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magazine
38
Cloud Storage
The use of cloud services continues
to rise in both private and public
companies, so much so that analysts
expect the enterprise cloud market
to grow from $18.3 billion in 2012 to
$31.9 billion in 2017.
This growth is being driven by
increased use of smartphones and
tablets. Because these devices have
limited storage capacity, but are often
used as PC replacements when on the
go, mobile users like to store their files
in the cloud and access data via the
internet.With cloud storage, all relevant
documents can be accessed in just a few
clicks and shared with friends, relatives
or colleagues.
Despite its popularity, many
companies are still undecided about the
cloud and have serious concerns about
data security. However, the promise of
easy set up and access from anywhere
mean that many of their employees
are already storing data unnoticed in
insecure cloud services.
With the success of companies
like Dropbox, SugarSync and Box,
confidential information is moving to
self-provisioned cloud services and out
of a company’s control faster than ever.
Companies have two possible responses
to this trend: either ignore employees’
n
Be 100% on-premise and fully installed in
the corporate network, in order to use the
existing IT-infrastructure, while ensuring
that the company always has control of
its own data.
n
Offer complete Active Directory integration
and not use any external cloud services.
n
Support smartphones and tablets and
offer extensive management possibilities
for profiles, guidelines, user rights, as well
as certificates.
n
Be manageable by administrators
any time and anywhere via a modern
web management console and allow
administrators to manage and automate
processes withWindows PowerShell.
n
Secure data within a corporate network,
as well as during data transmission and on
the mobile device itself.
n
Enable a selective or full remote wipe of
local corporate data on smartphones and
tablets, without deleting private data at the
same time.
n
Allow blocking users/devices or apps
and support file sharing via email
attachments.
n
Offer monitoring and reporting functions
and protect data by requesting a password
even for offline access.
n
Not be dependent on a specific
synchronisation directory, while enabling
access to corporate data any time and
anywhere for all employees.
n
Guarantee cross-platform support (iOS,
Android, BlackBerry, PC & Mac).
n
Offer editing functions, like creating
PDF documents or printing, and a data
optimised preview for documents.
n
Reduce mobile data volume due to an
intelligent compressing algorithm and
execute a variety of functions on the server.
n
Support uni-directional synchronisation
to reduce the amount of transmitted
data and protect files from accidental
overwriting.
n
Minimise locally stored data and have an
integrated search function to find files faster.
behaviour and allow them to continue in
an unchecked and insecure environment;
or meet the needs of employees and the
business by introducing a truly secure
solution.
The second approach has created
demand for enterprise-type solutions.
Yet, the services most frequently used
by employees are designed for individual
consumers who normally use less than
7GB of storage. In the corporate context,
where users rely on collaboration
and teamwork and many work with
data volumes in the terabyte range,
performance requirements are much
more demanding. Upload and download
speeds, for example, must be fast enough
to provide convenient access even when
transferring large data volumes.
The key attribute of any cloud
storage space for team use is convenient
file sharing that gives employees the
opportunity to improve collaboration. It
is essential that files can be exchanged
quickly and easily.
Synchronisation
Shared file access for corporate users
must offer more than conventional
bi-directional synchronisation, which
is provided by many solutions, as the
needs of an individual user can result in
Russell Crawford explains why popular cloud storage solutions are not suitable for
enterprise team-working and outlines what businesses should be looking for.
Are mobile staff
clouding your thinking?
confusion when applied to entire teams.
With bi-directional synchronisation,
files can be overwritten accidentally and
centrally stored templates changed by
employees. Parallel document access by
several employees, which is offered by
some services, can also result in errors
and compromised data.
Bi-directional synchronisation can
result in users being spammed if they
are informed about every single change
via a push message. And the continuous
and time-consuming reloading and
A file sharing solution should…
Russell Crawford,
regional director
UK&I, Netherlands
and Africa, Cortado