Secure Enterprise
File Sharing and Syncing

Secure Enterprise File Sharing and Syncing

Enterprise employees are increasingly demanding better, easier, more efficient collaborative tools in order to get their jobs done. They want two main functions:

• Anytime, Anywhere Access - Accessing and syncing files between their devices – laptops, desktops, smartphones and tablets – is a priority for enterprise employees.
• Easy Collaboration: Externally & Internally – The ability to share and collaborate on files with both internal and external constituents.

Enterprises want to empower their employees with greater information access, increased team collaboration, improved productivity and employee engagement. Providing such features has significant business benefits that permeate through the entire enterprise operation, positively affecting sales, customer service, R&D, marketing, finance, legal, etc.

Improved access and collaboration must also be balanced with the security, manageability and flexibility required by IT and the Enterprise. Key questions the Enterprise and IT must address include:

• Are your solutions meeting compliance and corporate governance standards in regards to the access and sharing of files by your mobile workforce?
• Are you able to align your enterprise mobility and file sharing strategy with your corporation’s security and management policies?
• Are you concerned about data leakage on mobile devices?
• Are you providing the right tools to make employees more productive?

activEcho is the right answer!

activEcho is the industry’s only Enterprise File Sharing and Syncing solution that balances the end user’s need for simplicity and effectiveness with the security, manageability and flexibility required by Enterprise IT.

activEcho gives Enterprise IT control over who has access to files and lets IT determine whether file-sharing activities meet the compliance and security requirements of their organization. And, activEcho provides a level of visibility and monitoring not available from consumer-based solutions. This is critically important for regulated industries like financial services, healthcare, pharma, legal services and security sensitive organizations.

activEcho delivers:

In short, activEcho gives employees what they want without compromising ease of use, security, or IT management.

Secure Enterprise File Sharing and Syncing

Many of today’s file sharing and syncing tools, whether used for mobile file access or collaboration, are consumer-based products. Without an alternative provided by enterprise IT, these tools are either retro-fitted for the enterprise by consumer developers, or, more commonly, are used by employees on an individual, and unapproved, basis. Not only are many of these tools inefficient, they are also very risky for the enterprise: security is compromised; compliance regulations are ignored; and IT visibility is virtually non-existent.

Bottom line: consumer-based sharing and syncing tools put your organization at risk. Security breaches, data leakage of customer data and competitive information, potential regulatory fines, PR nightmares and other negative outcomes are all consequences of not providing a secure and managed enterprise solution for sharing and syncing files.

activEcho puts the Enterprise back in control. With activEcho, IT departments have a single, secure, and manageable solution that enables Enterprise File Sharing and Syncing to address two key employee needs:

• Anytime, Anywhere Access - Employees want to access and sync files between their devices, be they laptops, desktops, smartphones or tablets.
• Easy Collaboration – The ability to share and collaborate on files with both internal and external constituents is essential to today’s workforce.

For the Enterprise User

Enterprise File Sharing and Syncing delivers significant benefits to the enterprise – improved security, greater information access, increased teamwork and more collaborative employees. Driving these benefits will lead to better customer service, improved products, faster production cycles and increased revenue/profitability.

activEcho can be used by a wide audience of users, both inside and outside the corporation, for many different purposes:

• Team Projects:
  Teams can set up activEcho folders to speed collaboration and workflow.
• Individual Use:
  Users have true "anytime, anywhere" access for their files across all their devices – Windows, Macs, tablets and smartphones.
• Customer Connections:
  Corporations can securely share sensitive materials with customers.
• Partner Interactions:
  Sharing critical files with key partners is easy and secure.
• Service Provider Interchanges:
  Service providers, such as lawyers, accountants, auditors and financial institutions, can securely and easily share sensitive material with clients.

For IT, Security and Compliance Groups

While activEcho drives significant value for the enterprise and its users, the power of activEcho lies in its IT, Security and Compliance benefits.

Simple. Secure. Managed. Flexible.

activEcho gives Enterprise IT everything they need to provide secure Enterprise File Sharing and Syncing across the enterprise. activEcho was built specifically to protect critical corporate data, avoid compliance violations, and prevent data leakage, all with the simplicity demanded by end users, and the security, management and flexibility required by enterprises. activEcho delivers key functionality for employees and IT alike.

Key features that drive value to the enterprise and its end-users include:

Simple.

• Users can access and sync their desktop files using any device or computer.
• Users can share files and collaborate with colleagues and business partners.
• The simple, natural interface requires virtually no end user training.
• For IT, activEcho can be deployed in minutes.
• With desktop and mobile syncing, employees have their documents always at hand and up to date no matter where they are and whether they are using a laptop, desktop, tablet or smartphone.
• "Client-less" access and sharing using all main web browsers on all platforms.
• Email alerts and invitations keep users informed of changes and events.
• Users can see and access previous versions and "un-delete" files.
• Active Directory (AD) integration lets users login with the same credentials they use for everything else.
• Selective syncing allows the user to control what gets downloaded their desktop client.

Secure.

• Options to deploy activEcho on-premise, in the DMZ, on VM or in private cloud, allow IT to set the security at the most appropriate level.
• Data is encrypted in transit and at rest.
• Active Directory (AD) support allows enterprises to integrate activEcho into existing corporate security policies and infrastructure.
• User blacklists/whitelists allow IT to define who can use activEcho, internally and externally.
• Secure mobile device support, including remote wipe activEcho data on mobile devices.
• Logging, tracking, and audit trail, with 1-click export functions, gives IT full visibility into who is sharing what, when, and with whom.
• IT can re-assign content ownership.
• Download-only folders control sharing.
• Enable or disable invitations on a per user basis.
• Limit activity history visibility.
• User accounts and invitation expirations policies for added security and project life cycle control.
• IT can configure read-only settings for sensitive data.

Managed.

• Active Directory (AD) integration for authentication and "Zero Admin" user account management.
• Storage location and relocation options, including NAS, servers and Amazon S3 enable simple deployment that complements existence enterprise infrastructure.
• The ability to regulate purging and maximum number of revisions give IT storage control.
• Storage quotas per user are set by IT.
• Blacklists and whitelists for Active Directory (AD) Groups and external users to manage access and sharing.
• Automatic notification alerts give IT immediate insight into potential threats.
• Audit trail and history for all transactions, with searching, filtering and export functions, make it easy to trace file revisions and transfers.
• Windows and Mac client support meets the needs of the cross-platform enterprise.
• iOS and Android native client
• Web-based management and access for administrators allows IT the freedom of management from any location.

Flexible.

• Choose the right deployment model for your organization: On-premise, DMZ, VM or private cloud.
• Broad client support included: Macintosh, Windows, iPad, iPhone and all mainstream web browsers can be used
• IT defines who uses the system (i.e. entire organization, groups, domains, and/or user communities). IT can also prohibit certain domains, groups or users from accessing files.

Systems Requirements

Secure Enterprise File Sharing

The activeEcho solution consists of two components: server software and client apps for Mac, Windows, iPad and iPhone. The client is also accessible via most popular browsers.

activEcho can be installed on both server and workstation-class versions of the Windows operating system. For optimal results, your Windows machine should be running the latest service pack from Microsoft.

Server:

• Windows 2003 / 2008 / 2012
• Intel/AMD Server
• Virtualization environments
• Cloud (Amazon EC2)

Client:

• Windows: Vista, 7, XP
• Mac OS X 10.6 and higher
• iPad, iPad 2, iPad 3, iPad 4, iPad mini
• iPhone 3G, 3GS, 4, 4S and 5 (iOS 4.3 or later)
• Android Phones and Tablets (Android 2.2 or later)
• Browsers: Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari
• Mac OS X 10.5 or later required for DFS and Network Spotlight support

activEcho Product Overview

Overview of Enterprise File Sharing and Syncing. Simple. Secure. Managed. Flexible.

How To: Administration - Configuration and Settings

What separates activEcho from many of the other solutions are its management and security capabilities. This video will show you the most important activEcho server security and management settings.

How To: Mobile Device (iPad) Use

activEcho allows users to share, sync, and collaborate on files with others, such as when working on a group project. It also allows users to maintain synced files and folders with their various devices - laptops, desktops, tablets, and smartphones.

How To: Install and Use activEcho Sync Client on Windows

This video will show you how would share and collaborate on files with a group of people. This could be for an ongoing project or it could be more ad-hoc collaboration.

Analyst Reports

• IDC Link, "The Race to Collaborate – A Public or Private Affair?" Brad Nisbet, March 30, 2012 (0.4 MB, PDF)
• The 451 Group, "GroupLogic extends mobile sync support with new activEcho product" Chris Hazelton & Kathleen Reidy, March 27, 2012 (0.1 MB, PDF)

Videos and Demos

• activEcho Product Overview
• How To: Administration - Configuration and Settings
• How To: Mobile Device (iPad) Use
• How To: Install and Use activEcho Sync Client on Windows

White Papers

• Driving Secure Enterprise File Sharing and Syncing (0.3 MB, PDF)
• Drop the Box and Fear no More (0.3 MB, PDF)

Product and Program Briefs

• What’s New in activEcho 2.6? (0.0 MB, PDF)
• Data Sheet (0.1 MB, PDF)
• activEcho Frequently Asked Questions (0.1 MB, PDF)
• Secure File Access, Syncing and Sharing: mobilEcho and activEcho (0.0 MB, PDF)

Latest Releases

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Knowledge Base

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