Gartner recently released their 2015 Magic Quadrant for Enterprise File Synchronization and Sharing(EFSS). The criteria for a vendor to be included in the list are Revenue, Geography, Commercial Availability, Total Users, Largest Deployment, References and Product Capabilities.

Most of the criteria seemed to favor companies backed by venture capitalists or larger enterprises. Other than Product Capabilities and the Cost of the solution, rest of the criteria is not really matter for a company looking to find an EFSS solution for their needs. This blog will cover how FileCloud is a perfect alternative to Gartner’s Magic Quadrant Leaders in Enterprise File Synchronization and Sharing (EFSS) – Syncplicity, Box, Citrix, Accellion taking into account Gartner’s Product Capabilities inclusion criterion.

Gartner’s Magic Quadrant Leaders in Enterprise File Synchronization and Sharing(EFSS)

FileCloud Syncplicity Box Citrix ShareFile Accellion File Synchronization File Sharing File Access Content Manipulation Mobile OS Diversity PCs Security Management – AD, LDAP, MDM Integration Delivery Model File Transfer Collaboration Security – SAML, DRM Secure Deployment Management – Group Policy, Data Migration Data Governance Certifications, Compliance & Audit Pricing for 100 users/year $5000 $15000 $35000 $22480 $29000 Detailed Comparison FileCloud vs Syncplicity FileCloud vs Box FileCloud vs Citrix FileCloud vs Accellion

Lets take a closer look on how FileCloud actually provides an advantage to the above listed products.

File Synchronization

FileCloud provides effortless File synchronization across computers running Windows, Mac, Linux and even Netgear ReadyNAS NAS devices. Moreover, FileCloud is one of the few products that enable real-time synchronization of files stored in network folders (CIFS, NFS).

File Sharing

With FileCloud one can create a public or a fully private share to folder or files. Changes to shared folders like uploads or file changes are sent out as notifications via email to everyone connected to the share. Activity Streams for every folder allows users to review and view all changes that happened to a folder or a file over a period of time. Additional powerful features includes ability to limit the maximum number of downloads for a shared file, automatically expire a share after a certain time, anonymous file uploads, prevent downloads, integrated file uploads widget and more.

File Access

FileCloud offers multiple ways to access your organization’s files securely: Web access, Desktop Sync, Virtual Drive, Mobile Apps, & WebDAV.

Content Manipulation

With FileCloud one can easily view documents using the built-in Document Preview. In addition, one can edit documents from the web browser with a Lock (check-out) feature that will prevent others from editing the files at the same time.

Mobile OS Diversity

FileCloud’s highly rated apps are available for Apple iPhone, Apple iPad, Android Phones, Android Tablets, Windows Phone 8, Blackberry and FileCloud Metro Windows 8 App. And, administrators have the tool to disable any mobile device from accessing FileCloud.

PCs

FileCloud provides an array of client apps/plugins such as Drive, Sync & Outlook Plugin. The Sync app works on Windows, Mac and Linux. With FileCloud’s Outlook Plugin one can easily provide links to FileCloud files and folders.

Security

FileCloud’s security features include Encryption At Rest & Transit, Customer Managed Encryption keys, Two-Factor Authentication, and Anti-Virus Integration scanning. In addition, FileCloud supports SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language) based web browser Single Sign On (SSO) service that provides full control over the authorization and authentication of hosted user accounts that can access FileCloud Web based interface.

Management – AD, LDAP, MDM

FileCloud was primarily built for the purpose of easily integrating with existing storage and authentication systems. FileCloud allows your existing Active Directory users to use FileCloud using their existing credentials. In addition, provides support for multiple Active Directory servers, support for Mixed Domain Active Directory (Hosted AD).

With FileCloud, one doesn’t need to buy a separate MDM(Mobile Device Management) application. FileCloud has built-in features with which administrators can block any mobile device from access and do a remote wipe for absolute security & control.

Integration

FileCloud offers strong integration with popular productivity apps from Microsoft (Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Apple Keynote and others). FileCloud’s comprehensive API enables seamless integration with Enterprise e-discovery, DRM and Analytics platforms.

Delivery Model

In addition to providing an on-premise solution, FileCloud provides ready made images for easy installation on Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure. FileCloud Public AMI (Amazon Machine Image) is currently available in Amazon AWS Marketplace. Using FileCloud’s AMI and Azure VM, one can host their own file share sync and mobile access solution for their organization is less than 10 minutes.

Collaboration

The built-in FileCloud features such as unlimited versioning, recycle bin support, lock while editing, ability to edit document over the browser provides a powerful set of tools for collaboration.

Security – SAML, DRM

FileCloud offers a SAML-based Single Sign-On (SSO) service that provides customer with full control over the authorization and authentication of hosted user accounts. FileCloud administrator tools include features such as auditing, detailed logging of activities, and ability to disable access or feature on mobile apps. With ease administrators can set up policies with respect to user access, password setup and client applications usage.

Secure Deployment

FileCloud can be securely deployed on Enterprise private clouds and on-premise servers. It can also be hosted on public IaaS providers like AWS and Azure. Compared to other vendors listed in Gartner EFSS magic quadrant, FileCloud offers a 100% private cloud deployment without any connection to our infrastructure. One can also run FileCloud in an internal network without exposing to public internet.

Management – Group Policy, Data Migration

FileCloud provides array of features with respect to group policy enforcement, data migrations, backup and so on. FileCloud is bundled with necessary tool to perform full backups of your cloud installation that includes both files and database.Some of the features of these backup scripts:

can be run at anytime manually from command line

can be part of an automated system like cron job.

can be run on a live cloud installation .

can backup to local or remote Linux targets.

With FileCloud Administrators can easily create groups and classify their users. With AD integration and its sync functionality to integrate AD groups to FileCloud specific groups it becomes a lot easier to maintain access control.

Data Governance

FileCloud provides powerful features such as content search, ability to run audit reports and tools to extract critical data from the audit logs. The extensive Auditing support make sure every operation in FileCloud is logged into the Audit logs to help meet some of toughest compliance such as HIPAA.

Certifications, Compliance & Audit

The below table lists features that makes FileCloud stand apart even from 2015 Gartner’s Magic Quadrant Leaders.

FileCloud Syncplicity Box Citrix ShareFile Accellion On Premise/Self-Hosted IAAS (AWS) Multi-Tenancy Mobile OS Compatibility All All All Not All Not All iOS, Android Media backup Integrate – Existing Home Directories NTFS Support Network Share Support Buy Network Share Versioning Active Directory Support Buy Multiple Active Directory Buy Single Sign-On (NTLM/SSO) Buy Data At Rest Encryption File Lockingt Outlook Integration API Support Buy Amazon S3/OpenStack Support Mobile Device Management (Block devices, remote wipe, notification to devices) Limited Buy Buy Limited

Conclusion

With FileCloud, enterprises get one simple solution with all the needed features ready to be installed. Moreover, for a 100 user package, FileCloud costs $5000/year, almost 1/5th to 1/10th the price of Gartner’s 2015 Magic Quadrant Leaders – Syncplicity, Box, Citrix, Accellion

Take a tour of FileCloud