The speed of business isn't slowing down any time soon. The files we send are getting larger, we're distributing them to more people, more often and over increasingly greater distances. The accomplishment of our collaborative tasks is heavily reliant on one universal tool: File Transfer Protocol (FTP). But FTP's capabilities and convenience factors are beginning to wane in the shadow of drawbacks that are increasingly apparent in the hastening digital business environment. 

We've put together a list of four of the most common ways FTP can harm your business. It might be wise to evaluate whether any of these are impacting your company:

1)    Security Vulnerabilities

You don’t have to look far to find resources online that decry the security flaws in FTP. Increased concerns over privacy, security and compliance regulations are prompting many firms to reevaluate their technology tools, and FTP should rank near the top of that list.

Every other application or program that is as commonly used and tied to as many systems as FTP is given the highest levels of security scrutiny. It is only practical that we should examine our FTP systems in a similar fashion.

2)    Permissions Management

CIO’s, system administrators and webmasters should be all too familiar with the idea of managing permissions. FTP servers are accessible via the web and there are usually multiple users accessing the same FTP site. Because of this ease of accessibility and the folder-file directory system inherent to FTP, there will always be permissions issues. This is especially true if you have a lot of users, a lot of FTP sites that serve various purposes, and/or sensitive data to protect from prying eyes.

Managing who has what level of access and which parts of the FTP server they can see can quickly sap precious time away from IT administrators. FTP seems convenient and it’s easy to use. But it’s imperative to evaluate how much time (and money) is wasted managing FTP users, sites and all their individual directories. After all, your IT department is also managing your servers, your email systems, your workstations, your networks…you get the idea.

3)    Tracking and Monitoring

This one is pretty simple – FTP simply doesn’t have the proper tracking and monitoring capability. Aside from very basic and hard-to-interpret activity logging, there is simply no way to see a visible trail of activity or any way to monitor activity on the server.

With so many users, folders and files – especially on larger FTP servers and web servers – there is too much room for error. Files can get overwritten, deleted or moved and there’s simply no way to immediately know about it, and certainly no way to track down the offender and hold them accountable.

4)    Costly Servers

Most users only see your FTP site from their side of the screen. Perhaps even your own employees are never aware of the ‘back end’. But the reality might prove more sobering, especially to those concerned with the technology budget.

All FTP sites are often based in heavy, space-hogging, high cost servers. If the servers are on-site, they represent a direct cost center to the company, including maintenance, server management, security, cooling systems and more. If the servers are off-site, you’re paying for the colocation, hosting services, monitoring, rack space and support.

Aiming Higher

The quickening pace of the cloud-based file sharing trend is taking the competition toward enterprise-level markets, with leaders in the industry actively pursuing IT departments at bigger businesses.

While there’s still plenty of ebb and flow for competitors in the mainstream small to medium sized business markets, the enterprise-level realm represents a unique challenge.

File sharing giants such as Dropbox are finding that it might be tougher than they thought to apply what they’ve learned from conquering a user base of 25 million by this time last year as they break into enterprise markets.

So far, the needs of users have been relatively clear. FTP Alternatives such as Dropbox and Yousendit enable workers at all levels to accomplish simple, yet important collaborative tasks more quickly and easily.

A ‘Free” For All

Free versions of popular file sharing services are especially attractive, and not just to the bread-and-butter clients in the SMB arena. Employees at enterprise-level firms are indeed gravitating toward the services, but often unbeknownst to – and without the approval of - their respective CIOs.

As a result, the focus is shifting toward the technology leadership at enterprise businesses, but the approach will need some tweaking to land the bigger fish.

You Get What You Pay For

CIOs have greater concerns beyond those of the majority of users. They want systems that are scalable, easy to use, meet their specific needs and integrate seamlessly. But few factors are more important than document security.

In many cases, CIOs are finding that free versions of the more popular services won’t meet their needs effectively. Furthermore, by purchasing enterprise-level licenses for their file sharing software, CIOs can provide their subordinates with the tools they need while mitigating widespread unapproved usage of less secure services that could create vulnerabilities. 

Do You Know What Your Employees Are Downloading?

For many managers and business owners, the answer to that question is 'no'. However, network security company Palo Alto Networks has some helpful insights to shed light on the matter.

The detective work began when some Palo Alto Networks techs installed a firewall for a Fortune 100 client. Shortly thereafter, flags were raised when one of the company's servers was found to be exchanging huge amounts of data in and out of the network, at a rate of about 300 GB per day. 

Typically, large data transfers are justifiable for legitimate work reasons, but this data was coming from a major web-based file sharing site. Furthermore, the content offered on the site includes commonly pirated multimedia such as movies and music, being shared without permission from the copywright owners. 

Among companies that use Palo Alto's firewall product, file sharing is a common practice, with tons of traffic on the networks to show for it. And it's evident that a significant portion of the files being shared and data being exchanged is not for company business.

Upon examining traffic through 1,636 of its clients from April to November in 2011, Palo Alto Networks discovered that 92 percent of those organizations' networks were actively exchanging data on browser-based web file sharing services. These services share data over Port 80, the same one used for HTTP web traffic. But it doesn't stop there.

In addition to the troublesome findings regarding web- and browser-based illegitimate file sharing traffic happening routinely at these companies, peer-to-peer file sharing is also out of control. Of those same 1,636 companies, 82 percent had some type of peer to peer file transfer program running. On average, each company was using about six different P2P clients. In most cases, employees were using torrent applications.

Palo Alto's discoveries, while serving as a wake-up call of sorts for many businesses, are also timely in their revelations, coming on the coattails of the recent crackdown on Megaupload and similar online piracy sites. In fact, Palo Alto Networks has also shown how popular Megaupload was even on company time.  

During the latter part of 2011, 57 percent of the organizations analyzed by Palo Alto had exchanged data with Megaupload. Following Megaupload's shutdown, Palo Alto reports, users rapidly shifted to alternative file sharing sites, with a majority of them heading over to Putlocker.

Large file transfers are a common aspect of many businesses' day-to-day operations, so it's easy for prohibited activitiy to go unnoticed on the network.  The importance of this message goes beyond network security for the average company. Allowing such large amounts of unwarranted traffic across the company network to go unchecked could land the business in hot water. Employers should be vigilant, lest they be blindsided by copyright infringement lawsuits or any number of piracy and fraud related legal woes.

It's imperative to use tools that will mitigate unauthorized data exchange over the company network. Products such as Palo Alto's firewall applications can provide the proper security and monitoring. Additionally, it is advisable to use a file sharing service, such as eTransmittal, that offers a secure, dedicated point of exchange that's easily monitored, verified and trackable. In this fashion, the true nature of your employees' file sharing activities can be pinpointed and audited.

March 2, 2012 -- The crackdown on shady file sharing sites and online piracy began with the digital demolition of the infamous Megaupload website and its 'sister sites' in early February, but has since spread to other potentially problematic pirates.

Torrential Troubles

Torrent websites and other similar file sharing venues with a deluge of multimedia content have been popular targets for the crackdown, some now reduced to a single page bearing an FBI Anti-Piracy Warning. Even some streaming sites offering major league sports content are getting axed.

While the felonious fraudsters are being picked off left and right, still others are taking the hint and taking action. Many have already posted public announcements regarding changes to their policies and practices. While the usual suspects scramble to clean up their acts, fearing their place in line for judgement is edging closer to the chopping block, the changes they're making have been largely off-putting to users.

Multimedia Magnetism

However, one notable torrent tycoon refuses to abandon ship, providing users with an alternative to their popular torrent provisions rather than simply doing away with them. The Pirate Bay has long been a comfortable cove of bittorrent booty on the cyberseas. But the website published an announcement this week that torrents on the Bay are getting tossed overboard.

While the change seems detrimental to their loyal followers on the surface, Pirate Bay still intends to share its treasures with the crew; in the form of "Magnet Links". Most users will see little difference between the torrent methods previously used on PB and the new Magnet Links. According to the PB Blog, the new Magnet Links prove beneficial time and space savers for them, not to mention an un-trackable alternative to torrents for users. 

Furthermore, PB notes that the strain on their servers and resources is substantially mitigated and bandwidth consumption is reduced. With censorship threats moving in from all sides, especially in the European Union, the solution allows the Swedish file swap shop to ensure their policies and practices are all on the up-and-up and still keep users happy, maintaining the busy buzz of all that media moving around.

Building Delays Are Avoidable with Preparation and Proper Tools

Almost anyone in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry, in any position will agree that building projects are anything but predictably cut-and-dry.  The majority of building projects are inherently prone to delays, derailments and disasters.

Executing without issue given the sheer size and scope of most projects, combined with the complexity of so many workers, tasks, tools, resources and materials all being coordinated at once, and on a deadline, is a tall order. Here are a few of the most common setbacks that could be avoided with the proper planning and tools.

Shipping & Delivery Distress

It’s hard enough to coordinate the logistics of construction equipment and building materials. You shouldn’t have to worry about shipping and distribution for blueprints, yet so many do.  Because building plans, drawings and other crucial documents can stack up the gigabytes in digital form, it’s hard to send them electronically. As a result, many of these documents get printed out, packed up mailed to the recipient. The sacrifice is immense, turning a time frame of a few seconds into a few days, not to mention the added shipping costs.

Solution: Traditional methods of sending files electronically, such as FTP and email, won’t be able to handle huge AutoCAD drawings. But instead of settling for snail mail, use a file transfer software properly equipped for the task. Check out our FTP Alternatives page to learn more.

Insufferable Inspections

The hallmark of a successful building project is a well-built, safe and sturdy structure ready to serve its occupants with long-lasting enjoyment and utility. It is largely in the hands of the Inspectors to see that this is accomplished, and done so safely and within regulations. While inspections can often contribute to delays, we can take simple preparations to ensure we instead benefit from the Inspectors.

Solution: Don’t jump the gun, even on a deadline, and call in any inspectors too early. Ensure that you’re entirely prepared for the inspection before you order one. Use online resources; sharing files with inspectors on the web can shorten the process and ensure a timely delivery of the project documents.  Similarly, don’t schedule an inspection too late, giving yourself time to make corrections as needed.

Blundered Blueprints

If you’ve ever tried to construct a complex model, toy, or furniture piece without an instruction manual, you can understand how difficult it would be to build a structure without blueprints. That’s bad enough, but what if you had the instructions, yet they were incorrect and you didn’t know it? Your job would be even harder! Builders deal with this problem all the time, and it’s because they typically use FTP to collaborate on a shared drawing file.  With so many revisions and updates, and so many different users accessing and updating the file, changes get lost or updates aren’t tracked or they’re overwritten. It’s a nightmarish scenario for building crews, but it’s avoidable.

Solution: Don’t use FTP for collaboration on such crucial documents – it isn’t suited for that. Instead, use a collaboration software tool that is specifically designed to establish a trail of accountability and prevent overwrites while ensuring everyone has the latest version of every file. Transferring files using transmittals and submittals keeps things more tidy and gives you nice document history.

SOPA’s Last Death Rattle

While the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) endured a web-wide battering, most notably on January 18 with titans like Wikipedia and Google participating in the protest, the anti-piracy rallying rippled far enough to reach one of the biggest alleged offenders. 

On the coattails of defeat over legislation that would have threatened the very fabric of the internet, Anti-Piracy advocates celebrated a small triumph as Federal Prosecutors shut down behemoth file sharing website, Megaupload. 

Slaying the Download Dragon

Accused of costing copyright holders $500 million at the consequence of online piracy, Megaupload’s demise didn’t just coincide with the heated SOPA controversy. They were also trying to straighten up and fly right, trying to work towards cutting out the illegitimacy from the business. 

Despite putting their best foot forward, it was too little, too late for the download dragon. Upon visiting Megaupload.com, or any of its associated domains, you’ll be greeted by an FBI Anti-Piracy notice explaining the site has been seized and the responsible parties charged with crimes ranging from Money Laundering to Racketeering.  

Now What Do We Do?

The aftermath of the shutdown has left 180 million registered users without their go-to file sharing site, and many are now searching for alternatives. With the popularity of FTP, finding a new solution shouldn’t represent too many challenges, although FTP has its drawbacks.

To overcome those drawbacks, most are flocking to the growing array of FTP alternatives. When it comes to storing and sharing really big files, a Cloud-based system such as eTransmittal is much more desirable, especially considering the importance of speed, storage space and security. 

In an ideal world, transferring big files would not be a problem for business professionals.  If you are an architecture, construction, or engineering project manager and struggling to find an efficient, cost-effective way to  transfer big files, eTransmittal could be the solution you've been searching for. This SaaS (software as a service) product has features custom tailored for the exact functions you need for complete control over your documents and project collaboration.

Common Services

Etransmittal offers features that solve the problems you might encounter when trying to share large files electronically. Here are just a few of the offered services:

· Document sharing made simple

· Product and profit enhancing functions

· Tracking and security measures through email

· You can even get a free trial of the software if you just want to test it out

Plans & Pricing

FTP issues alone can prove to be a costly setback. Printing and mailing documents can easily sap away at your bottom line.  Therefore, subscribing to a file transfer software that does the job properly needs to represent value and a cost savings. eTransmittal has formulated plans that fit into business budgets with flexibility. The pricing is just right for the functions needed:

· Standard Plan: Unlimited Guest Accounts, 2GB of online storage, a contact management system and basic online support, starting at $29 per month (per user)

· Pro Plan—All the features of the Standard Plan, plus another 8GB of storage, branded transmittals and available discounts. Only $49 a month (per user)

· Premium Plan—This is an enterprise-level plan with all the features of Standard and Pro, a full 20GB of storage and custom features. Starts at $79 a month (per user)

How It Works

So how does eTransmittal work?  The web-based software leverages the Cloud to help you send, receive and track files faster than email, FTP, and certainly 'snail mail'... none of which are efficient means of sharing big files over the internet.

You get automated alerts upon submission of your transmittals to let you know the status of your document, and if there is a security issue, etransmittal.com will tell you about it.  You are made completely aware of everything going on with your document so it is searchable, trackable, secure and private.