Egnyte offers hybrid cloud computing service for enterprise file-sharing
March 20, 2012
Cloud computing storage firm Egnyte has unveiled a new service for enterprise customers, aimed at meeting the need for employees to share documents in a scalable and secure solution that combines on-premise and cloud-based storage.
Available immediately, Egnyte Hybrid Cloud is just one of many cloud computing services competing to offer businesses a more corporate-friendly alternative to Dropbox for collaboration and sharing files, including RES Software and Dropbox itself…
Egnyte’s selling point is that its platform uses a hybrid combination of on-premise and cloud computing infrastructure to store files, providing administrators with the control and visibility they require over content while also making it easy for workers and external partners to access files from outside the firewall.
Egnyte Hybrid Cloud for Enterprise builds on existing services offered by the firm, but now adds greater scalability and security, as well as a streamlined user interface for web access and a Windows Phone 7 client.
"This release is about taking the technology and elevating it to true large enterprise scale," Egnyte chief executive Vineet Jain told V3.
The changes include updates to the on-premise side of the platform such as the Egnyte Object Store Architecture, which can now scale to handle a billion files and upwards of 10,000 concurrent users per customer, according to the firm.
Typically, this will be deployed as a VMware virtual appliance which supports a number of enterprise storage platforms, such as those from NetApp, but can also be delivered as part of a Netgear ReadyNAS appliance for branch offices or smaller workgroups.
As with Egnyte’s existing service, the on-premise platform keeps files synchronised with a customer’s storage space on the Egnyte Cloud File Server, while enforcing file permissions across both domains.
In Egnyte Hybrid Cloud for Enterprise, authentication is now linked to an organisation’s Active Directory infrastructure, so that users must supply their same credentials to access files inside the firewall or outside, enabling the IT department to keep data under policy controls.
"Synchronisation of data to the cloud is one thing, but synchronisation of access permissions is key for enterprise customers," added Jain.
While data was previously encrypted once uploaded to the cloud, the new platform offers end-to-end encryption, with users having management control over the keys, according to Egnyte.
Also improved is client-side access, with a new user interface based on HTML5 and a new native Windows Phone app. Egnyte has also enhanced its iPad, iPhone and Android clients, Jain said.
Egnyte Hybrid Cloud for Enterprise is priced at $12.99 per employee per month, for a minimum 25 employees. This includes 3TB of online storage, with extra storage capacity starting at $129.99 for an additional terabyte.