AppSense's DataNow answers demand for corporate cloud file sharing

Aiming to become the Dropbox of the enterprise, New York City-based AppSense has introduced DataNow, a cloud-based service aimed at giving companies a method to securely share documents across multiple platforms. The company says that its solution lessens the risk of the loss of sensitive information.

File sharing services like Dropbox have already been in the news for just that. Like Facebook and Draw Something, Dropbox has been found to store access tokens in plain text. Last June, a flaw in the software allowed anybody to log in to any account with any password. In the corporate world, such a breach is possibly devastating.

AppSense looks at corporate file sharing in the cloud differently. Unlike the more consumer-centric services, DataNow stores the data in a private cloud within the enterprise's own IT environment using a virtual appliance created to enable the flow of data.

This prevents sensitive files from being stored in a potentially insecure environment, and dramatically reduces the chances of a breach. It also gives the enterprise greater control over what their users can share, and how they share it.

"IT Managers have deep investments in their existing storage systems in terms of architecture, capacity, and security", says chief technology officer Harry Labana. "It makes sense to leverage these investments first to empower users now, and introduce cloud-based storage systems as they mature and meet corporate IT requirements".

Users share files to their mobile devices by dragging files to the DataNow application, which is available for both Windows and Mac OS. These files are then accessible from authorized mobile devices on either the iOS or Android platforms, as well as any additional desktop platforms the user may have. IT administrators have the capability to develop specific policy controls for data usage, including the capability to restrict local caching or the power to remote wipe in the event of data loss.

Enterprise file-sharing has become hot, but most employ a similar strategy to Dropbox. AppSense competitor Vaultize on Thursday introduced its own file-sharing solution, which encrypts data both at the source and in the cloud to protect it from theft, however the standard offering uses RackSpace hosting. Options are available for private or hybrid deployments, although it is not standard.

AppSense is currently accepting beta applications to test the DataNow product. IT environments will need virtualization capability in order to run DataNow's Intelligent Data Broker and an accessible Microsoft Active Directory domain controller.

The company did not give details on final availability of the product nor its price. A call to AppSense for comment was outstanding as of press time.

Photo Credit: Yabresse/Shutterstock