Enterprise software vendors love to talk about solutions.

“Our solution delivers unparalleled scalability, security, and reliability…”
“We provide the market-leading solution for management of…”
“Unlike Brand X, our solution offers 99.999% uptime guarantee…”

In today’s Data In Motion blog post we’re taking a break from solutions. And with a nod to Justin Timberlake, we’re “bringing sexy problems back.”

Problems are important to understand. If we don’t understand what ails us, the best solution won’t help. In the managed file transfer business, there are many problems to address. We had a little fun describing a few of them in the infographic below.

[Note: For those who care to share on their own blogs or websites (thanks btw!), we've provided embed code and a link to a hi-res version of the graphic below.]

Embed This Infographic on Your Site: Files and Tribulations – The Importance of Managed File Transfer : Copy and Paste the Code Below

<br /> <img src="http://www.attachmate.com/blogs/datainmotion/wp-content/uploads/infographic-files-and-tribulations-the-importance-of-managed-file-transfer-2mb.jpg" width="540"></p> <p>Infographic: Files and Tribulations – The Importance of Managed File Transfer <a href="http://www.attachmate.com/blogs/datainmotion/index.php/new-infographic-files-and-tribulations-the-importance-of-managed-file-transfer/">Managed File Transfer Infographic</a></p> <p>

Download a hi-res (7.7MB) of this graphic here.

Files and Tribulations – The Importance of Managed File Transfer by http://www.attachmate.com/blogs/datainmotion/index.php/new-infographic-files-and-tribulations-the-importance-of-managed-file-transfer/ is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
Based on a work at http://www.attachmate.com/blogs/datainmotion/index.php/new-infographic-files-and-tribulations-the-importance-of-managed-file-transfer/.

New Infographic: Files and Tribulations, the Importance of Managed File Transfer is a post from: Data In Motion - a Managed File Transfer blog

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It seems like every day there is news buzzing about the newest file sharing service in the cloud. You may have heard about the recent acquisition of Mailbox, the mobile mailbox in the cloud, by Dropbox, a file sharing service in the cloud. But what does this emerging trend mean for the file transfer landscape? It means trouble.

The allure of a free, quick and easy system to exchange files is appealing to many consumers and businesses. It seems like a logical alternative to sending files through email, which is unreliable and can clog inboxes, or FTP, which can put data at risk. However, solutions like Dropbox and YouSendit are not meant to be leveraged as enterprise solutions, but in the absence of robust enterprise-grade solutions, individual workers or groups in many organizations are using these products and leaving critical data at risk. Enterprises are essentially losing control of file transfers within their organization and opening up their files to security threats.

Many organizations are now putting policies and procedures into place to tighten up on this risky behavior. Some have gone as far as blocking access to and from these sites through the corporate firewall. From viruses, to malware, to hackers gaining access to intellectual property, valuable documents, financials, etc., enterprises need a solution that protects them from these security risks.

Solutions like Dropbox are probably ok for the general user sharing vacation photos with Grandma, but for organizations that must send files, securely and reliably this is not the best bet. Using Dropbox could be creating additional problems for your IT department and putting your data at risk. And though you may not pay an upfront cost, you’ll pay in the long run. .

File transfer solutions that send data securely and easily are more in line with the needs of an enterprise. Solutions that send data to the cloud can leave files unprotected.

For more information about the solutions Attachmate offers, please visit our managed file transfer solutions page.

Is Your Enterprise Losing Control of File Transfers is a post from: Data In Motion - a Managed File Transfer blog

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When we last left John, he was bracing for an awkward conversation with his boss.

It started when he tried to email a proposal to a very important client at deadline time. Unfortunately, the proposal’s file size exceeded the limit set by John’s IT department. A predictable chain of events ensued: proposal not received… …client unhappy… …account lost to competition… …John’s perspiration level rising.

As we shared in our last post, streamlining user-driven file transfers can increase your peace of mind. With the right file transfer solution, you’ll know your files are secure and you’ll be alerted any time a transfer fails.

Last week, Attachmate released:

• Reflection for Secure IT Web Edition 8.0, a new addition to its Reflection for Secure IT product suite, and;
• FileXpress FileShot 1.9, an enterprise-class managed file transfer product that simplifies large file transfers between users.

These new releases are easy to use, reliable and keep data secure during file transfers.

Reflection for Secure IT Web Edition is a new member of the RSIT family of SSH clients and servers for Windows and UNIX. It’s the first RSIT product to offer user-driven file transfer via the Web. This allows users to transfer files of any size to and from the corporate network with no special software or training.

With FileShot, users can securely exchange files with people inside and outside the network on an ad hoc basis. Outside users receive files through a simple, secure Web interface. The latest release of FileShot delivers faster transfer speeds and support for popular Web browsers like Chrome and Safari.

Both products make file transfer faster, simpler, and easier, without compromising security. Using them at your company will protect your data, AND protect your users from those awkward conversations with management (like the one John is about to have).

Get started today by visiting the links below:

http://www.attachmate.com/products/mft/security/rsit-web/tech-specs.htm

http://www.attachmate.com/Products/mft/filexpress/fxfs/fxfs.htm

Reflection for Secure IT Web Edition 8.0 and FileShot 1.9 to the Rescue is a post from: Data In Motion - a Managed File Transfer blog

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Email is the most common way that users transfer files to other users. That makes sense, doesn’t it? Email is fast and easy. We rely on it to communicate with employers, colleagues, vendors, family and friends. It makes sense that we default to sending a file through email. However, with fast and easy, we often sacrifice security and reliability.

Consider the story of John. John works in a professional services organization and has promised to deliver a large proposal to an important client by end of day. John typically relies on email to send his files, so he simply drafts an email and attaches the proposal and hits send. John leaves for the day, but when he arrives at work the next morning he is met with an angry email from the client. He didn’t receive the proposal because the file exceeded the size limits set by his IT Department. John loses the account and now faces an awkward conversation with his manager.

This scenario is far too common. We rely on email so heavily, but email was never intended to be used as a file transfer system. With email there is no guarantee that your attachments will reach the intended recipient. Additionally, sending large files can be a pain for the receiver who ends up with a jammed inbox. This puts added pressure on the IT department who is tasked with finding a solution. It can be a vicious cycle.

Fortunately, John’s story doesn’t have to be yours. By streamlining your user-driven file transfers, you can spare yourself John’s pain and gain peace of mind. You will know that your file is secure and you’ll be alerted if it doesn’t transfer properly.
Attachmate has several solutions that address managed file transfer challenges. Next month we’ll introduce two of them. Until then, here are some handy tools for evaluating managed file transfer solutions.

Do you have your own “John story?” Feel free to share it in the comments section below!

User-driven file transfers and you is a post from: Data In Motion - a Managed File Transfer blog

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When you send an important package through the postal service, you want to ensure it safely reaches the intended recipient. So you buy insurance, or you request a tracking number, or a receipt notification. You don’t want to risk your item getting lost or stolen. And you want peace of mind that the package arrived undamaged.

The same is true for transferring files. When you send photos, music, documents and other files, you want to know that it arrived safely and securely. This is how a managed file transfer solution can help. Whether or not you’ve made New Year’s resolutions for 2013, resolve today to rid yourself of file transfer anxiety for good!

We’ve identified the top three managed file transfer (MFT) benefits for 2013.

1. Cut file transfer costs. File transfers are more costly and time-consuming than they might first appear. Developing custom ad hoc solutions often appears to be the fastest and most efficient way to address file transfer requirements. However, over the long term, this may not hold true. Many ad hoc file transfer solutions have little to no upfront cost, but can cost an organization down the road. If each employee uses a different method for transferring files, IT is pained with troubleshooting each method. The cost add up quickly:

• debugging scripts with insufficient error handling,
• babysitting unreliable methods, and;
• compensating for file transfer solutions that can’t keep up with demand.

These issues highlight the need for a more reliable, comprehensive approach to file transfers. With a single, common file transfer platform that scales to handle the volume of file transfers within your organization, you can control costs. MFT solutions offer:

• Rapid deployment of new file transfer workflows,
• better management and reporting,
• reduced development and troubleshooting costs,
• improved security, and;
• increased responsiveness to changing business and technology conditions.

For more information on how to reduce operational costs with managed file transfer, read our previous blog post.

2. Improve compliance. Complying with regulations is a necessary part of business, and file transfers are no exception. Each organization has its own rules and policies in place, to:

• protect the confidentiality of data,
• ensure critical information is not tampered with, and;
• demonstrate that proper controls are in place when transferring files.

Managed file transfer solutions like FileXpress have been designed and developed to comply with security best practices.

3. Streamline integration. Not every business takes advantage of the many ways to organize, integrate and analyze business data. The reason is at least partially due to the difficulties encountered trying to reliably transfer data between applications. To improve application integration, organizations need a platform for file transfer that is readily configured to meet new requirements and provides commonly needed features, such as error handling, security and logging. Application integration and data exchange can enable innovative ways of working with information. Managed file transfer solutions can enable reliable and scalable data exchange that is essential for leveraging the maximum value from your data resources.

Now your turn: did we miss anything? Share one of your favorite MFT benefits in the comments!

The Top 3 MFT Benefits for 2013 is a post from: Data In Motion - a Managed File Transfer blog

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Picture this scenario: Your organization has a signed contractual obligation to provide a set of services  to a business partner.  As a part of those services, you must deliver a file to your business partner no later than  4 a.m. on Monday morning. The file is produced by a batch process that is generated over the weekend and then copied to your partner using a file transfer script. Monday morning arrives and you receive an angry phone call that the file never made it to your business partner, and now they are threatening to apply the penalties section of your service level agreement.

Nobody wants that phone call. Unfortunately, that situation is possible when using file transfer protocol (FTP).

Organizations using FTP are often drawn in by the allure of an easy, familiar and inexpensive solution. But there are FTP risks.  As we prepare to close down another year and ring in 2013, it is a good time to evaluate the past year and look for organizational improvements.

We’ve identified the top four FTP risks of 2012 below:

• Reliability. FTP has been seen to have challenges with large files.  Additionally, there is no provision in FTP for determining that an error has occurred in transmission, and alerting an operator that something needs to be done.   A more risk-averse approach to mission-critical file transfers is to use a Managed File Transfer (MFT) solution, which can trigger an alert if a problem arises and even retry the file transfer automatically.
• Security. FTP has no encryption. This means that the data in the transferred files is put at risk and open to network sniffing.  Beyond that, your login credentials (username and password) are also visible to a network sniffer. Imagine the risk you incur if administrative level access to your FTP server becomes available to malicious operator. By contrast, MFT solutions encrypt files as they are sent and keep login information protected.
• Automation. FTP users run the risk of compromising login information when trying to automate the file transfer process. Automating file transfers with FTP is script-based. The system administrator has to write a script that talks to the FTP server, specifies what files to send, and where they should go on the server; however for simplicity, systems administrators will frequently write an FTP username and password into a script. This creates a notable FTP risk. People sharing scripts are also sharing user credentials.  This leaves an organization vulnerable. MFT solutions significantly reduce the need for scripts and offer built-in capabilities for automation. For example, the initiation of the file transfer, the confirmation of the file transfer, the alerting if there are problems with the file transfer, are all done without scripting.
• Auditing and Logging. Another FTP risk comes through in auditing and logging. The challenge with FTP is that it does not provide the level of auditing that organizations need to document compliance with data security regulations. It also does not allow administrators to easily identify when a problem has occurred and help resolve that problem. MFT will help you confirm that a transfer went through and log the details necessary to identify the problem when it doesn’t. This will help you avoid situations like the one described above.

Investing in a more robust solution in the new year could save you and your organization time, money and headaches by avoiding these FTP risks.

What other FTP risks have you identified?

Top FTP Risks of 2012 is a post from: Data In Motion - a Managed File Transfer blog

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In this blog, we dedicate a lot of space to talking about improving IT efficiency and reducing the impact of failed file transfers on IT operations staff.  So it wouldn’t hurt to take time out to talk about something very near-and-dear to the hearts of those folks whose jobs we try so hard to simplify, namely IT salaries.  Enjoy this post from our team.

Are IT Salaries Really on the Rise?

IT jobs mean high salaries. That’s been the trend over the past couple of decades, at least. Want to be set for life? Study computer science. Become a developer. Learn about SQL and databases or choose your favorite programming language.

To be fair, there have been some blips on the IT jobs radar. The 2000 dot-com bust put a damper on demand for IT professionals, at least for a little while. And many tech jobs are still on the rebound from the worst days of the current recession.

But have IT salaries remained the same? Are they rising? Recent compensation trends tell us a lot about the current technology marketplace and what the future holds for IT professionals.

Rising or falling?

If you’re a recent entrant to the IT workforce or you’re looking to increase your earnings, there’s plenty of good news. IT salaries are rising, and that’s in nearly every tech-related job category.

According to the latest salary guide published by IT services company, Bluewolf, pay for software developers, data analysts, user experience technologists, and many others is rising and will continue to do so throughout 2012. These jobs don’t pay entry-level wages, either. For IT professionals with even the most modest compensation, salaries rarely dip below $50,000 at the low end.

And many positions pay well in excess of $100,000, even for bottom-level earners.

While some IT positions will experience only modest increases in salary – quality assurance analysts, for instance – the overall trends are promising. On the whole, IT pros will earn more in 2012 than they did in 2011.

Reasons for the increase

Why do IT salaries keep rising? For one thing, pay is still lower than it was four years ago. As the economic recovery takes hold, salaries are slowly returning to their former glory.

Data analysts and business intelligence professionals, for example, will finally see their pay surpass 2008 levels. Many others are still approaching their pre-recession earnings.

But it’s the prominence of mobile technologies and cloud computing that is breathing life into the IT job market – big data and user engagement, too. As demand for better mobile access and enterprise cloud services rises across a number of industries, more companies are looking for capable, professional IT talent with specific skill sets.

High-growth areas

Even though pay for nearly all tech jobs is increasing, some positions are experiencing faster growth than others.

Software developers, in particular, will see significant salary increases in 2012, and that’s for professionals with various levels of experience. Entry-level software developers in the San Francisco Bay Area who earned $74,000 to $114,000 last year will earn between $79,000 and $121,000 in 2012.

Web development pros are faring well, too. A mid-career front-end developer in the Bay Area who earned $129,000 in 2011 can expect to earn up to $138,000 this year, a serious increase if there ever was one.

While the numbers in Bluewolf’s analysis only account for US cities commonly thought of as “tech hubs,” the numbers cover regions on both coasts and should closely mirror the country at large. That’s good news for all IT professionals – no matter where they live.

Are IT Salaries Really on the Rise? is a post from: Data In Motion - a Managed File Transfer blog

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Millions and millions of files are transferred every day around the world. But it is not typically done in the most secure and reliable manner. More and more businesses are realizing the shortcomings of traditional file transfer methods like email and file transfer protocol (FTP) and are looking for a more reliable and secure file transfer option. Though FTP is quite alluring with its initial free price tag, it is not the robust solution that most enterprises need.  FTP can put an enterprise at risk because it does not offer a recovery mechanism if the transfer fails and you have no way of knowing if the transfer was complete. There is also no provision for data encryption with FTP, which means that sensitive data could easily be exposed in transit.

So what should you be looking for in a file transfer solution? Selecting a reliable and secure file transfer solution is critical. Here are some additional key factors to consider when evaluating a file transfer solution:

• Support for the growing demands of partners and customers. As your business-to-business interactions increase, so will your file transfer requirements. Support for multiple platforms, secure communications, user-interface options, and scalability is essential to an organization’s file transfer strategy.
• Complete reliability. In a perfect world, file transfers would be reliable, accurate, complete, and timely. But all too often, the file transfer process is missing one of these critical elements. Capabilities such as automated retries, exception alerts, and file transfer queuing will provide the reliability needed to detect problems, notify senders, and recover transfers when transmissions fail.
• Support for internal and external security mandates. Every time data moves across the network, there’s risk involved. It’s important to choose a managed file transfer (MFT) solution that provides comprehensive support for the necessary authentication, authorization, and encryption technologies. The solution should also include a full set of secure protocols, including HTTPS, FTPS, SFTP, and PGP over FTP.
• Ease of use. When evaluating different solutions, it’s important to ask these key questions: Is this file exchange solution easy to deploy and manage? Does the solution offer detailed reporting and auditing capabilities? How convenient is the recipient experience? An effective MFT solution will provide a positive user experience for partners, customers, and employees. It will also reduce or even eliminate manual effort on the part of the user.

For more information on reliable and secure file transfers, you can take a look at our solution brief Securing Internet File Transfers.

What do you look for?

What Should You Look For In a Reliable and Secure File Transfer Solution? is a post from: Data In Motion - a Managed File Transfer blog

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If you’ve ever put the words “enterprise”, “file”, and “transfer” together in your mind, in that order, then it’s very possible that you were thinking about one or more of the following: in the context of “enterprise file transfer”:

• The way that files move into and out of your enterprise from business partners and customers, both user-driven and system-driven
• The way that files move around within your enterprise – from corporate to branch locations or between geographically distant departments
• The reality that FTP is failing in so many environments throughout the enterprise, for security or reliability reasons – surely there’s a better approach to automating, securing, and hardening those file transfers.
• You have enterprise computing platforms that need to share bulk data with other internal applications, and you need a reliable way to schedule and execute that bulk data movement.

Now the reasons you might be conceptualizing enterprise file transfer vary.  Do any of these scenarios sound familiar?

• You’re looking for a repeatable, consistent, streamlined process for supporting requests for external file transfers that supports the varied requirements of your entire enterprise.
• You’re struggling with sharing large files internally between geographically distant locations, perhaps between engineering or development teams.  Or maybe you’re looking for a reliable, “fire-and-forget” method for moving files between the corporate data center and branch sites.
• Your in-house solution, built on FTP and originally scoped for departmental use, has taken on a life of its own and is bowing under the weight of enterprise requirements and modern data security expectations.
• Your developers need to spend less time coding and troubleshooting file transfers within their applications and instead focus on the customer-facing elements of those applications.

Enterprise-class managed file transfer solutions provide the range of capabilities needed for enterprise file transfer use cases.  They provide an infrastructure that offers a range of benefits like the following:

• An intuitive and repeatable method for defining external file transfers and provisioning those transfers to new and existing business partners.
• Reliable system-to-system file transfer that detects and gracefully recovers from errors, and is designed for your enterprise platforms, such as IBM mainframes, IBM midrange, Microsoft Windows servers, and UNIX servers.
• A focus on automation that simplifies the execution of file transfers by system administrators and application developers.  Imagine a file transfer service that is easy to utilize and just takes care of the important elements of security, error recovery, notifications, alerting, and starting the post-processing of files when they arrive at their destination.
• An equal focus on user-driven file transfer that streamlines the process of sending a file to another user internally or externally, especially files too large for email.

What this means to your organization is that your administrators, developers, and users are less focused on the setup and execution of file transfers, and instead are benefitting from the results of reliable, secure and on-demand data exchange.

If you’re looking to learn more about managed file transfer, Attachmate offers access to a number of third party research assets on this page.  If you are interested in learning more about how Attachmate delivers the technology to support the infrastructure discussed above, you can read about Attachmate FileXpress, our enterprise file transfer solution.

Enterprise File Transfer and You is a post from: Data In Motion - a Managed File Transfer blog

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With the recent launch of FileXpress 7.2, Attachmate’s enterprise file transfer solution, we saw several articles surrounding the updated solutions.

Biztech2 wrote an article titled, “Attachmate Unveils FileXpress 7.2,” that highlights the availability of FileXpress Internet Server 7.2 and FileXpress Command Center 7.2 and how the new capabilities in these releases improve the overall reliability and automation of data movement. Additionally, Biztech2 reinforced that FileXpress 7.2 enables an organizations’ compliance with security policies for themselves, their partners and customers.

We also saw an article in IT Jungle titled, “Attachmate Add Features with MFT Update,” that discussed the new data integration, authentication, and administrative capabilities intended to streamline MFT functions.

The IT Jungle article shared a little about the history of the enterprise file transfer solution, which has been on the market for about three years, and outlined the core components of the solution.

It is exciting to hear what people are saying about FileXpress, we like the buzz and hope you find the articles useful.

For a list of questions that will help you assess if you’re ready for an enterprise file transfer solution, as well as links to useful resources from industry analysts, click here.

Attachmate’s Enterprise File Transfer Solution Gets Media Coverage is a post from: Data In Motion - a Managed File Transfer blog

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