Egnyte in the News! “Egnyte Adds HTML5, Scalability To File Sharing Platform For SMBs”

Posted on April 4, 2012 by Emily Ganz

File storage and synchronization service Egnyte, is debuting a new product today, called Egnyte HybridCloud File Sharing for the Enterprise.

As we’ve written in the past, Egnyte is essentially a Dropbox or Box.net-like service that focuses primarily on helping small and medium-sized businesses sync and store their files. The startup uses a hybrid cloud solution, where businesses keep a Network-Attached Storage device linked up to their office’s computers, which serves as a ‘local cloud’ — all files are synced and backed up on this local, network connected hardware. These Local Clouds can consist of Netgear Ready NAS devices, or VMware-based virtual appliances.

The ‘local cloud’ NAS is also hooked up to Egnyte’s servers so any changes made between the client computers and the files on the NAS are also synced up to the web for remote access. Once these files are in the cloud, company admins can enable file sharing between employees and also to business partners, who can be given restricted access to specific files. This cloud portion also serves as a remote backup, and files can be accessed from Macs, Windows, and mobile phones.

Egnyte has made a number of improvements to its existing product, including a new simplified UI based on HTML5, allowing users to access Egnyte from any mobile device, as well as through mobile apps and the web. Users also have access to integrations with Salesforce, Google Docs and Microsoft Outlook, Avatron, QuickOffice, and GoodReader.

The startup is also debuting Egnyte Object Store, a new architecture that allows organizations to scale up to 10 million files and upwards of 10,000 concurrent users. Users can file uploads up to 1 terabyte with Egnyte’s Unified FTP environment.

Additionally, Egnyte has integrated with Sophos SafeGuard to provide an end to-end security solution, including mobile device encryptions and complete control over data encryption keys.

Egnyte faces competition from Sugarsync, Box.net, Dropbox and others. But despite being in a market filled with worthy competitors, the startup has been able to accumulate over a million paid users. And the company has raised $16 million from Kleiner Perkins, Floodgate and Polaris.

By Leena Rao, TechCrunch

March 20, 2012

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Egnyte in the News! “Egnyte spruces up enterprise file sharing as market heats up”

Posted on March 30, 2012 by Emily Ganz

More companies are starting to put at least some of their corporate data in the cloud and a growing pack of vendors is fighting for that business. The latest entry:Egnyte’s updated hybrid cloud service, which raises the file and end-user limit per account.

It is only within the last year that companies seem truly comfortable entrusting at least some business files — perhaps the archival information that once would have been relegated to tape drives — to a cloud storage solution. Egnyte is pushing its hybrid cloud —  which syncs files between a local cloud and an off-site cloud — as a secure solution for such jobs.

The new Egnyte HybridCloud File Sharing for the Enterprise supports up to 1 billion files per account (up from 1 million) and 10,000 concurrent users (up from 1,000), said Vineet Jain, CEO of the Mountain View, Calif.-based company. The new HybridCloud is also integrated with NetApp’s storage appliance.

With the updated offering, Egnyte steps up the already intense battle for businesses that will pay to put their content into a secure cloud. Key contenders  are Box (formerly Box.net) which most recently claimed 8 million users. But there are new entrants by the day, including GroupLogic’s ActiveEcho, Accellion’s Kitedrive, and SurDoc. To further complicate matters, the major platform players — Microsoft, VMware, Apple and Citrix are all working on their own cloud storage and file share-and-sync options.

Egnyte can play the cross-platform card — with support for Android, iPhone, iPad  (and now Windows Phone 7.5) devices as well as the major desktops. And Egnyte’s paying customers are not subsidizing lots of free riders, Jain said. Egnyte offers a two-week trial whereas Box and Dropbox– the consumer fan favorite — subscribe to the “freemium” model where users, as long as they don’t surpass a predetermined data limit — 5GB for Box, 2GB for Dropbox — store for free.

As companies put more of their stuff in the cloud, the demand for those storage resources will grow, but so will the number of vendors jockeying for all that business.

By Barb Darrow, GigaOm

March 20, 2012

 

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Learfield Communications, Inc. replaces 70 file servers with Egnyte HybridCloud

Posted on March 23, 2012 by Emily Ganz

Collegiate Sports Marketing

Do you carve out time to catch the sports games of your Alma Mater? Do you prepare for every game decked out in your school’s colors, head to toe? The live TV or radio broadcast of your favorite college team may be brought to you by Learfield Sports, a division of Learfield Communications Inc. Learfield Sports manages multimedia rights for more than 50 collegiate institutions, associations and conferences including Penn State, Stanford, Oklahoma, Big Ten Conference, Missouri, Indiana and the Black Coaches & Administrators (BCA).  Additionally, it titles the acclaimed Learfield Sports Directors’ Cup with award co-founders NACDA and USA Today and provides exclusive sports programming to more than 1,000 radio stations nationwide.  More than 160 local television stations, cable systems and Regional Sports Networks carry Learfield Sports’ programming as well.

Learfield Communications Inc. also operates several state news radio networks throughout the Midwest including the Brownfield Network, America’s largest radio network devoted to agriculture.

Opportunity: Access any file, from anywhere, with any device

In order to support the needs of their collegiate partners, Learfield has 70 offices distributed across the country, with 500 employees who attend games and meet with clients. When offsite, employees struggled with the need to access their business files quickly and easily.  Employees have a range of devices, including iPads, iPhones, PCs and Macs.

“When out of the office or away from our office computer, we did not have access to our files,” said a Learfield employee. “We had to be at a computer or in an office to access files, and VPN was difficult and time consuming.”

Having limited access to files prevented employees from efficiently doing their job. They wanted ‘anytime access’ to their files, and from any device.

Challenge: Efficiently Supporting a Distributed Organization

Recognizing the cost and complexity of maintaining 70 file servers, Phil Atkinson, Vice President of Information Technology, searched for a solution that would provide employees flexible access without compromising speed and security. He wanted to provide employees with efficient access to files while on the road. However, he did not want the risk of files being shared with the wrong person. He needed a solution that gave him central visiblity and control, while enabling the 70 offices to remain connected and remote employees able to access files. He needed a hybrid cloud solution.

Solution: Hybrid Cloud File Server

Learfield selected Egnyte to replace physical file servers in each of their 70 offices. With Egnyte, Learfield has been able to shut down costly VPN tunnels and local servers, while improving productivity for employees. Employees working remotely were now able to have their business files with them at all times.

Egnyte HybridCloud has been deployed to over 175 users across 15 offices. In ten of the offices Learfield has deployed either Enterprise Local Cloud, deployed as a VMware virtual appliance, or Office Local Cloud, deployed on a NETGEAR ReadyNAS device to provide local access to files to users in the offices, along with the mobile/cloud access to users in the field. In the other 60 offices, employees use mapped drive to access their files directly from the cloud. The hybrid cloud approach ensures that all users have the latest version of all files, and can safely and securely access, modify and share files anywhere and on any device whether on- or off-line.  Over the next 2 years Phil plans to roll Egnyte out to all 70 offices and 500 employees. Already, employees are starting to push for Egnyte to be rolled out faster in all offices, citing the ease of use and flexible access as key benefits.

“I love being able to securely access my work files, whether on the road, at a sporting event, or even at grandmas,” says a Learfield employee. “With Egnyte I don’t have to worry about my site having a wireless connection, since I can always access my files locally using the Egnyte Local Cloud.”

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Egnyte in the News! “Box rival Egnyte overhauls HybridCloud storage solution for businesses”

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Emily Ganz

Enterprise-focused cloud storage company Egnyte has added many new capabilities to its HybridCloud File Sharing service, including a new HTML5 interface, support for 10,000 concurrent users, and better collaboration tools, the company announced today.

Egnyte competes with heavily with Box to attract businesses to its cloud storage solutions. Thus far, Egnyte has helped businesses share more than 1 billion files using the HybridCloud file server, but its focus until today has been on small and medium-sized businesses, according to CEO Vineet Jain. With lots of new features on hand, it can do better to compete in the cloud space and attract big customers.

“We’ve been associated with SMBs and departmental use by players like Best Buy,” Jain told VentureBeat. “Now we are primed for working with the largest companies because of a slew of new products and partnerships.”

With the revamped HybridCloud File Sharing service, the company is emphasizing three main points: simplicity, scalabilty, and security. For simplicity, the company has a new HTML5 user interface that makes navigation easier. Combined with the better mobile apps for iPad, iPhone, Android, and Windows Phone, it will be lot more efficient to work with managed files.

For scalability, the company has boosted the number of concurrent users to access a folder to 10,000 people. Organizations can now have up to 1 billion files stored and there’s support for uploaded files up to 1TB. There are also Egnyte partners like NetApp, Netgear, and VMware that give the IT department more tools for integration with HybridCloud.

And finally, for security, the company has new integration with Sophos SafeGuard, which can add heightened levels of encryption to your files. And if that doesn’t suit your businesses security preferences, Egnyte also works with VMware Horizon Application Manager, OneLogin, Symplified, SAML, and Active Directory.

“Maintaining their own encryption keys allows businesses to control their data securely, and when married with Egnyte’s HybridCloud File server, they have the security of maintaining their data both behind the firewall and in the cloud, which is optimal for collaboration between mobile and remote workers, and those in the office,” said Matthias Pankert, VP of Product Management for Sophos, in a statement.

Jain said 65 percent of its customers primarily use the company for file server replacement, 28 percent for cross-office collaboration, and 7 percent use it mostly for file sharing. But he could see those numbers change as needs change and the company wins over companies using other cloud solutions.

Unlike Box (and consumer-focused solutions like Dropbox and SugarSync, for that matter), Egnyte does not offer a freemium model. Jain said he wants the product defined as an enterprise solution rather than being in a gray area like competitors. Pricing starts with 5 Employees sharing 150GB at $24.99 per month.

Mountain View, Calif.-based Egnyte was founded 2007. It has raised about $16 million from firms including Kleiner Perkins, Caufield & Byers, Floodgate Fund, and Polaris Venture Partners.

By Sean Ludwig, VentureBeat

March 20, 2012

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Egnyte in the News! “Pity the PC: Is there really no PC in the post-PC era?”

Posted on March 13, 2012 by Emily Ganz

In two years’ time, your personal cloud will replace your PC as your go-to computing resource, according to new Gartner research. The prevailing wisdom is that the desktop and laptop PC  – or any non-smartphone, non-tablet device — is headed for the dustbin of history.

Last week, former Microsoft chief software architect Ray Ozzie, reiterated his contention — building on thoughts expressed two years ago in his “Dawn of a New Day” memo  — that we’re in a post-PC world. For a sitting Microsoft exec to utter those words back then was revolutionary. Now they’re just accepted as fact.

The PC’s problem is the proliferation of ever smarter, more feature-filled smartphones and tablets that pack a lot of compute power into tiny form factors. These devices have the capacity to do more than communicate.  I know reporters who can thumb-type full feature stories onto their smartphones with seeming ease, for example.

Still, it would be a mistake to conflate tablet/smartphone success with the total demise of the PC. Here’s why.

Broadband is not ubiquitous

First, despite the proliferation of broadband connectivity, we are still not always online.  Not even in metro areas. And most people still need to be productive when they’re not connected.

And, as bandwidth is added, it will be quickly consumed as more businesses implement video and other bandwidth-hungry technologies. The title of a new research report by Network Instruments says it all: “Cloud and Bandwidth Demands Challenge IT Teams.” And that’s inside the firewall. (Fun fact: 70 percent of the 163 networking pros surveyed said their companies will implement video conferencing within the year.)

Second, thumb typists notwithstanding, there are jobs for which a PC is just a better tool.

The PC makers are all over this notion and are scrambling to offer “personal cloud” services with every PC sold. The latest example is Lenovo’s SugarSync deal that bundles 5GB of free storage with any Lenovo tablet or PC. By wrapping their PCs in cloud services, the PC guys are trying really, really hard to prove their relevance.

Not either or, but many devices

In a statement, Gartner analyst Steve Kleynhans provided some nuance. The move to a personal cloud is fueled by the consumerization of IT, by the growing replacement of fat client-server applications by lean mobile apps, and by what he called the “ever-available self-service cloud” that lets people (connected people) download what they need when needed and upload their files for offsite storage.

“Major trends in client computing have shifted the market away from a focus on personal computers to a broader device perspective that includes smartphones, tablets and other consumer devices,” said Kleynhans. “Emerging cloud services will become the glue that connects the web of devices that users choose to access during the different aspects of their daily life.”

The reality, as Kleynhans states, is that very few things are either/or. And in this case most users will continue to use multiple devices.

At a meeting Tuesday, Vineet Jain, CEO of Egnyte, a cloud storage company, dismissed the notion of the post-PC era.  ”My iPad is never going to replace this,” he said, gesturing at his MacBook Air.  Like Jain, many consumers — and not just those who lead high-tech companies — will continue to use tablets, smartphones and — PCs for various tasks.

When things settle down, the post-PC era will look a lot more like the PC plus era.

By Barb Darrow, GigaOm

March 13, 2012

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