In 2020 businesses large and small have masses of digital data. Digital Transformation has meant that what used to be kept in filing cabinets in offices is now stored online either on-premises or increasingly in the Cloud, mainly due to the ease of use and the considerable reduction in the cost of data storage pioneered by companies such as DropBox, Amazon etc.
Data is only as good as being able to access it and with the recent Covid-10 pandemic many companies were forced into a mass remote working experiment in which they had to provide data access to home workers. For sensitive data that is on-site this presents challenges, and for data that is on-cloud in services such as Amazon S3 and Azure Blob Storage this also presents challenges as there are not standardised access mechanisms that are friendly to end users.
The hybrid cloud company Storage Made Easy offers a resolution to the remote working conundrum, with their solution: the Enterprise File Fabric.
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What is the Enterprise File Fabric?
The Enterprise File Fabric is a data management solution that enables companies to securely access private and cloud based data in a ‘single pane of glass’ view. It works with the existing storage of the company rather than introducing something new, and then unites, secures and makes any type of storage easily accessible for end users.
The key features of Enterprise File Fabric include: secure file sharing capabilities, data compliance and governance features, large file transfer acceleration, PHI / PII content discover, Ransomware protections and greater productivity for end user employees.
How does the Enterprise File Fabric help with Remote Working?
The nature of the File Fabric solution provides means that it is well suited to facilitate remote working. It packs in a wide range of benefits that assists companies who have remote employees:
- It provides access to existing Windows Filers, SMB, NAS and SAN environments without the need for VPN’s, something the company calls ‘on-site data at web scale’.
- It provides a very secure environment for remote working teams with a focus on Data Compliance, Data Governance and Auditability. It is a policy driven product.
- It provides integration with best of breed tools such as Microsoft Office Online / Zoho Office / Outlook / Mac Mail and many others.
- It works with what a Company already has, in terms of storage, rather than introducing yet more storage.
- It provides Companies access to an enhanced faster transfer policy of around 10 times called M-Stream – perfect for remote employees working on home broadband who don’t have access to fast corporate networks.
- It is best to think of it as a private multi-cloud dropbox type experience with integrations and hooks into many platforms and applications.
- Real time PII / PHI scanning prevents remote workers accidentally exposing data that contains personal information.
- The service is optimised for a wide range of service sectors that include Healthcare, Education, Finance, Retail, Service Providers, and Media and Entertainment.
Summary: Key features offered by Enterprise File Fabric Solution
A few of the exciting features that the Enterprise File Fabric solution provides can be summarised as:
- Collaboration – It provides a complete team collaboration across storage silos featuring shared team folders, virtual workplaces and file commenting features
- Real Time File Alerts – The Audit watch feature enables real time alerts on any file activitity.
- Accelerated File Transfers– The built in M-Stream technology providesaccess to a multi-threaded, parallel data stream and offers faster transfer of larger files for certified storage providers
- Ultra secure File Sharing – The File Fabric provides the ablity to assign passwords and permissions for accessing files, including the number of times a file can be accessed and how long it should be available.
- Built in DLP – Data Loss protection is built in with features such as IP restrictions, digital watermarking, trackable codes, web view of content only etc.
- Content Search – Content Search is built ie. A google search like experience but for company documents.
A few exciting features that Enterprise File Fabric solution provides you can be summarised as:
- Collaboration – The tool provides a complete team collaboration with shared folders, virtual workplaces and file commenting features
- Real time alerts – The Audit watch feature is yet another advanced option. It does let you receive real time alerts on any file activities.
- Geolocation – The Enterprise File Fabric solution is one of the excellent options for geolocation details of file transfers. This will provide a further security layer.
- An accelerated file transfer process – The M-Stream technology provides you access to a multi-threaded, parallel data stream. This will offer access to a faster transfer of larger files.
- A secured file sharing – Enterprise File Fabric solution lets you assign passwords and permissions for accessing files, including the number of times a file can be accessed.
Competitive Solutions:
The Enterprise File Fabric is competitive to solutions such as those by Accellion and Varonis which also focus on governance and security but which have do not have the multi-cloud and file transfer acceleration features that ship with the File Fabric.
