last week with Vineet Jain, CEO of Egnyte. Egnyte is a small Silicon Valley-based company launched in 2006 that has some innovative cloud storage solutions of its own.

At the VMWorld conference today, Egnyte is introducing ELC--Enterprise Local Cloud. Egnyte ELC can be deployed as a virtual applicance on any VMware Virtual Machine (VM), allowing organizations to deploy a hybrid cloud storage solution on existing infrastructure and enable cloud data to be accessed at local network speeds.

Jain describes the advantages of Egnyte ELC. "Egnyte's Enterprise Local Cloud gives organizations the ability to provide their users with fast, reliable access to documents while they're on the road, in a branch office, or working from home--without dramatically re-engineering the entire storage environment. Earlier large organizations were locked into big iron deployments. Now they can leverage virtualization to achieve low-cost file serving and cross-office collaboration."

Egnyte's hybrid cloud technology combines the accessibility and flexibility of cloud storage with the robust performance offered by local storage. Rob Enderle, President and Principal Analyest at the Enderle Group explains "Hybrid cloud technology is at the intersection of two major trends in the IT industry: virtualization and cloud computing," adding "What this integration means is that large organizations can finally deploy cloud storage solutions that give their users ubiquitous access to documents and information without giving up the reliability, availability, and robustness of local storage."

Virtualization and cloud storage are both hot technologies, and will be crucial elements of providing solutions and services for organizations like HP and Dell. But, 3PAR isn't the only game in town, and Egnyte is just one example of the diamonds available in the 3PAR rough.

Egnyte Enterprise Local Cloud Available on VMware

2010-09-07T08:19:00.000-07:00

Last week we had an exciting announcement to make. Our Enterprise Local Cloud (ELC) solution is now available as a virtual applicance on any VMware Virtual Machine. The Enterprise Local Cloud (ELC) is deployed on any existing Windows or Linux hardware of your choice. It is a virtual applicance that runs on VMware and can leverage any existing storage - direct attached, NAS, or SAN.

A Local Cloud is an always-available local copy of your files on the Egnyte Cloud File Server. It provides off-line access to your business files and LAN like speeds in editing files. Using bi-directional sync, it ensures that your users have access to the latest version of the file, wherever they are.

Central Administration

User management and file access controls are applied and automatically maintained across the Local Cloud and the Cloud File Server. Optionally, you can use existing directory services like ADS or LDAP for user management.

Off-Line Access

The Local Cloud provides you with off-line access to your files. If your internet connection is not available, you can directly access the files on the Local Cloud. When the internet connectivity is restored, the Local cloud bi-directionally synchronizes the changed files to the Cloud File Server.

Faster Access to Large Files

Certain application files can be large, for example photoshop files or CAD drawings. Accessing them locally is much faster than accessing them over the internet. Not only does the Local Cloud allow you to edit these files at LAN speeds, it also synchronizes the changes to the Cloud File Server. You need not maintain versions of files, since Egnyte automatically creates versions.

We hope with our different Local Cloud solutions designed for small to large companies, you can truly leverage the power of the Cloud. If you have any feedback or questions, please leave a comment here or post to the forums on our support page.

Egnyte in the News

2010-09-01T08:48:00.001-07:00

"Cloud Storage Lives Up to the Hype" Business Week

Friday, August 27, 2010

In our continuing series of groundbreaking tests of cloud computing services, we take a look at what enterprises can expect if they decide to entrust data to a cloud storage provider.

We found that cloud storage lives up to its advance billing in two key areas: cloud storage can be fast and the pay-as-you-go model can be a real cost saver. We also found that security could be an issue for enterprise shops, and the formulas for trying to predict overall costs can be complex.
The services that we tested were Amazon S3, Rackspace's CloudFiles, Egnyte's On Demand File Server, Nasuni Cloud Storage, and Nirvanix's Storage Delivery Network.

Amazon, Rackspace and Nirvanix represent the containerized/object-oriented model. Egnyte embodies the file/folder metaphor, while Nasuni offers a different twist it's a front-end that simplifies cloud storage for enterprise customers and connects to other cloud storage vendors on the back end.

To test cloud-based storage, we accessed the cloud vendor's site through their supplied APIs, where applicable. We moved data either from virtual machines in our cabinet at nFrame in Indianapolis at 100Mbps, or from our lab connected via standard Comcast broadband.

We pounded each site with a variety of file sizes ranging from 500KB to 1GB. We also tested in two periods, daytime and nighttime, to see if Internet congestion played a role in cloud storage performance.

Overall, performance was strong, although it was also somewhat random and unpredictable. Generally speaking we did get faster uploads and downloads at night, when Internet congestion is lower. And we found that download speeds were considerably slower than upload speeds for all the vendors tested.

Rackspace delivered the best overall performance, with an average speed 2.57Mbps for uploads and roughly 650Kbps for downloads. But all of the vendors delivered impressive performance.

Nirvanix delivered an average upload speed of 1.3Mbps and Egnyte topped 1Mbps. Amazon had the lowest average upload speed at 835Kbps, but also the highest download speed at 773Kbps, giving it the best balance between upload and download speeds.

Security concerns

Those desiring comfortable high security may be disappointed. While all of the vendors we tested provided link encryption, data encryption was glossed over by the container providers. We wanted to see port scrambling, and IP address access control lists, but these were missing across the board. Admittance control would, for some thinkers, break the cloud model by creating an extranet relationship between a subscriber and the cloud storage area, but we'd feel happier if there were greater admittance control by IP address. At press time, Amazon announced such IP address admittance control, along with HTTP_Referrer control (URL-based admittance), but we were unable to examine it at deadline.

Henderson is principal researcher and Allen is a researcher for ExtremeLabs in Indianapolis. They can be reached at thenderson@extremelabs.com.

Read more about data center in Network World's Data Center section.

Original story - http://www.networkworld.com/nwlookup.jsp?rid=217099

Local Cloud and Backup Improvements

2010-08-31T08:41:00.000-07:00

Good Morning! On a weekly basis I will keep you in the loop on product improvements and updates that we are rolling out to our customers.

August 2010 - Local Cloud and Backup Improvements

In the newest round of updates, we are making it easy for those using a network running a proxy server to access Egnyte. A proxy server is a company's Internet server that is controlling access to the Internet. Previously, these servers were able to block access to the Egnyte servers if Egnyte did not have the proxy information. Now, when users install the Local Cloud and login for the first time, they will be able to easily setup the proxy server information and connect to the Egnyte servers. Our backup software will provide proxy server support as well.
Have you noticed that when you restart your computer, the mapped drive sometimes loses connectivity? We have made significant improvements to ensure a higher success rate of drive mapping after you restart your computer. If the wireless connection isn't allowing the drive to map correctly, we will pop up an error message, asking you to check your wireless connection to solve the problem.
Finally, we've removed restrictions and are allowing Egnyte to back up files with special characters in their names, increasing the amoung of data you can securely save on the cloud.

We hope our updates help increase Egnyte's functionality for you! If you have additional suggestions for improvement, please submit them on our support site under the Suggestions forum, found here: https://helpdesk.egnyte.com/forums

Have a wonderful Tuesday!

Meet the Team

2010-09-06T08:47:00.000-07:00

Hi there! My name is Don David and I am the Customer Support Manager here at Egnyte. This week I'm going to share a little bit about myself. As a youngster, I quickly learned that I have a passion for computer technology/gadgetry, and I took great satisfaction in finding resolutions to complex issues. What started out as a hobby and regular favors for friends and family led me to a computer science course at CSU Hayward, and then ultimatlely down a career path to Egnyte. Prior to joining Egnyte, I managed support teams at various software companies in the bay area including on-demand application providers, end-to-end CRM solutions, and software developers of multimedia technologies and applications for both desktop and embedded platforms.

Why Egnyte? I've been with Egnyte for over a year now and I tell you, it has been quite an amazing ride. It's a place where my knowledge and passion are applied every single moment, and I'm fortunate to be surrounded by a team of committed and motivated visionaries who make every day a worthwhile experience.

Outside of work, my free time is usually spent keeping up with my son and daughter. They are a feisty duo that both amaze me and inspire me daily. I also love going to the movies, sampling new restaurants with my wonderful wife, and staying abreast of the latest technology. My fondness of the outdoors quickly sets camping, snow trips, and hanging out at the beach as part of my weekend agenda.

I have enjoyed sharing my background with you. My team and I are here to ensure that your experience using Egnyte products and services is as smooth and streamlined as possible. I'm here to guide and support you. Our goal is to provide you with the best technology, and service you can count on. Thank you for reading and have a great week!

Weekly Recap

2010-09-03T10:06:00.000-07:00

This week we had the opportunity to look at two articles, "Gmail Priority Inbox: 5 Tips for Better Productivity" and "10 Useful iPhone Shortcuts, Tips, and Tricks." The articles demonstrated different ways to enhance productivity of everyday technologies we use. I found them especially useful; trying to balance different schedules and stay on top of my personal and work life is easier when I can effectively use the technologies I have.

Image Courtesy of www.mcqn.com

In case you missed some of our tweets this week, I've listed them below. Peruse them at your leisure during the long weekend. I hope it's a good one!

"Older Adults Nearly Double Social Media Presence" - Mashable

"Gmail Priority Inbox: 5 Tips for Better Productivity" - Mashable

"Hot Management, Data Protection Products at VMworld" - CRN

"The Other Half of Search: Greplin is a Personal Search Engine For Your Online Life" TechCrunch

"10 Useful iPhone Shortcuts, Tips, and Tricks" Mashable

"A New Way to Nano" Apple.com

"Twitter for iPad Review: Ahead of the Pack" GigaOm

"Dell Withdraws from 3PAR Bidding War, HP Wins With $2.4B Offer" TechCrunch

"Your Own Hot Spot, and Cheap" New York Times

Tips from the CEO

2010-09-02T09:24:00.000-07:00

Is Technology Diminishing Certain Jobs in the Workforce?

Hello Everyone, I am Vineet Jain, the CEO of Egnyte. Every Thursday, I will be sharing my thoughts about the technology industry and the fast paced start-up environment. I look forward to sharing my experiences with you and hearing about yours as well. Together we can learn from each other.

While technology's ability to remain in a consistent state of innovation is exciting and beneficial to our lifestyle, at times it can remove the need for jobs in our workforce. For example, in the manufacturing industry machines have almost completely replaced the need for humans to be a key part in the manufacturing process. Similarly, some administrative jobs are disappearing because computer programs have been developed to handle everything from personal finances to processing company payroll. These technologies increase the efficiency of the work environment, but sometimes at the cost of someone's job.

Specifically, I have noticed in my experience working at start-ups that the role of recruiters in a small business environment is diminishing. With online headhunting resources such as LinkedIn, Craigslist, and alumni based social networks, finding the right people for the job is becoming easier. When we create a new position, we post it on these sites and within days have a solid pool of resumes to choose from. Furthermore, I enjoy personally meeting and interviewing people to work for Egnyte. Whenever I have the opportunity to interview potential employees, I am able to see how they will fit into the culture that we have formed here at Egnyte.

I am not implying that the role of recruiters has become obsolete. When a company has to ramp fast and hire a large number of employees, indeed, recruiters play a significantly important role. When I look at the current hiring at our neighbors - Google and not too far away - VMware, growing to this scale would not be possible without recruiters.

Meet the Team

2010-08-30T08:49:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone! My name is Emily Ganz and I am thrilled to be the new Community Manager for Egnyte. I will be overseeing Egnyte's social media channels in order to provide you, our customers, with upcoming information about our products, answers to any questions you may have, and intriguing information about the technology we live and work in. I am here to converse with you and help grow our Egnyte community.

Before diving into the breathtaking world of technology, I want to share a little about myself. I recently graduated from Santa Clara University with a Bachelor of Arts, double majoring in Communications and Spanish Studies. After a couple of months in San Francisco I have now landed in Mountain View, where I am obsessed with the sunshine and loving my new position! I was born a planner and have always been attracted to tasks that require organization, attention to detail, and efficiency. I was the girl in elementary school who always had a planner up to date and color-coded, a habit that has only grown on me in high school and college. I always have tasks and dates memorized in addition to electronic and paper planners making me feel in control of my life, to a certain extent.

Apart from working and planning I am an exercise enthusiast and recently that has involved running. I despised running in high school, but in college I found it was an excellent way for me to separate myself from work and stress. I love seeing how far I can push and challenge myself. Music is another way to reduce stress in my life. Driving my parents crazy, as a little girl I used to sing myself to sleep each night and I also sang to my grandparents to push back my bedtime as late as possible. Without running and singing my life would lack excitement, adventure, motivation, and feeling.

I am here to listen to you and help you learn as much as you can from myself and other members of our community. Feel free to share all of your thoughts and I look forward to learning more about you in the future!

Hardware, hardware...

2010-05-09T21:03:00.000-07:00

Last month, we had been very busy working on significant infrastructure upgrade in terms of servers and storage arrays at both our data centers. Good news is that our customer base is increasing at a rapid pace, the bad news was that it brought with it the challenges of improving the infrastructure at a faster pace. I admit that we did not plan better and our forecast fell short of the actual demand. However, we are happy to report that we have addressed that issue with a vengeance and hopefully, our customers will see Egnyte being faster and more stable.

We have introduced a value calculator on our site that enables you to compare the cost of implementing an in-house server vs using the Egnyte Cloud File Server. Please take that for spin to see the money you are saving with Egnyte.

Now, you can not only upload your company logo, you can also mask the account url from say “acme.egnyte.com” to “filestorage.acme.com” by providing us with a digital certificate. Click here for more details.

March is almost here

2010-02-27T11:37:00.000-08:00

Traffic on Egnyte site has never been higher. Increasing business brings its rewards and challenges. We currently have two data centers in United States and are working to add the third one outside US, for non-US customers.

There are three key areas that Engineering is currently focused on:
1. Improve usability - both on the web interface and also the desktop
2. Improve speed - "network latency" issues and file upload improvements
3. Local Cloud on NAS improvements including a VM for VMWare

We continue to push improvements across various areas:

Tagging
Significant improvements have been made for the "Tag" feature. Now you can share tags across the entire domain, apply tags to any file that you have access to, and search by tags. The "administrator" is allowed to rename/delete any tag, but others can do the same, only for tags created by them. Multiple tags can be applied to any file and on hovering over the tag icon associated with each file, you can see who applied the tag and the timestamp.

Egnyte Local Cloud
We continue to improve the Local Cloud product. Now you can create the Local Cloud on any attached usb drive. Also added is support for folder names up to 255 characters and support for unicode folder and file names.

Local Cloud for Office (on NAS) is being increasingly deployed by customers. Also, we are getting good marks on this product in technical product reviews. Here are a couple of reviews:

eWeek: January 7, 2010
Egnyte Hybrid Cloud Solution

PC Magazine: February 9, 2010
Egnyte Local Cloud Syncs Stored Files Online and on the Local Network

What's coming up

FTP
It seems that FTP is becoming a popular choice of our customers for uploading large amounts of data. We are finding, much to our surprise, users are quite comfortable using a third party ftp client (Egnyte recommends free Filezilla) to not only to upload large amount of files for the initial transfer, but also on a daily basis. We are working on improving the FTP queuing and recovery processes and better communication to the users on the status of their file transfers.

Notification Controls
Based on user feedback, several controls are being added for the account administrator to centrally manage notification frequency, turn on/off notifications for users and allow/disallow individual users to make changes in their personal settings.

Thumbnails
We admit that our thumbnail generation for image files can be improved significantly in terms of reducing the time it takes for thumbnails to be available, generate a better image quality and allow for thumbnail view to be the default. We are working on all these fronts.

5 Steps to Protect Yourself from Computer Data Loss

2010-01-10T16:12:00.000-08:00

Until recently, Apple computer users could emphatically state that there were three certainties in life - death, taxes and the stability of Apple’s OS X. All that changed when news of the bug in Apple’s Snow Leopard system hit the cyberwaves.

Since Apple introduced their latest OS, Snow Leopard, many bugs have surfaced, including one that devours your data.

Apple acknowledged the problem and indicated that it affects only a small segment of users. A statement that offers little comfort if you happen to be one of the small segment who loses all of your data. The temporary fix offered by the company only works if users had a backup system in place prior to the data loss.

The Apple bug illuminates the need for computer users to take necessary steps to protect their data. Anyone who uses a computer, even a great one, is at risk for data loss. An operating system crash is only one cause of data loss. Others include, theft, user error, and lost media. While data loss may be rare for each individual, it only takes one instance to wipe out months, perhaps even years of irreplaceable data.

While data loss is largely discussed in the context of business, home users are equally, if not more at risk. Home users may lack the know-how to protect their system from data loss. A crash or theft could mean the loss of family photos or a music collection.

Below are 5 easy steps that every computer user can take to prevent data loss.

Protect against power disturbances. Sharp voltage spikes are particularly dangerous and can wipe out your data. An Uninterruptible Power System (UPS) can safeguard your system.

Backup regularly. Use online file storage to automatically backup your data. Egynte’s online file server provides continuous backup, backing up your files in the background during periods of low activity.

Invest in antivirus and spyware protection. Viruses and malware continue to plague computer users. Many users have found that a virus or hacking attack has been so pervasive that they had to buy a brand new system.

Protect critical files and applications. To prevent accidentally erasing crucial data, protect files and applications with a password. This can be especially important when computers are shared by multiple users.

Properly shut down your system. Be sure to properly shut down your computer. Close down applications and save your data before shutting down. Failure to do so could result in data loss, as some tasks and applications may continue to run in the background.

Data loss may not occur to individual users frequently but even one incident is too much when you lose important files and information.

Have you ever lost data? How did that loss impact you?

Thinking Out Cloud – The top questions I always get asked about Cloud Computing (Part 2)

2009-12-05T15:26:00.000-08:00

Following on from my previous post (Thinking Out Loud - Part 1) here are three more common questions people always ask me about cloud computing. If you have your own questions about cloud computing, don't hesitate to ask.

1 - Are there risks involved, I have heard that there are some concerns about up-time, data security, data ownership, etc?

This is a very common and important question. Just because a service is provided under the banner of cloud computing doesn't automatically give it immunity from all ills. Just as all traditional businesses are not equal, not all cloud computing providers or services are equal either. It’s not that long ago that we all assumed that because a corporation was of a certain size or scale that it was "as safe as houses" if you pardon the expression, but unfortunately over the past year not even size was an adequate predictor of the success or stability of some corporations.

Choosing a cloud computing service is an important decision and you should make sure that you are comfortable with the service and the vendor before you sign up. It’s always a good idea to ask for references or recommendations from existing users of a given solution to give you confidence in your decision. The question of data ownership is something I have heard frequently and so far I have not seen any commercial cloud computing vendors who claim ownership of your data, however it is always wise to read the terms of any contract carefully before you sign it and if you have concerns don't be afraid to seek advice or ask for clarification.

Regarding up-time, security and backups, most vendors provide their solutions on distributed systems with significant redundancy and security measures built-in. In my experience cloud services tend to be at least as robust, secure and reliable as their traditional counterparts and in the majority of cases are significantly better in all these areas - after all, cloud computing companies are experts at providing their services and "they are in the business of computing". Seek clarification regarding backups etc - although cloud computing services are much more robust than their traditional counterparts it doesn't hurt to have a reliable backup plan in place if this isn't something your vendor offers as part of their solution.

2 - Can I integrate Cloud Services With My Existing Systems and Applications?

Again this varies depending on the particular vendor or solution you choose. The majority of cloud computing solutions have the ability to interact not only with your legacy systems but also with other cloud computing solutions. In some cases this is as easy as installing a little app (or plug-in) and in other cases it will require a certain amount of programming or application development to integrate the systems - mostly this depends on the complexity of the solution, and simple services such as file sharing tend to require little effort where more complex solutions may require a higher level of effort.

3 - Are there performance issues with cloud computing services / what if my Internet connection is down?

Cloud computing services by their very nature rely on having an Internet connection, many providers have taken steps to maintain service even in the event of an Internet outage. Google for example has Gmail Offline, Salesforce also has on Offline feature and Egnyte has a "Local Cloud" solution. All of these solutions provide service by caching data during any connection interruption and seamlessly synchronizing cached data with the cloud application once full connectivity has been restored.

As for performance, applications and systems tend to perform better when the user is on the same network as the server or application, however the difference is usually marginal and in most cases mitigated by the scale of the infrastructure and computing power available to most cloud applications/services.

About the Author:

Finbarr McCarthy is IT Director with Premier Group a private global staffing company. Finbarr has 20 years experience in Information Technology with more than half of this spent in senior management roles, he is a member of The Institute of Engineering & Technology (MIET), The British Computer Society (MBCS) and The IEEE (IEEE). Finbarr is a Cloud Computing advocate and a technology innovator. Visit Finbarr's Blog for more on Cloud Computing

Thinking Out Cloud – The top questions I always get asked about Cloud Computing (Part 1)

2009-11-15T20:29:00.000-08:00

Just a few short years ago the term cloud computing was all but unknown. Today "Cloud Computing" is a hot ticket item and being a "Cloud Advocate" and a 20 year I.T. veteran there are a number of questions that I always get asked about cloud computing. I am delighted to have the opportunity to answer these questions on this, the first of a two part guest blog post for Egnyte.

1 - What is Cloud Computing Anyway?

Cloud Computing is an umbrella term which covers an array of computing services provided to users over the Internet. The nature of these services can be broadly broken down into, SaaS (Software as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service) and IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service). Cloud Computing has a number of subtle but important differences from traditional hosted servers or applications, the main differences are;

• A fully managed service offering
• Elasticity and Scalability
• Flexible Billing / Pay per use

While many people have tried to describe and summarize cloud computing, I think that Nicholas Carr in his book "The Big Switch" makes a lot of sense where he describes Cloud Computing as the provision of computing services as a utility (similar to your electricity). The comparison between cloud computing services and electricity is a good one, after all there is nothing stopping any of us going off-grid and producing our own electricity - in fact 100 years ago before the emergence of massive centralized utility companies, it was the norm for industry to produce its own electricity. However, generating our own electricity means that you would need to be an expert in all the technology required to do so, and your power source will most likely end up costing you more to produce, require significant upfront investment and not be as reliable or scalable as the service provided today from specialist utility companies. Most importantly, if you are not in the business of producing electricity, your efforts spent on its generation, distribution and management would most likely be a significant source of distraction from your core business.

Take this comparison directly into the computing model, most companies have traditionally endeavored to provide all of their own computing resources from compute to applications to file storage. The reasonable question to ask here is "What business are you in?" If the answer to that question is not "computing", then its a logical step to consider using cloud or utility computing services to reduce the costs, headaches and distractions associated with computing and enable you and your organization to concentrate on your core business.

2 - Is Cloud Computing just a Fad?

While it is fair to say that there is significant buzz and hype around cloud computing right now, it is definitely not a fad. The term itself is somewhat new but the vision, concepts and principles involved have been around for decades. What has changed is that the Internet has matured enough to provide reliable and affordable broadband connectivity which is capable of delivering cloud computing services to a vast audience of users.

Cloud computing is beginning to get traction and the range of cloud computing services on offer is currently expanding at a phenomenal pace. IDC currently estimate that cloud computing will grow to a $42 Billion dollar industry by 2012 and I have seen other estimates that suggest that this estimate is in fact significantly understated.

3 - Is moving to the cloud the right thing for me?

Right now this is a good question to ask yourself. In the medium to long term, everything except for the most obscure computing services will be operated from the cloud. There are currently many excellent service offerings available in the cloud computing space, and I believe that every organization should be looking carefully at the offerings available to them and where it makes sense, begin to leverage the practical, functional and financial benefits of the cloud computing services they choose to adopt. Some compute-intensive services such as C.A.D. and Video production are not yet relevant as far as cloud computing goes but services such as email, file storage and C.R.M. are perfect examples of services that currently fit the cloud computing model.

About the Author:

Finbarr McCarthy is IT Director with Premier Group a private global staffing company. Finbarr has 20 years experience in Information Technology with more than half of this spent in senior management roles, he is a member of The Institute of Engineering & Technology (MIET), The British Computer Society (MBCS) and The IEEE (IEEE). Finbarr is a Cloud Computing advocate and a technology innovator. Visit Finbarr's Blog for more on Cloud Computing

Online File Servers Help You Manage Your Business Remotely

2009-10-30T18:13:00.000-07:00

Manage Your Business Remotely with Egnyte’s Online File Server

Years ago, “road warriors” were typically sales people or field based workers. There was no Wi-Fi so communications were limited to cell phones and pagers. Today, entire businesses can be mobile with workers distributed across multiple locations and time zones with access to files from their mobile drives. Cell phones have given way to smartphones and a laptop can function as a mobile office. This mobility is not limited to web workers but includes businesses such as law firms, real estate companies and creative agencies.

There are a number of benefits to taking your business on the road:

Assemble project specific teams regardless of location.
Hire the expertise you need without being bound to geography.
Become location independent, combining travel and work.
Eliminate the overhead associated with office space.
Be available for family emergencies or caregiving needs

So now that you are sold on why you might want to go mobile and enjoy all the benefits of a mobile drive, let us discuss the practical steps of running your business from the road.

To take your business on the road you need:

Communication
Connectivity
Remote Data access and integration

Communication. You need to be able to communicate with your colleagues, employees, and clients. Your mobile phone can be used as a communication tool but to truly maintain a high touch professional office on the road, consider a hosted business phone solution. With a hosted business phone solution you can have a virtual PBX that offers a single phone number (local, and toll), multiple extensions, conference calling, call forwarding, fax transmission and reception to email and more.

Connectivity. It is essential that you have internet connectivity. This will give you access to your cloud computing applications, email, and of course the internet. While there are exceptions, depending on your location, there are a few options to get connected:

Wi-Fi (Use WeFi, or JiWire to locate global Wi-Fi spots)
Cell phone data connection
3G USB Modem
Verizon MiFi (available in US only)
Broadband card

You have options when it comes to hardware as well. Depending on your needs and personal preference, you can use a laptop, smartphone or netbook.

Data access and integration. Now that you are outfitted to communicate, you will need to access and share data. Egnyte’s online file server facilitates remote data access online file storage, data collaboration and data backup. Team members, clients and vendors can be given access to shared files, eliminating the need to transfer files through email. The online file server also helps with version control so that multiple users can work on shared documents without confusion. Finally, you can backup all of your data ensuring that if your smartphone or portable computer is lost your data is safe.

Are you ready to hit the road?

Restoration SOS Case Study: How a Disaster Company Plans for Data Recovery for Those Unexpected Events

2009-10-02T13:01:00.000-07:00

Protect Your Business with the right Data Backup System

Restoration SOS knows a lot about disaster. The company is the world's largest resource for fire and water damage, mold and sewage backup. They help property owners recover from fire and water damage by matching them with qualified contractors.

The company has seen first hand the devastation that occurs after a disaster, so they naturally put systems and plans in place to protect their company in the event of disaster.

Like all businesses, Restoration SOS understood that their data was a significant part of their business. Their disaster plan had to include a data recovery solution and the ability to access critical digital business data. The company also wanted a day-to-day solution for document collaboration. They have multiple employees and locations so file sharing software and document collaboration were essential.

SOS also knew that they had no desire to be in the IT business. Managing file servers would require them to invest in IT expertise, with resources that could be deployed to manage their core business. They believed in online file servers but were concerned about access, control over permissions and rules, and collaborative tools.

After searching for the ideal fit, Restoration SOS selected Egnyte for their data management and data recovery needs. During the transition, there were issues with Windows XP and Vista. We were able to identify and resolve the issues using remote diagnostics.

There was no necessary downtime, and it did not require this growing business to allocate their resources to a technical issue.

Before the company signed up with Egnyte they had one computer with a shared folder to a system installed across its entire employee base. By switching to an online file server they can create multiple folders and files and set permissions per file or folder.

With their old system, they could not simply grant a contractor access to a specific file or folder. They had to rely on email to transfer information. Now they are able to grant access to necessary information without compromising the security of their data.

Restoration SOS also consolidated data backup and management into a single solution. Automatic backups secure their website, email, QuickBooks, accounting and other digital information.

You don’t have to be in the disaster business to have a disaster recovery plan. Whether you are a solo professional or large enterprise, your data is critical to your operations.

What steps have you taken to protect your business from disaster?

Cloud Computing Services: How Cloud Computing and Local Clouds Work

2009-09-30T12:21:00.000-07:00

How Cloud Computing Works and Why You Should Care

There is a lot of talk about cloud computing these days. Technical experts and big companies like Google, Amazon and IBM have heightened the talk of the “cloud.” There are also lofty proclamations from those in the know hailing it as “transforming,” “industry changing,” and “revolutionary.” However, non-technical professionals and business owners may have dismissed the cloud talk as all fluff.

So, what exactly is cloud computing?

The cloud is a metaphor for the Internet. In the simplest of terms, cloud computing is the access and delivery of hosted services via “the cloud.” Instead of one location or one computer delivering the services, cloud computing is distributed across a network of computing resources and allows users to access what they need on demand via an internet connection

Egnyte is an example of cloud computing. Other examples are phone services delivered via the internet, CRM applications accessed through the internet, and payment systems that allow you to access “virtual terminals” with no hardware.

So, without weighing you down with lengthy technical explanations, cloud computing has the power to transform your business. A bold statement that is entirely accurate.

Cloud computing opens up sophisticated technology to a wider audience. In the past if you wanted file storage, you had to pay for the hardware, installation and the staff to service it. You also had a time delay from the point that you decided you needed the service until it was actually up and running.

With cloud computing, you decide you need a file storage and document collaboration capabilities so you log onto the internet, order what you need and begin using it. The file sharing software is delivered via the local cloud. so you do not have to buy hardware, wait for it to be installed and then pay your IT department to manage it. In fact, the service is available to smaller businesses and even solo professionals who do not have an internal IT department. You can even manage the entire online file storage process from your smartphone while lying on the beach

You gain all the benefits of sophisticated technology with none of the traditional costs

The Cloud computing architecture also gives you access to innovation. With traditional computing, you may have to invest in additional hardware or software to take advantage of newer technology. Providers of Cloud computing services remove that burden from your shoulders.

Access and costs are only two of the many benefits of cloud computing. Ease of scalability is another key benefit. You can get as much or as little of the computing resources you need on demand. You are not limited to the capacity of your hardware nor do you have to rely on an IT department to make programming changes when you need to place a higher demand on the system.

This flexibility also makes it easy for new and growing businesses to access services that previously may have been out of their range. You are consuming only what you need and can add more resources as your business needs expand.

Accessibility to service and innovation, lower costs and flexibility are three major benefits that are driving the excitement about the local cloud

How are you using cloud computing services?

Using Online File Servers to Work Smarter

2009-10-30T17:05:00.000-07:00

Working solely from an office is fast becoming a thing of the past. In addition to a burgeoning remote and mobile workforce, many workers spend a portion of their time working outside the office. Thanks to Smartphones and Netbooks, it is easier than ever to be connected to work whether you are in a building or on a train.

The Information Technology and Innovation Foundation (ITIF) in a January 2009 report predicted that the number of jobs filled by telecommuters could grow to 19 million over the next 12 years in the United States. (http://www.itif.org/files/Telecommuting.pdf)

Clearly, work mobility is an emerging strategic trend for organizations of all sizes. And with good reason. There are a number of benefits to work mobility including dramatic reduction in the cost of doing business; enhanced morale and productivity of workers by offering flexible choices; and decreased commuting costs.

According to a study done by the Telework Coalition, sixty-seven percent of all workers used mobile and wireless computing and eighty-nine percent of the top 100 US companies offer telecommuting. (http://www.insight-corp.com/reports/mwf.asp)

In order to work smarter, mobile workers must have:

Remote access to files, data and application platforms
Mobile devices - smartphones, wireless/broadband cards, netbooks
Business applications

The combination of smartphones and cloud computing has made it possible to bring together the essential elements of mobility in a single device. Mobile workers can create and share documents with online document collaboration. Online file servers provide access to distributed team members, vendors and clients. We can create, collaborate and communicate from virtually anywhere.

Mobility is also excellent for service. Remote access to essential data and sophisticated technology tools facilitate the ability to respond faster to customer requests and issues. Processes that once required in office collaboration, such as quotes or estimates, diagnosis of customer issues, or billing issues can be resolved with remote collaboration.

Teams can also work more efficiently even if located in various time zones. Using a cloud file server, work teams can collaborate on projects by sharing files and communications and utilizing automated version control features to track progress. This creates a seamless workflow and a culture of smart productivity.

Do you currently work virtually? What are your must have tools for optimum productivity?

Online File Server Saves Time and Money

2009-10-30T16:32:00.000-07:00

How to Save Money, Time and Your Job with an Online File Server

Your team is working on a new product launch on a tight deadline. The team has been working around the clock to prepare for the internal and external launch. In addition to your team, you have outsourced graphic design, copywriting, web design and printing.

This project is high visibility and crucial to the company meeting its profit goals. You and your team must coordinate all of the components seamlessly, in a very tight period. All of the team members and vendors need to access and share files but email is proving to be confusing and cumbersome especially since the files are so large. The vendors must transfer large files to a CD and have them delivered via courier or express mail. The costs are quickly adding up and progress is delayed when the team has to wait for delivery of information before moving to the next step.

Graphic designers, printers and creative professionals routinely have to share very large files with clients. Email systems have limitations on size, so these professionals must burn the files to a CD and mail or use a courier to deliver their work to clients for review. The additional costs can add up quickly, resulting in higher operating costs and lower profit margins for creative businesses.

An online file server can reduce costs and improve the process for creative professionals and distributed work teams. With an online file server, document collaboration is an easy process. Our harried team would no longer have to wait for delivery of CDs, they could log on to a secure local cloud file server and immediately access needed files. With so many team members and changes, it would be easy to mix up versions or have work repeated when a team member has the wrong version of a file. Egnyte’s online file server has automatic version control. There is no need to change file names and older versions are protected. You have a complete audit trail including when a file was changed and by whom. Team members are notified when files are added or existing files changed, eliminating the need for a manual email or phone call.

Document collaboration and large file sharing is hassle free when you use a cloud file server. For high visibility projects or geographically distributed teams, an online file server offers a perfect solution.

Have you ever had to work with a distributed team or outside vendors? How did you keep track of communication and files?

Significant product enhancements in the works

2009-08-11T16:29:00.000-07:00

For the past month or so, we have been extremely busy working on several product enhancements with a major product release planned for in the immediate future. We closed the funding round at end of July and are now gearing up for scaling the infrastructure to handle petabytes worth of storage. We crossed one minor milestone of 100TB of storage several months back.

Businesses are adopting more cloud based solutions and we find interesting competitive dynamics depending on the size of the company. Needless to say, enterprise class solutions show up invariably in almost every situation where the average seat size is 40 or higher. However, their complexity and management overhead enables Egnyte to win in 2 out of 3 times.

The Local Cloud product continues to gain traction and more is being asked of this product. We are working feverishly to enhance the initial capabilities. In another fifteen days we will start releasing some obvious and some not so obvious improvements.

Egnyte Customer Survey

2009-06-29T13:09:00.000-07:00

As many of you are aware, we recently polled Egnyte customers to get feedback on our service and industry. Thanks to all who took the time to complete it – we sincerely appreciate it!

One of the reasons we did the survey was to better understand your reasons for selecting Egnyte, as well as to determine your comfort level with cloud solutions today. As you know, we have worked very hard over the past year to deliver the Egnyte product based on the needs of our customers. Following this survey, it is crystal clear that hybrid solutions like Local Cloud will bring peace of mind as more and more businesses like yourself move toward adopting on-demand virtual storage.

Among some key data findings we wanted to share:

- Almost half (48%) of small businesses identified trust and security as top attributes for selecting an on-demand or cloud-based file server. Interestingly, 27% of respondents said that the product’s ease of use carried more weight in their decision to select a service provider than price and performance (23%). Customer service (7%) and ability to scale with the business (4%) was listed last.

- 99% of small business respondents validated that Internet outages can be detrimental to business. In fact, the survey showed that if the internet was down for only one hour, over half (51%) would be moderately impacted and nearly a quarter of respondents (20%) severely impacted.

- To gain small business owner’s trust, 66% of respondents said that offering hybrid solutions that connect online and offline was most important, while 54% said that providing exceptional customer service, such as 24/7 helplines with live support comes second.

Aside from helping us understand what our customers are thinking, we also hope that this is validation for you that we are moving in the right direction. As one of the few service providers to deliver hybrid cloud solutions, it is our goal to ensure that all our customers conquer their fear of flying in the cloud.

If you are interested in viewing the complete data results, feel free to download the survey results.

We have also issued a press release.

Solving a Benefits Insurance Problem with Egnyte

2009-06-19T00:52:00.000-07:00

In the process of installing insurance benefits at companies, I've witnessed the fact that despite the prevalence of technology, some insurance brokers and insurance underwriters still live in the Dark Ages. OK -- maybe I am exaggerating, but there are inefficiencies in their practices that translate into costly wastes of time.

Imagine this -- the process involves having an employee fill out an insurance benefits application (around 4 or 5 pages). It has to be signed. Multiply that by 15 employees for example. That could be 75 pages total that the employer has to fax to the insurance benefits broker. The insurance benefits broker then has to review them and then fax them over to the underwriter. The underwriter reviews the applications and most of the time will have questions because the clarity of the applications gets lost in fax transmission.

When time is of the essence (and it usually is), some employers and brokers take the desperate measure of emailing the applications. Of course, that is a big "no-no" because that will violate HIPAA since emailing is not secure.

The inefficiency and security issues can be resolved with a secure file server that can be accessed by both internal and external players. The scenario I described above assumes that the employer, insurance broker, and underwriter do not have a secure file server in place. Either the insurance broker or the underwriter should have a secure file service in place in order to streamline the benefits installation process.

Egnyte can help insurance brokers and underwriters eliminate the inefficiencies and maintain the required security. We offer an On Demand File Server (ODFS) that can be accessed securely by multiple parties. This can result in saving money and enhancing the level of customer service to the employer.

Imagine this -- the employer logs in and drops the 15 insurance benefits applications into the secure Egnyte ODFS. The broker and the underwriter log in and retrieve the applications. Done.

On the road with Egnyte

2009-06-12T16:18:00.001-07:00

I recently spent a week outside the US and got to actually put the cloud to the test on the road. One of my stops was Florence, Italy - the birthplace of the renaissance and tucked away in the scenic region of Tuscany. I wasn’t sure what to expect in terms of technology. I was pleasantly surprised.

My apartment, a short walk from the historic center of the city was equipped with wireless, sporting a 0.5 Mbps upload speed– beats what I get at home most of the time. I was able to comfortably access our Egnyte file server (we eat our own dog food!) and stay connected with my crew back in the office.

I was really thrilled to meet one of our customers, Jennifer, who lives in Florence and works with a New York based financial services company. Over a cappuccino, Jennifer shared with me how their team is completely spread out and works together using a portfolio of cloud based solutions (Egnyte being one of them).

Just a couple of years back, this probably would have been difficult to pull off.

Viva La Cloud!

2009-05-29T14:15:00.000-07:00

Since the launch of the Egnyte Local Cloud and some initial hiccups, we are finding that customers "want" to have the local cloud more than the "need" to have it. This reinforces the thought that wanting to have a local copy of some of the files/folders combined with all files being available in the cloud, is what a lot of users feel comfortable with. Analyzing this further, despite the vaunted ubiquity of the internet, customers want "off-line" access.

Building on the launch of Local Cloud on direct attached storage (DAS), we are working on releasing the Local Cloud on a corporate shared resource like a NAS device. Hopefully, we will deliver this by the June end timeline.

Meanwhile, adding to the increasing usage of Egnyte as a content repository to be shared securely or publicly, we have added more "ad-hoc" sharing capabilities i.e. Public Folders that do not require authentication.

A Virtual Team Profile

2009-05-06T07:08:00.000-07:00

One of our customers, Stephen O’Brien, entrepreneur and founder of Espressi, Inc., has been using his Egnyte On Demand File Server (ODFS) since October 2008. I’ve kept in touch with Stephen because the company story is so intriguing to me. Based in San Jose, California, Espressi is a startup that produces and sells a hand held espresso machine.

Stephen needed a low-cost solution to help him securely share files and collaborate with his virtual team members. At first, team members were spread throughout Silicon Valley. But as Stephen needed to add expertise and talent from the “coffee corridor” of Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco, the ODFS solution scaled with him. The ODFS also traveled with him, as Stephen traveled out of the U.S. to Australia and Fiji.

Espressi officially launched at the Specialty Coffee Association of America Expo in Atlanta just last month. Its product – the mypressi TWIST – won Best New Product at the show, which is quite a validation in the coffee industry (see mypressi.com). Absolutely, it means company growth, and growth on a global scale.

It will be exciting to watch as Espressi’s ecosystem becomes more defined and grows to include investors, distributors, and espresso lovers from all over the world. And the Egnyte ODFS will scale with Espressi along the way.

Does the Cloud let you work harder?

2009-04-24T10:30:00.000-07:00

One observation I have made over the last year, which positively amazes me, is the work hours of our customers. The SMB customers we serve are some of the hardest working people I have ever seen.

Jeff, who runs a construction firm on the east coast sometimes calls our tech support line past midnight; Brook, who runs his clean tech company in Southern Cal, travels all over the world, working many times using his iPhone; and Sean, whose company makes really great HD accessories, replies to my emails at 2 AM EST, sounding every bit energetic in his response.

The availability of “always on” services now makes it possible to work anywhere (or everywhere!) and anytime (or all the time!). For us at Egnyte, this lends a whole new meaning to uptime and ease of access and raises the bar for what we have to do.

Our customers inspire us to do so!