Keeping dynamic data secure, accessible and available at all times

According to Gartner’s paper ‘MarketScope for Enterprise File Synchronization and Sharing’, which was published in February 2013, organisations must deploy EFSS services to secure enterprise information assets. Failure to provide these capabilities will subject organisations to information leakage threats caused by users who move data through uncontrolled personal cloud services.

Monica Basso, Gartner Research vice president and Jeffrey Mann, Gartner Research vice president, the co-authors of the report, said: "File synchronisation and sharing is a critical capability for mobile workforces whose organisations have ongoing mobility initiatives with media tablets and BYOD programs. We expect IT organisations will face increasing demand for these capabilities, with deeper focus on security and compliance by regulated or security-conscious enterprises.”

Without a mobile file management and EFSS strategy in place employees can share corporate documents with third parties, or store documents on home PCs and other personal devices, completely out of an IT organisation's control. With this in mind IT organisations are looking for mobile file management and EFSS capabilities that enhance mobile workers' productivity and collaboration to limit security risks.

Alan Laing, Vice President EMEA at Acronis commented, “Companies are being increasingly challenged by the management of their data outside the boundaries of the corporate infrastructure. With more and more people using tablets and smartphones in the enterprise there is a rapid rise in unsecure file and data sharing practices, leaving many enterprises exposed, it’s a time bomb waiting to explode.”

With so much confidential corporate content regularly leaving companies secure networks, IT directors must be able to offer secure file access and file sharing among multiple devices while maintaining administrative control to enable a productive workforce. The two new solutions from Acronis are designed to address new demands for data availability, accessibility and protection against the rise in enterprise mobility, the volume and velocity of content creation, user driven collaboration tools and rising storage costs.

mobilEcho is a secure enterprise mobile file management solution for mobile workers. It enables enterprise IT departments to provide secure and managed corporate file access for enterprise tablet users, based on existing security and access control policies.

activEcho is a secure enterprise file sharing and syncing solution. It provides an alternative to consumer file sharing services by giving enterprise IT control over internal and external file sharing.

Jon Woodley, head of systems at the University of East Anglia, discovered the simplicity of mobilEcho in his search for a single solution to provide enterprise-level security. He said: “We installed our first trial on 15 iPads in under a day. mobilEcho just worked, with no complex deployment or lengthy learning curve. The user can start the app and go straight to their files, just as they would with a desktop or laptop joined to our Active Directory. Nothing else in the market allows you to do that in such a transparent and easy manner.”

“When we installed mobilEcho, it enabled us to get secure file access, even in the middle of a meeting,” said Iain Reeman, ICT systems director for the university’s Information Services Directorate. “I can pull up a document to reinforce or support an argument, which is absolutely fantastic. Previously, if someone asked a question that required finding a reference document on the server, you’d have to get back to them later. Now I can look up the answer and give it straight away,” he said.

Laing concluded: “Security, compliance and management are top priorities for IT organisations in mobile file management and EFSS, as well as in mobile device management (MDM). Organisations planning BYOD initiatives should include mobile file management and file synchronization and sharing requirements in conjunction with MDM. Last year we acquired GroupLogic, so that we could help organisations of all sizes get to grips with enterprise mobility and secure collaboration whilst keeping corporate content and systems available and accessible at all times. These product launches mark the first step towards this vision.”