Enterprise file transfer covers a broad range of technologies and solutions. While each has pros and cons from a feature-function perspective, one common thread among almost all of these conventional enterprise file transfer tools is their architecture — most of them are point-to-point.
For enterprises transferring many files across multiple locations or requiring fast and predictable access for remote and hybrid teams, we recommend taking a closer look at solutions with alternative architectures, like Resilio Active Everywhere.
Some of the most popular traditional tools include Aspera, Signiant, and FileCatalyst. Solutions like Aspera and Signiant are UDP-based and provide WAN optimization, which enables the transfer of large files between 2 systems.
However, they struggle when synchronizing files across multiple locations. Syncing large numbers of files — for distributed collaboration and other enterprise applications — is especially problematic. Plus, none of them can keep files active, current, and accessible across multiple systems spanning multiple locations concurrently at scale.
This is where Resilio comes in. What sets Resilio apart from point-to-point tools is its complete focus on enterprise capabilities, as we’ll describe below.
So, rather than focusing on each of the different concepts and definitions behind enterprise file transfer (such as MFT solutions, FTP solutions, SFTP solutions, etc.), this article will help you determine if Resilio is right for you, plus some key things to look for when researching enterprise file transfer solutions.
We’ll start by describing:
- 6 must-have traits you should look for in an enterprise file transfer solution
- 5 of the best enterprise file transfer software platforms available
Before getting into that, we’ll provide an overview of our Resilio Active Everywhere Platform. It’s an all-in-one platform purpose-built to deliver active, current, and accessible file data from anywhere.
From hybrid work to hybrid cloud, your employees gain easy and unified access to files wherever they are stored — in a data center, in the cloud, or on edge networks — across any distance.
Resilio’s platform goes far beyond basic enterprise file transfer. It’s built for demanding, high-performance workflows where reliability, security, and automation matter to customers.
Some things that the Resilio platform does well include:
- Automation: Resilio is also easy to operate at any scale. Easy-to-use centralized management tools make it simple to automate everything—from data flows to file caching policies to pre- and post-job run triggers. With complete API coverage, it’s easy to script and automate all job functions and data flows.
- Workflow integration: Customers can easily integrate Resilio data flows into their existing workflows. Resilio works with existing applications and tools, so workflows look the same in the office as they do working remotely.
- Any-directional synchronization. Files can be prefetched, synchronized in real-time, or on demand; Resilio can automatically sync file changes across your entire organization. Syncs can also be one-way, two-way, one-to-many, many-to-one, and N-way.
- Organic scalability: Resilio uses a peer-to-peer replication architecture that scales organically — i.e., every endpoint you add only increases bandwidth, speed, and performance. Plus, it can transfer and sync large files and large numbers of files across any number of endpoints.
- Eliminating wait times for uploads, downloads, and updates: Resilio’s P2P architecture enables blazing-fast transfer — we’re seeing speeds of 20+ Gbps per server over high-speed networks. With scale-out replication, you can cluster endpoints together to achieve speeds of 100+ Gbps.
- Quick and reliable syncs over any network: Resilio uses a proprietary UDP-based WAN acceleration protocol that fully and efficiently utilizes network bandwidth. Users can be connected over any type of connection — Wi-Fi, cell, VSAT, and any IP connection — and Resilio will reliably transfer data.
- Flexible deployment: Many other enterprise file transfer solutions (like Google, OneDrive, and Dropbox) lock you into proprietary clouds. But Resilio is a flexible, vendor-agnostic solution that you can deploy on just about any device, cloud storage provider, or operating system. End-users can be located anywhere — at the extreme edge, at home on a Wi-Fi network, in a branch office, or data center.
- End-to-end data security: Resilio includes built-in security features that protect data, such as AES 256-bit encryption, mutual authentication, data integrity validation, and more.
Enterprise businesses in many industries (media, engineering, gaming, tech, retail, and more) use Resilio to sync files across multiple sites for remote collaboration, disaster recovery, VDI profile sync, server synchronization (on-premises, cloud, and hybrid cloud), and more. To learn more about using Resilio Connect to sync your enterprise data, schedule a demo.
What to Look for in an Enterprise File Transfer Solution
There are many types of enterprise file transfer solutions that, while placed in similar classifications, operate in fundamentally different ways. For example, you may have heard the terms managed file transfer solution (or MFT software) and enterprise file transfer solution described differently.
In reality, terms such as these are often used interchangeably. And many solutions that start off performing one type of service (e.g. managed file transfer) expand into more services (enterprise file transfer) until, eventually the terms are no longer relevant.
At the end of the day, parsing the differences between these terms is irrelevant. All that matters is whether or not there’s a solution that can transfer and sync your enterprise data in the way that your organization needs.
To help you find such a solution, we’ll start by listing 6 mission-critical features you should look for in an enterprise file transfer solution:
Scalability
Many enterprise organizations require collaboration on large files by teams distributed across the world. If their transfer solution can’t quickly transfer large files across multiple locations, it becomes a bottleneck in their workflow, as teams are forced to wait for files and file changes to sync.
Many solutions claim that they can scale along with your replication needs. However, limitations in their design and replication methods limit their ability to scale effectively while maintaining performance.
(For example, transfer solutions built on a hub-and-spoke architecture scale poorly because replication is centralized in these systems.)
When choosing an enterprise file transfer solution, look into their replication architectures and methodologies so you can determine how well they’ll perform as your data needs and replication environment grows.
Speed
Slow file transfers can become a bottleneck in your workflows and applications, forcing employees and end-users to wait for transfers to complete. This is especially problematic when transferring large files over long-distance WANs and unreliable edge networks.
The transfer speed of a solution is largely determined by the replication methodology it uses, which includes both the replication architecture and any features it provides to enhance replication speed, as well as how it optimizes the utilization of a network connection.
For example, many solutions use TCP (Transmission Control Protocol) protocols to transfer files — a protocol that performs poorly over WANs.
When evaluating enterprise file transfer solutions, you should look into the methods they use to transfer files. For example:
- What replication architecture is the solution built on?
- What (if any) features does it use to enhance transfer speeds?
- What protocols does it use for transfers over WANs and unreliable networks?
Workflow-Friendly Versatility
Enterprise workflows often consist of many employees using different types of hardware (e.g., devices, operating systems, etc.) and require integration with different types of software (e.g., project management solutions, development tools, etc.).
If an enterprise file transfer solution doesn’t work with your current IT hardware, you’ll need to spend large amounts of time and money acquiring and installing new equipment. And if it doesn’t integrate with the other solutions in your workflow, then your team will be forced to engineer some type of workaround — which can be complex and time-consuming.
Bottom line: You shouldn’t have to adjust your workflow to your enterprise file transfer solution — the solution should adjust to your workflow.
Look for a solution that:
- Supports many types of storage devices, cloud storage providers, operating systems, etc.
- Works across platforms (e.g., Windows and Linux) so you’re not locked into any specific vendors.
- Provides built-in integrations for the other tools in your workflow (or offers easy integration through an API).
- Gives you granular control over how replication occurs in your environment (such as bandwidth controls), so you can configure transfer processes that suit your workflow.
Security
Whenever you transfer data over the internet, it becomes vulnerable to hackers, ransomware, corruption, and even internal threats (such as unauthorized data leaks).
Unfortunately, many enterprise file transfer solutions don’t include built-in data security features that guard sensitive data against all of these threats, forcing you to invest in 3rd-party security solutions — which makes workflows more complex and increases costs.
Look for solutions that provide built-in security features, such as:
- Encryption of files at rest and in transit.
- Authentication to ensure files are only delivered to approved endpoints.
- Data integrity checks that ensure your files arrive at their destination uncorrupted.
- Permission controls to prevent unauthorized access to privileged information.
- Proxy server capabilities, which enable you to block unauthorized access to your enterprise applications and facilitate secure collaboration with 3rd parties.
High Availability
High availability is the ability of a system to operate continuously without failure for a certain period of time.
Many enterprise applications require planned downtime for system repairs and maintenance. And, of course, disasters and outages can also take these systems offline.
When these outages occur, most enterprise businesses can only afford to be offline briefly and need systems in place to ensure that their applications recover quickly so they can meet SLAs (Service Level Agreements) and/or avoid falling behind on their projects.
While high availability may be less important for some applications, file transfer solutions that provide Active-Active High Availability are always better. These solutions enable you to configure quick failover, shorter RPOs (Recovery Point Objectives), and faster RTOs (Recovery Time Objectives) — all of which translate to more reliability and a better end-user experience.
Reliability
Reliability refers to a solution’s ability to ensure that files always arrive at their destination intact and in predictable time frames.
Reliability can be encompassed into three factors:
- Network performance: As mentioned earlier, network quality can vary for some applications. Edge networks can be unstable and intermittent. WAN networks suffer from high degrees of packet loss and latency. A reliable solution should be able to adjust to network conditions and ensure that files are transferred as quickly as possible.
- Resiliency: A reliable transfer solution should be resilient to any issues that arise. It should automatically and efficiently complete failed transfers at any endpoint or network in your environment; the solution should dynamically route around failures.
- File integrity: An enterprise file transfer solution should ensure that your files arrive at their destination intact and uncorrupted.
When evaluating an enterprise file transfer solution, be sure to look for features that address these three reliability criteria.
Now let’s cover 5 of the best enterprise file transfer solutions:
1. Resilio: Fast, Reliable, and Scalable Enterprise File Transfer
The Resilio Active Everywhere platform is a real-time file synchronization system that’s designed to sync and transfer data for enterprise workloads and applications. In addition to providing the fastest, most reliable file transfer available, Resilio satisfies all of the mission-critical EFT capabilities mentioned above due to its:
- High-performance sync capabilities: Resilio is built on a peer-to-peer (P2P) replication architecture that enables it to sync data 3-10x faster than traditional solutions and sync in any direction (one-way, bidirectional, one-to-many, many-to-one, and N-way).
- Organic scalability: Resilio’s P2P architecture makes it organically scalable, as adding more endpoints inherently increases sync speed and resources. It can also perform horizontal scale-out replication, a capability that allows you to cluster endpoints together to pool their resources and reach transfer speeds of 100+ Gbps.
- Reliability over any network: Resilio uses a proprietary UDP-based WAN acceleration protocol that fully utilizes the bandwidth of any network and optimizes transfers over WANs and unreliable edge networks. Its P2P architecture enables Active-Active High Availability.
- Easy integration into any infrastructure and workflow: Resilio is a versatile, vendor-agnostic solution that works with just about any device, operating system, and S3-compatible cloud storage pro. You can also use Resilio’s REST API to integrate any other solutions your team is already using.
- Native security features: Many enterprise file transfer solutions don’t include built-in security features, forcing you to invest in 3rd-party security tools. Resilio’s native security features save you money and protect your data end-to-end.
High-Performance, Multidirectional Sync Capabilities
Most enterprise file transfer solutions are built on hub-and-spoke transfer architectures that inherently hinder their performance.
Hub-and-spoke replication (aka client-server replication) consists of a hub server and several remote servers. The hub server can transfer files to any remote server. The remote servers can only transfer files to the hub server, but not to each other. This means that if a remote server wants to sync files with other remote servers, it must first transfer those files to the hub server, which will then sync with the other remote servers one by one.
This hinders sync performance in several ways:
- Cloud-hopping: The need to first transfer to the hub server (a process known as cloud hopping) introduces unnecessary latency during file transfers.
- Unreliability: File synchronization is limited by the slowest endpoint or network in your environment. In other words, if any endpoint is on a slow network (or goes down), it can delay synchronization for every other endpoint in your environment.
- Slow transfers: Since the hub server can only sync files with one remote server at a time, syncing your entire environment will take a long time. This issue becomes worse as your data payloads grow (i.e., larger files or larger numbers of files) and as your environment grows (i.e., adding more endpoints).
Resilio is built on a high-performance peer-to-peer replication architecture. In a P2P environment, every endpoint is equally privileged and can share data directly with any other endpoint. And all endpoints can share files simultaneously, enabling them to work together to achieve blazing-fast sync speeds.
Blazing-Fast Synchronization Speeds
Imagine you want to sync a file across five endpoints. Resilio can use a process known as file chunking to split the file into multiple chunks that can transfer independently of each other.
Endpoint 1 can share the first chunk with Endpoint 2. As soon as it receives the first chunk, Endpoint 2 can immediately share that chunk with any other endpoint, even before it receives the remaining file chunks. Soon, every endpoint will be sharing file chunks simultaneously, enabling you to sync your environment 3-10 times faster than traditional client-server solutions.
Multidirectional Synchronization
Most enterprise file transfer solutions can only perform basic one-way and two-way syncs.
Resilio’s P2P architecture enables it to sync files in any direction, such as:
- One-way: You can sync files in one direction for use cases such as cloud backup or migration.
- Two-way: You can keep two systems in sync for use cases such as multi-site collaboration and maintaining consistent datasets.
- One-to-many: You can distribute files from one server to hundreds or thousands of endpoints for use cases such as software update distribution.
- Many-to-one: You can consolidate data from many endpoints onto one server for use cases such as file backups or collecting data from a fleet of vehicles in the field.
- N-way: With N-way sync, you can keep hundreds or thousands of endpoints synchronized at all times.
N-way sync is a particularly powerful feature that enhances performance for many use cases, particularly when combined with Resilio’s real-time sync capabilities (Resilio uses notification events from the host OS and optimized checksum calculations to immediately detect and sync file changes).
In a hybrid work scenario, you can synchronize large datasets across multiple sites in near real-time. When an employee at any location makes a change to a file, that file change is instant and efficient for everyone.
In disaster recovery scenarios, Resilio’s real-time N-way sync effectively turns every endpoint in your environment into a backup server. If your application goes down for any reason, you can configure failover to any other endpoint. Every endpoint can work together to share files and bring your system back online, enabling Resilio to achieve sub-five-second RPOs and RTOs within minutes of an outage.
Organic Scalability
Since working with large datasets and environments is an inherent part of enterprise workflows and applications, scalability is a particularly important capability for enterprise file transfer solutions.
As mentioned earlier, traditional hub-and-spoke solutions scale poorly. Since file transfers can only occur between the hub server and one remote server at any given time, syncing large amounts of data across many endpoints can take a long time. Adding more endpoints inherently increases synchronization time.
Resilio’s P2P architecture makes it organically scalable. Since all endpoints can share files with each other simultaneously, adding more endpoints inherently increases sync speeds and resources. In other words, more demand inherently creates more supply. And Resilio can synchronize data 50% faster than hub-and-spoke solutions in a 1:2 scenario, and 500% faster in a 1:10 scenario.
Resilio can scale to support any enterprise needs and sync:
- Files of any size: Many media organizations use Resilio to sync large 8K video files.
- Any number of files: Our engineers successfully synced 450+ million files in a single job.
- Any number of endpoints: Resilio can sync 200 endpoints in roughly the same time it takes most hub-and-spoke solutions to sync just two.
Platform Architecture
The Resilio Active Everywhere Platform is a centrally managed, agent-based solution. There are two primary components: the Resilio platform management console and Resilio agents.
The Resilio platform management console provides a single place to manage, control, and monitor all file delivery and cache operations across the organization. Administrators create jobs and policies, manage data flows, control bandwidth allocations, and deploy job instructions across the organization.
Once jobs are running, Administrators monitor and collect statistical data globally. Job types include Synchronization, Consolidation, Distribution, and Scripting. A new job type also enables easier configuration of advanced data flows for hybrid work and file caching.
Every action performed in the user interface can also be accomplished with an API. Resilio offers a complete API set to expose and automate all functions performed by the Active Everywhere Platform.
Events and notifications can be tracked and collected in reports and sent via email. The console installs on Windows and Linux, running on virtual or physical servers.
Note: Please see Resilio.com for the latest System Requirements.
Resilio Agents
Resilio Agents are installed on a variety of physical or virtual device types: end-user devices, servers, storage systems, and cloud instances.
Agents process, cache, and synchronize files with other agents. There are a variety of agent roles and types. Agents run on servers, storage, and a variety of desktop and mobile end-user devices. Resilio agents also support advanced roles for file caching, high availability, and scale-out caching.
Using a capability called transparent selective sync, Resilio agents enable on-demand file retrieval, caching, and synchronization—both user-driven or through a file caching policy.
Introduction to Active Everywhere File Caching
Policy-based file caching enables customers to simplify and minimize storage needs at remote sites by only storing the files needed at each location. The platform automates cache management across all locations through centrally controlled policies. Hundreds of millions of files can be kept current across many sites, across any distance.
Resilio replicates changes bidirectionally across all sites and caches concurrently. This high-performance, P2P design is well suited to replicating many files of variable sizes and types across any number of sites.
Speed also becomes a factor of bandwidth — increase bandwidth to speed up performance. Performance scales on the LAN by adding nodes to the cache. Across high-latency and lossy networks, Resilio efficiently uses bandwidth through a proprietary UDP-based WAN optimization protocol.
Multiple storage caches can be kept in sync in real-time, irrespective of the distance or latency between sites.
In addition, the P2P architecture provides resiliency and reduces egress costs.
End-users and systems at remote sites access files and folders as they normally would via SMB or NFS. Behind the scenes, the Resilio gateway automates cache replication and management. Data retention policies hydrate and dehydrate remote site caches. This speeds up access for remote users, keeps necessary files current, and minimizes network traffic.
File Caching Automation for Easy Operations
The platform console and API give administrators granular control over file caching and retention. Cache management is policy-driven and controlled by a set of policies that can be made unique to each caching location or caching device.
File caching policies include:
- A hydration policy which allows the administrator to pre-cache sub-folders and specific files by name (regex).
- A cache pinning policy which allows the administrator to pin some sub-folders and files so they never get dehydrated and are always kept in sync with the primary storage.
- A dehydration policy which allows the administrator to control the order by which cached files are cleared once the system is low on available storage.
- A download priority policy which allows the administrator to set file download priority based on file and folder naming patterns and modification time. For example, a policy could be set to first download all the files in the “Project 1” folder — starting with the most recently modified files first.
Building on Your Choice of Storage
Resilio agents run natively on popular operating systems (virtual or physical) attached to any type and mix of file, block, and object storage. One site could utilize storage from vendor A and another site could use storage from vendor B. Files and objects are stored in their native file format (vs. in a proprietary file system). Customers always have access to their files — with or without the Resilio solution in place.
When used as a file caching gateway, Resilio provides a file interface (among other caching capabilities) to the underlying storage. One or more Resilio agents may be defined as primary data sources called primary storage.
- Multiple primary data sources are supported.
- Multiple primary data sources can be mapped to a single caching device. This also enables a unified namespace.
- There is no need to migrate data or deploy new hardware; existing storage and servers can be used in place.
- Storage systems may be centralized in a single site or distributed across multiple sites.
Replication is bidirectional (with the option to make it unidirectional as needed).
Reliable, Optimized Transfers Over Any Network
Resilio works reliably over any network, provides Active-Active High Availability, and responds resiliently to any issues that hinder file transfers.
Network Optimization via WAN Acceleration
Enterprise applications can require data transfer and synchronization over long-distance WANs or unreliable networks (such as edge networks and low-quality, consumer-grade connections).
Most enterprise file transfer solutions use file transfer protocols that aren’t designed to optimize transfers over such networks. For example, TCP protocols (which are used by many transfer solutions) treat high degrees of packet loss as a network congestion issue and respond to it by reducing transmission speed. Since packet loss is common on WANs, this is a poor response that unnecessarily slows file transfers.
TCP is also reliant on flow control to manage transfer speeds. In flow control, the receiving device communicates with the sending device to indicate how much data it can receive at a given time. The sender transmits data at a rate that’s optimal for the receiver. But this does nothing to maximize the utilization of the network.
Resilio uses a proprietary UDP-based transfer protocol known as Zero Gravity Transport™ (ZGT). ZGT constantly analyzes the underlying network conditions (such as latency, packet loss, and throughput over time) and automatically adjusts to these conditions in order to maintain a uniform, consistent rate of transfer and maximize network utilization.
ZGT accomplishes this by using:
- Congestion control: ZGT’s congestion control algorithm constantly probes the Round Trip Time (RTT) of a network in order to identify and maintain the ideal data packet send rate.
- Interval acknowledgments: Rather than sending an acknowledgment after receiving each packet, ZGT sends acknowledgments for groups of packets once per RTT.
- Delayed retransmission: ZGT retransmits lost packets once per RTT to reduce unnecessary retransmissions.
ZGT’s network enhancing capabilities enable Resilio to reliably transfer data over any type of network connection, such as VSAT, cell (3G, 4G, 5G), Wi-Fi, and any IP connection.
Organizations such as Northern Marine Group use Resilio to transfer files at the far edge — i.e., from the headquarters on land out to their fleet of ships at sea. Similarly, Resilio can be used to transfer and sync data in countries with underdeveloped network infrastructure (like our client Shifo, which syncs data across healthcare centers in countries like Uganda) and for ingesting IoT data.
Active-Active High Availability
Resilio’s P2P architecture enables you to achieve Active-Active High Availability across multiple sites without compromising performance, a capability which is particularly useful for disaster recovery and VDI profile replication.
While other hub-and-spoke transfer solutions can provide Active-Active HA, they serialize file update syncs through the centralized hub server — which can create latency and degrade performance. But with Resilio’s real-time, N-way sync, you can ensure that data is immediately replicated in multiple directions and across multiple endpoints. This means that:
- VDI profile data is immediately synchronized across every endpoint, enabling faster time to desktop.
- Data can be synced across multiple locations, so it’s always available for recovery.
- You can configure fast failover between many endpoints, ensuring high uptimes and a positive end-user experience.
A large construction company uses Resilio to reduce recovery time to minutes (down from 3-4 days with their previous solution) and reduce logon times to 15-30 seconds (down from 90 seconds).
Bulletproof Reliability
Resilio is equipped with features that provide bulletproof reliability of transfers, such as:
- Automatic retries: Resilio automatically retries failed transfers until they’re complete.
- Checksum restarts: If a transfer is interrupted, Resilio can perform a checksum restart to resume the transfer at the point of failure and avoid retransmitting redundant data.
- No single point of failure: Resilio’s P2P architecture eliminates single points of failure. If any network or device fails, Resilio can retrieve the necessary files or services from any other device.
- Dynamic rerouting: Resilio can dynamically reroute around outages to ensure your files always reach their destination.
- Automated troubleshooting: You can program how Resilio automatically responds to and resolves issues — such as file conflict resolution — so it can operate with minimal human intervention.
Versatility and Easy Integration into Any Infrastructure and Workflow
Versatility is one of the most important criteria for evaluating enterprise file sharing vendors. By versatility, we’re referring to:
- Flexibility: Is the solution platform-specific (i.e., it only works with one or a few types of devices, cloud storage providers, and operating systems), or does it give you the flexibility to use it with whatever platforms you choose?
- Workflow integration: Does the solution easily integrate with other tools your organization uses as part of your workflow or application?
- Centralized management and automation: Does the solution provide a user-friendly interface for managing your environment from a centralized location? And does it enable you to automate file transfer processes effectively so you can reduce management time and focus on your core work?
Many organizations buy enterprise file transfer solutions that fall short on one or more of the above criteria, forcing them to cobble together workarounds that can increase operational complexity and potentially impact business processes. But you shouldn’t have to adapt to your enterprise file transfer solution — a good solution should adapt to your workflow.
Resilio provides an easy-to-use, flexible solution that can easily integrate into any workflow or application.
Flexible, Vendor-Agnostic Deployment
Enterprise workflows and applications can involve a complex combination of different hardware and software. For example:
- In remote or distributed collaboration scenarios, employees in the office may use Windows devices while some work-from-home employees use Mac devices.
- Different branch offices may use different types of file servers.
- Organizations may choose to store files in multiple cloud vendors in order to enhance redundancy for business continuity.
And at the end of the day, enterprise organizations don’t want to be locked into any specific vendors. So having a flexible enterprise file transfer solution is inherently beneficial.
Resilio is an incredibly flexible solution that works with just about any:
- Device: You can install Resilio agents on desktops, laptops, file servers, NAS/DAS/SAN devices, mobile devices (Resilio offers iOS and Android apps), virtualization platforms (such as Citrix, VMware, and Microsoft Hyper-V), and IoT devices.
- Cloud storage provider: Resilio works with just about any S3-compatible cloud storage platform, such as AWS S3, Azure Blobs, GCP, Wasabi, MinIO, Weka IO, Backblaze, and more.
- Operating system: Resilio supports Windows, MacOS, Linux, Unix, Ubuntu, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, and more.
Simply install Resilio agents on the endpoints you want to transfer to and from and configure sync/transfer jobs in the Resilio Management Console. You can easily deploy Resilio on your current IT infrastructure with minimal operational interruption and start replicating files in as little as 2 hours.
Centralized Management and Automation
Resilio enables you to manage replication across your entire enterprise environment from one centralized location — an easy-to-use interface that can be accessed from any web browser.
Through the Resilio Management Console, you can:
- Create, manage, and monitor replication jobs.
- Monitor replication jobs via real-time metrics and reports on active jobs.
- Adjust replication parameters, such as disk IO, data hashing, and more.
- Review a history of all executed jobs to monitor your organization’s file transfer activities for audit trails and compliance requirements.
- Create job policies, such as syncing metadata or purging files from a cache after a certain period of time.
- Sync files via drag-and-drop folders.
- Program how Resilio troubleshoots issues, such as file conflict resolution.
Resilio also enables you to adjust bandwidth at each endpoint. You can even create bandwidth profiles that govern how much bandwidth is allocated to each endpoint at certain times of the day and on certain days of the week.
This capability is incredibly useful for remote collaboration across enterprise organizations. Some employees may be working on slow, consumer-grade home networks (or in areas where network quality is poor). This can slow sync and transfer speeds at these endpoints, which can potentially lead to datasets falling out of sync if file changes aren’t replicated quickly enough.
Organizations like Skywalker Sound use Resilio’s bandwidth controls to account for variability in network quality and keep their files synchronized across their entire organization.
Automation and Scripting Capabilities
Resilio enables you to create set-it-and-forget-it automation policies that govern how data is synced and transferred across your environment. You can automate when syncs occur (manually, on a set schedule, or in real-time), which endpoints files are synced to, and more.
You can also use Resilio’s powerful REST API to script any type of functionality your jobs require. Resilio provides three types of scripting triggers:
- Before a job begins
- After a job completes
- After all jobs complete
This type of automation enables organizations to streamline workflows, reduce management time, and overcome operational challenges.
Complete API coverage enables you to integrate the product with your workflows. It also allows API control for policy-based data governance.
For example, when a build compilation is completed in a game development environment, it’s easy to trigger a distribution of the new binaries and assets from the build system.
Resilio also enables:
- Custom reporting, as you can easily generate reports at any time.
- Dynamically adjusting caching behavior based on project activity.
- Automatically provisioning agents and file transfer jobs based on device type, location, and network availability.
For example, a maritime construction company uses Resilio to distribute updates to its fleet of sea vessels. Each vessel has 30–40 workstations on board that need to receive updates. Transferring these updates from HQ to each individual workstation over intermittent VSAT connections would take too long and be too unreliable. So they used Resilio’s automation capabilities to engineer a solution:
- They transmit the updates from HQ to the central server on board each ship.
- Once that initial transfer is complete, the updates are automatically distributed from the central server to each workstation on the ship over the LAN.
Native Security Features
Many enterprise file transfer solutions don’t include built-in security features, forcing you to invest in 3rd party security solutions and VPNs. This increases complexity, drives up operational costs, and can even hinder performance.
For example, when employees use consumer-grade networks (such as LTE/3G or ADSL), accessing data through a VPN provider to an SMB will be slow.
Resilio provides secure file transfer to protect your data from cybersecurity threats and data breaches. It includes native security features that are TPN-Blue and SOC2 certified, such as:
- End-to-end encryption: Resilio encrypts data at rest and in transit via AES 256-bit encryption.
- Cryptographic data integrity validation: Resilio uses integrity validation to ensure files arrive at their destination intact and uncorrupted.
- Mutual authentication: Each endpoint must provide an authentication key before receiving any files, ensuring your data is only delivered to approved endpoints.
- Forward secrecy: Resilio uses one-time session encryption keys.
- Immutable copies: Resilio stores immutable copies of files in the cloud, protecting you from ransomware.
- Access controls: Resilio enables you to control who is allowed to access certain files, so you can restrict access of sensitive information to privileged employees.
- Proxy server capabilities: Resilio provides proxy server capabilities that allow you to support advanced firewall configurations, prevent certain machines from accessing specific files on your machines or running scripts on your machines, and enable secure data exchange with 3rd-parties (but only through a designated shared server, as Resilio does not enable inter-company transfers).
Enterprise businesses in many industries (media, engineering, gaming, tech, retail, and more) use Resilio to sync files across multiple sites for remote collaboration, disaster recovery, VDI profile sync, server synchronization (on-premises, cloud, and hybrid cloud), and more. To learn more about using Resilio Connect to sync your enterprise data, schedule a demo.
2. Panzura CloudFS
Panzura is a global file system that stores files in a centralized cloud storage endpoint, which acts as a single source of truth for your environment. It uses “periodic bursts” to sync each endpoint with the cloud object store every 60 seconds. And it replicates data using a traditional hub-and-spoke architecture — i.e., the centralized object store syncs file updates to each endpoint.
But unlike most global file systems, Panzura also uses peer-to-peer replication in limited scenarios. For example, if an employee at one location updates a file and an employee at another location wants to work on that file before those updates have synced to the cloud, Panzura will update the file via a direct peer-to-peer connection with the endpoint that owns the file.
Panzura also contains features that enable you to optimize network traffic, such as:
- Sync priorities: You can configure Panzura to sync higher-priority files first while lower-priority files wait.
- WAN optimization: Panzura optimizes WAN transfers via data compression, multithreaded transfers, and deduplication (which is performed at the block level for maximum efficiency).
- Military-grade security: Panzura uses 256-bit military-grade encryption for data at rest or in transit, making it one of the most secure file transfer solutions available.
For more information, check out our in-depth comparison of Panzura, Nasuni, and Resilio.
3. Signiant
Signiant Media Shuttle is an enterprise-level sync solution that caters to companies in media and entertainment. It provides native integrations with many tools in the media workflow ecosystem, such as MAMs and DAMs.
Panzura replicates data using a hub-and-spoke architecture, which can be slow and unreliable at times. However, it provides reliable, secure file sharing via checkpoint restarts, automatic retries, and TLS encryption. And it’s a flexible solution that works with any type of storage — on-prem, in the cloud, or hybrid cloud.
For more information, check out our article comparing Signiant, IBM Aspera, and Resilio.
4. Syncthing
Syncthing is an open-source enterprise file sync software solution that, like Resilio, uses a P2P replication architecture — making it a great option for those who want to experience the power of P2P at a lower price. It’s designed specifically for Linux devices, though it also supports Windows, MacOS, OpenBSD, FreeBSD, and Solaris devices.
Syncthing provides data protection via TLS encryption and cryptographic certification. But since it’s an open-source tool, it presents a steep learning curve for some users. But Syncthing provides an open protocol and source code as well as extensive documentation, so you can automate data movement and optimize the solution to your specific environment and business needs.
For more information, check out our article explaining what to do when Syncthing goes out of sync.
5. Rclone
Rclone is an open-source, command-line utility for syncing and transferring files. It’s often referred to as the “Swiss army knife of cloud storage,” as you can use it to sync files across multiple sites (on-premises, cloud-based, and hybrid cloud storage) and as a storage gateway to access files stored across your environment.
Rclone is a flexible solution that supports more than 70 cloud storage platforms and products, such as Dropbox, Wasabi, Backblaze, and more. Though it uses multithreaded transfers to quickly sync data (regardless of file size or number), it suffers from shortcomings such as:
- It uses a hub-and-spoke replication architecture that limits speed and scalability.
- It uses an SFTP (Secure File Transfer Protocol) that’s not optimized for transfers over the WAN.
- It can only perform basic one-way and two-way syncs.
Organizations with data-intensive workflows that need to transfer files over long distances may want to seek an Rclone alternative.
Resilio Active Everywhere: Fast, Reliable, and Secure Data Transfer and Sync Across All Locations & Networks
The Resilio Active Everywhere platform is an ideal enterprise file transfer solution for transferring and syncing large files (or a large number of files) across multiple endpoints and unreliable networks. Our solution:
- Provides fast transfer speeds: Resilio’s P2P architecture enables it to transfer data 3-10x faster than traditional solutions. In large environments, Resilio has reached speeds of 100+ Gbps per cluster.
- Scales organically: There’s no limit to the number or size of files you can transfer and sync with Resilio. Thanks to its P2P architecture, Resilio can sync hundreds of endpoints in the same time it takes most solutions to sync just two. Plus, its performance only increases as you add more endpoints.
- Replicates in any direction: Resilio can sync files one-way, two-way, one-to-many, many-to-one, and N-way. This makes it a great choice for a variety of remote and hybrid work use cases, where files have to be synchronized in real-time behind the scenes.
- Can reliably transfer and sync files over any network: Resilio’s proprietary WAN acceleration protocol enables it to optimize transfers over any network, regardless of latency or quality.
- Deploys on your existing infrastructure: You can deploy Resilio on your existing infrastructure and begin replicating in as little as two hours. It works with just about any device, cloud storage service, and operating system.
- Is easy to manage and automate: You can use Resilio’s Management Console and REST API to set up and automate transfer and sync jobs based on your workflows and business needs. Our solution also lets you manage the process from one place, even in multi and hybrid cloud scenarios.
- Comes with built-in security features: Resilio includes native security features that protect your data at rest and in transit. There’s no need to invest in separate security software or a VPN.
To learn more about how Resilio can help you transfer and sync files of any size across any number of endpoints, schedule a demo with our team.
