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Renting a Film? Buying a House? Five Predictions for Managed File Transfer in a Cloud-Enabled World

Contributed Article by Frank Kenney, VP of Global Strategy & Product Management, Ipswitch File Transfer

Managed File Transfer (MFT) software is already a must-have tool for exchanging massive files between companies and their customers and trading partners. The software provides end-to-end visibility, security and control as files are passed to different applications, are renamed and transformed, and make their way into different workflows and business processes. With more and more files of all kinds flowing into and through a business, MFT plays a key role by identifying file transfers that take too long or never arrive, and immediately alert whoever needs to know.

Now MFT is moving into the cloud, and in 2012 that trend will accelerate, creating many interesting opportunities for service providers able to take advantage of it. We'll see MFT software embedded in a wide range of cloud services to transform many business and consumer activities. The following are some predictions for the coming year, showing how MFT in the cloud will make a difference, at work and at home.

Mediating transactions and transfers of critical information between enterprise, customers and partners is one of the key roles of MFT. As transactions and transfers of important documents move from paper to the cloud, the role of MFT as independent broker will strengthen and grow, providing a trusted third-party between the cloud provider and customer. Look for it wherever a guarantee is needed that a file sent is received intact, uncompromised, and on time.

For example, mediation will save time and money for lawyers exchanging information, proving chain of custody, non-repudiation, and proof that files were sent securely-the type of activities done today via overnight mail, now automated and in real-time. It will even allow major transactions like buying a house to happen online, supporting the exchange of legal documents with an audit trail that will ensure validity and stand up in court.

Or why go to an ATM to deposit a check, when your mobile phone can take a photo of the check and send it to the bank server for processing? In this case, the mobile phone serves the same function as the ATM, only faster and more conveniently. Some banks are already offering this service as a pilot, but for large-scale acceptance, people need proof that the check image they send is received and uncompromised.

MFT will also mediate transactions for entertainment. For example, suppose you pay $50 for a game, and it never arrives on your X-Box or Wie. You call the vendor to complain-they insist that they sent it; you say you never received it, and therein lies a perfect opportunity for MFT technology to broker that information. A neutral third party between the content provider and the customer will be able to track whether the file was sent, if it was received successfully, and where it is stored on the customer's drive.

These are just a few examples of how MFT can broker interactions between individuals and companies doing business in the cloud. With its ability to track transactions end to end, within organizations, through the cloud, and out to individual users, the role of MFT as broker and mediator will strengthen and grow.

Two distinct constituents are emerging in the cloud: consumers, who use cloud services for personal use and prosumers, who use different services for work. The prosumer and the consumer is often the same person, with the two types of services running together on the same device. The iPad is a perfect example: which is often used for running popular consumer services like Netflicks, HBO, and games. But people also use it for business services like LogMeIn, GoToMyPC, RealVNC and other job-related services.

Consumers are the pioneers, leading prosumers into the cloud. For example, almost all of us have cloud-based email (whether Yahoo, Microsoft Live, or Gmail) but at work we're still using Exchange servers or iMail servers. Consumers have no problem doing online banking or using cloud-based financial packages like Quickbooks Online or Mint.com. They're also the first to try things that were previously unheard of like depositing a check with their cell phone as described above. Consumers have shown they're willing to experiment with all kinds of services, but the companies we work for still do things in a more traditional way.

Managing these two identities on the same device will be a challenge, requiring keeping consumer and prosumer services separate, with different security levels and SLAs. This is another area where managed file transfer will play a leading role, seamlessly switching between these multiple personalities depending on the context.

For those unfamiliar with the term, Jailbreaking allows iOS users to download applications, extensions, and themes that are unavailable (for whatever reason) through the official Apple App Store. Until now, jailbreaking has mostly been reserved for technically-savvy geeks, but MFT technology will make jailbreaking easy for a much broad market of business users and consumers. (But be warned: jailbreaking will void your warranty.)

Look for MFT software to become embedded in new Jailbreaking utilities to provide an easier, more flexible way to move apps on and off your iPhone or iPad than tools such as PuTTY that are currently used. By providing end-to-end control over the SSH secure channel into your iPhone or iPad, MFT enables you to manage the files and content on your iOS device from a computer running on a different platform. A new category of consumers and prosumers will emerge who know how to take advantage of this technology.

Services such as the Apple iCloud let you sync media files such as music and films to a wide range of devices, from iPhones and iPads to PCs and internet-enabled TV. Going forward, we'll see more of these services that stream content to your different devices or provide a central media server that all devices can access. You'll be able to take your favorite game, sporting event, reality television-or whatever really matters to you-and sync it to the various devices you have around your home. As you go from room to room, you'll be able to pick up where you left off using whatever device is handy at the time. Managed File Transfer will provide the file management and transport mechanism that makes the service possible, and many people will take advantage of it.

As people start to buy more television via Amazon, rip their own movies, and buy more digital media, we'll also see more trading of content and the need for a connection that can handle the traffic. FTP is an extremely open and well understood transport protocol, so don't be surprised if it becomes the centerpiece of new services used by both consumers and prosumers for moving information in and out of their network.

There are many cloud storage providers out there, providing storage capacity for music, videos, and any huge files or directories. Amazon, Google, Apple and many others are all fighting for market share. The cloud storage service that comes out on top will be the one that offers FTP connectivity to provide a file transfer pipe equal to the huge volumes of data being uploaded and downloaded. 

Many people have media libraries in the tens (if not hundreds) of gigabytes-even the terabyte range is become increasingly common for individual users or households. Obviously, trying to send that much data through a web browser up to Amazon or some other cloud is ridiculous. Many consumers with large media collections would gladly pay for MFT access to provide a reliable, secure, high-volume pipe. Thus in the coming year I expect to see one or more cloud storage providers start to offer FTP-and the first one to do it will dominate the market.

These were just a few examples of how managed file transfer is transforming existing business and consumer services, and enabling new cloud-based services to take hold. It's the high volume pipe for transferring huge files to and from the cloud; it also provides essential visibility and control as files flow into and through the organization and out to customers and partners. It's opening the door for many exciting opportunities, and new services that people need and want.

Ipswitch is having these types of conversations now with enterprise customers as well as leading providers of cloud services. It's going to be an exciting year.

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About the Author

Frank Kenney is Vice President, Global Strategy and Product Management at Ipswitch File Transfer, responsible for defining the company's vision and strategy and integrating his global perspective into the products, services and messaging. Frank brings an unmatched depth of experience and knowledge in the managed file transfer space to the team.

Most recently, Frank was a Research Director at Gartner, Inc., responsible for analyzing topics including managed file transfer, application integration, SOA, and business process management. He initiated and drove the Magic Quadrants on managed file transfer and SOA governance technologies. Before joining Gartner, Frank was Director of Creative Services and Content Distribution at the Executive Business Group.

Frank holds a degree in Music Technology from the Center for the Media Arts and has studied English and Computer Science at University of Tampa.  When not working, Frank can be found living the life of a frustrated musician and producer in his home studio in Tampa.