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1 1 Vendor Landscape: Cloud File Sharing Info-Tech Research Group Info-Tech Research Group, Inc. Is a global leader in providing IT research and advice. Info-Tech’s products and services combine actionable insight and relevant advice with ready-to-use tools and templates that cover the full spectrum of IT concerns. © 1997-2014 Info-Tech Research Group Inc. Vendor Landscape: Cloud File Sharing Deploy a robust solution that allows users to securely access their files anytime, anywhere.

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Page 1: Vendor Landscape: Cloud File Sharing Deploy a robust ... · Vendor Landscape: Cloud File Sharing Info-Tech Research Group 1 Info-Tech Research Group, Inc. Is a global leader in providing

1 1 Vendor Landscape: Cloud File Sharing Info-Tech Research Group

Info-Tech Research Group, Inc. Is a global leader in providing IT research and advice.

Info-Tech’s products and services combine actionable insight and relevant advice with

ready-to-use tools and templates that cover the full spectrum of IT concerns.

© 1997-2014 Info-Tech Research Group Inc.

Vendor Landscape: Cloud File Sharing

Deploy a robust solution that allows users to securely access their files anytime, anywhere.

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2 2 Vendor Landscape: Cloud File Sharing Info-Tech Research Group

As access ubiquity and document-centric collaboration needs have become more

complex, many organizations are turning to cloud file sharing (CFS) products to

provide end users with a lightweight but effective solution for storing, sharing, and

managing their work-related files.

Introduction

IT leaders who want to understand how

document-centric collaboration can be enabled

via CFS solutions.

Application managers who want to

complement their existing ECM ecosystems

with cloud file sharing applications.

Enterprises who are seeking to select a

specific vendor for cloud file sharing. Their

CFS use case may include:

• Enabling document collaboration for remote

workers.

• Encouraging persistent team

communication.

Understand how deploying a CFS solution

enables easy and secure access to content.

Review what’s new in the CFS market.

Review the feature sets and functionality

offered by market-leading CFS vendors and

their products.

Evaluate CFS vendors and products for your

enterprise needs.

Determine which products are most

appropriate for particular use cases and

scenarios.

This Research Is Designed For: This Research Will Help You:

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3 3 Vendor Landscape: Cloud File Sharing Info-Tech Research Group

Executive Summary

Info-Tech evaluated fourteen competitors in the cloud file

sharing solution market, including the following notable

performers:

Champions:

◦ Box: A vendor that provides an excellent all-around feature set

with significant workflow and content analytic capabilities.

◦ Citrix: A vendor renowned for its flexible deployment options and

enterprise-grade security.

◦ Egnyte: A strong vendor with multiple storage models and good

administrative controls.

◦ Hightail: A cloud-centric vendor that focuses on ease of use and

the “email replacement” use case.

Value Award:

◦ Microsoft: An increased emphasis on features at an extremely

competitive price point within Office 365 make OneDrive a good

pick for firms needing company-wide file sync and share

capabilities.

Trend Setter Award:

◦ AirWatch: AirWatch is disrupting the CFS space by approaching

it from a mobile device management (MDM) background.

1. It’s easier than SharePoint and can

integrate with SharePoint on the back

end.

Knowledge workers are embracing CFS

more rapidly than other content collaboration

tools like SharePoint, because the file/folder

metaphor is well-understood by knowledge

workers and is mobile-ready out of the box.

2. Mobility and collaboration features are

paramount.

The ability for employees to access content

on the go, and act upon content shared

through CFS provides the value. Look for

features like task assignment and co-edit.

3. The enterprise security gap is almost

closed.

The majority of the vendors in this report

support full IT admin, security, and audit

controls. Some support private/public data

storage options. However, some features

(like double blind encryption) remain a

differentiator.

Info-Tech Insight

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Cloud File Sharing Market Overview

How it got here Where it’s going

Following the “consumerization of IT” trend, adoption of CFS solutions by businesses is mostly initiated bottom-

up. However, sales and marketing effort from vendors is slowly changing the purchase pattern, and Info-Tech is

seeing more and more CFS adoption as an enterprise initiative.

• Internet file hosting services have been around for a

long time, but only after the explosion in popularity of

solutions like Dropbox and Google Drive did the file

sharing market gain widespread attention.

• Relative to traditional network file shares and

enterprise content systems, consumer file services

offered much greater ease of use and reliability – this

led to high levels of “rogue” enterprise adoption.

• As end users began to “Bring Their Own Applications”

into the business, unsanctioned and unsupported use

of consumer file sync and share tools like Dropbox

caught the attention of corporate IT. In response to

surging enterprise demand for secure alternatives, a

large number of start-ups and storage incumbents

moved to offer enterprise-grade file sharing services.

• In contrast to their consumer counterparts, enterprise-

focused vendors of CFS products put significantly

more time and effort into building robust security

architecture, better administrative controls, and end-

to-end traceability and audit capabilities.

• The storage layer of CFS is rapidly becoming

commoditized, with additional business value generated

by enhanced security, employee collaboration, content

analytics, and integration capabilities. Many vendors are

moving to a “storage agnostic” model and giving clients

the option to store data in a public or private cloud, or in

an on-premise hybrid solution.

• Extensive mobile support is an essential feature of most

major CFS vendors, with many players proclaiming their

products as “mobile first.” Some mobile device

management vendors are now expanding their offerings

to encompass the content management layer as well.

• Most vendors are putting an increasing emphasis on both

the depth and breadth of integration with other solutions,

particularly ECM and enterprise collaboration tools. We

expect this “CFS as an ecosystem” trend to rapidly gain

steam in the coming year.

• Finally, some CFS vendors are beginning to incorporate

advanced rules engines and content analytics to help

drive business process automation.

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CFS vendor selection and knock-out criteria: market share, mind share, and platform coverage

• Accellion: A 3-tier business solution that can be scaled up and geographically segmented as needed.

• AirWatch: An MDM-offshoot that is cross-platform and offers a self-service portal for users.

• Barracuda: A robust offering that enables a single seat to federate between business and personal use.

• Box: An extremely popular business-ready alternative to the more unsecure consumer offerings.

• Citrix: An innovative solution with an on-premise option for risk or compliance-minded organizations.

• Dropbox: Better known in the consumer space, Dropbox now has an enterprise play as well.

• Egnyte: An admin-friendly product that segments administration capabilities by roles and offers a hybrid storage model.

• Hightail: A best-of-breed option for deep email integration and attachment replacement.

• Infrascale: A cloud-centric solution that puts double blind encryption and security front and center.

• Microsoft: Microsoft has begun to beef up its OneDrive offering with deep 365 integration.

• OpenText: A private cloud offering that stresses ECM features and enterprise-level security.

• Salesforce: Deeply embedded into the Chatter environment, Files brings CFS to social collaboration.

• SugarSync: A compelling offering with an extremely consistent interface across multiple devices.

• Workshare: A service that is at home in compliance-centric industries that requires compare and contrast tools.

Included in this Vendor Landscape:

• Vendors in this report are some of the most prominent and well-recognized CFS vendors from a business-focus

standpoint. We also evaluated a few powerful vendors with a strong consumer presence, but that are making enterprise

plays as well (such as Dropbox). Excluded were primarily consumer-focused offerings (such as Google Drive or iCloud).

• For this Vendor Landscape, Info-Tech focused on those vendors that offer broad capabilities across multiple platforms

and that have a strong market presence and/or reputational presence among mid- and large-sized enterprises.

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1234

Criteria Weighting:

Cloud File Sharing criteria & weighting factors

20%

20%

20%

40%

40%

60%

Vendor is committed to the space and has a

future product and portfolio roadmap. Strategy

Vendor offers global coverage and is able to sell

and provide post-sales support. Reach

Vendor is profitable, knowledgeable, and will be

around for the long term. Viability

Vendor channel strategy is appropriate and the

channels themselves are strong. Channel

Affordability

Architecture

Usability

Features

30%

20% 25%

25%

Features

Usability

Architecture

Affordability

Product

Vendor

Viability Strategy

Channel Reach

Product Evaluation Criteria

Vendor Evaluation Criteria

Implementing and operating the solution is

affordable given the technology.

Multiple deployment options and extensive

integration capabilities are available.

The end user and administrative interfaces are

intuitive and offer streamlined workflow.

The solution provides basic and advanced

feature/functionality.

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7 Info-Tech Research Group Vendor Landscape: Cloud File Sharing

The Info-Tech CFS Vendor Landscape

The Info-Tech Cloud File Sharing Vendor Landscape

Champions receive high scores for most evaluation

criteria and offer excellent value. They have a strong

market presence and are usually the trend setters

for the industry.

Market Pillars are established players with very

strong vendor credentials, but with more average

product scores.

Innovators have demonstrated innovative product

strengths that act as their competitive advantage in

appealing to niche segments of the market.

Emerging Players are comparatively newer

vendors who are starting to gain a foothold in the

marketplace. They balance product and vendor

attributes, though score lower relative to market

Champions.

For an explanation of how the Info-Tech Vendor Landscape is created, see Information Presentation – Vendor Landscape in the Appendix.

The zones of the Landscape

Accellion

AirWatch

Barracuda

Box

Citrix

Dropbox

Egnyte

Hightail

Infrascale

Microsoft

OpenText

Salesforce

SugarSync

Workshare

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8 Info-Tech Research Group Vendor Landscape: Cloud File Sharing

=Exemplary =Good =Adequate =Inadequate =Poor

Balance individual strengths to find the best fit for your enterprise

Dropbox

Barracuda

AirWatch

Box

Citrix

Accellion

Egnyte

Legend

Overall Features Usability Afford. Arch. Overall Viability Strategy Reach Channel

Product Vendor

For an explanation of how the Info-Tech Harvey Balls are calculated, see Information Presentation – Criteria Scores (Harvey Balls) in the Appendix.

*The vendor declined to provide pricing and publicly available pricing could not be found.

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9 Info-Tech Research Group Vendor Landscape: Cloud File Sharing

=Exemplary =Good =Adequate =Inadequate =Poor

Balance individual strengths to find the best fit for your enterprise

SugarSync

Microsoft

Infrascale

OpenText

Salesforce

Hightail

Workshare

Legend

Overall Features Usability Afford. Arch. Overall Viability Strategy Reach Channel

Product Vendor

For an explanation of how the Info-Tech Harvey Balls are calculated, see Information Presentation – Criteria Scores (Harvey Balls) in the Appendix.

*The vendor declined to provide pricing and publicly available pricing could not be found.

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10 Info-Tech Research Group Vendor Landscape: Cloud File Sharing

1234

What is a Value Score?

The Info-Tech Cloud File Sharing Value Index

10

The Value Score indexes each

vendor’s product offering and

business strength relative to its

price point. It does not indicate

vendor ranking.

Vendors that score high offer more

bang-for-the-buck (e.g. features,

usability, stability, etc.) than the

average vendor, while the inverse is

true for those that score lower.

Price-conscious enterprises may

wish to give the Value Score more

consideration than those who are

more focused on specific

vendor/product attributes.

On a relative basis, Microsoft maintained

the highest Info-Tech Value ScoreTM of the

vendor group. Vendors were indexed

against Microsoft’s performance to provide

a complete, relative view of their product

offerings.

Champion

For an explanation of how the Info-Tech Value Index is calculated, see Information Presentation – Value Index in the Appendix.

For an explanation of how Price is determined, see Information Presentation – Price Evaluation in the Appendix.

*The vendor declined to provide pricing and

publicly available pricing could not be found.

Average Score: 74

100 99 98 92 88 88 85 81

69 61 59

54 46

10

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Table Stakes represent the minimum standard; without these, a product doesn’t even get reviewed

If Table Stakes are all you need from your cloud file sharing solution, the only true differentiator for the

organization is price. Otherwise, dig deeper to find the best price to value for your needs.

The products assessed in this Vendor

LandscapeTM meet, at the very least, the

requirements outlined as Table Stakes.

Many of the vendors go above and beyond the

outlined Table Stakes, some even do so in

multiple categories. This section aims to

highlight the products’ capabilities in excess

of the criteria listed here.

The Table Stakes What Does This Mean?

Files can be ordered/structured in some

hierarchical manner according to a user’s needs.

Basic Content

Management

The product provides some mechanism for

updating files across devices. Basic Sync

Files or folders can be easily shared between

different users.

Sharing

Capabilities

The solution provides a cloud-based file

repository structure for storing content.

Cloud File

Repository

What it is: Feature

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Advanced Features are the capabilities that allow for granular market differentiation

Native apps (iOS, Android, Windows Phone),

preview function, inline editing, mobile workflow. Mobile Apps

Extent of control over shared file admin

(passcode lock, link expiry, file self-destruct).

Content

Administration

Clients for PC and/or Mac. Selective sync,

contextual integration, search integration. Desktop Sync

How content is stored and handled (e.g.

repository structure, versioning, etc.). Library Services

AD LDAP integration, user roles, group

memberships, broadcast messaging.

User

Administration

Basic in-transit and at-rest encryption: advanced

points awarded for double-blind encryption.

Content Security

and Encryption

Ability to follow folders and files, commenting

workflow, activity streams, synchronous editing.

Collaboration

Capabilities

In-depth capabilities to log and track user activity

and file history, compliance reports.

Audit and

Reporting

Capabilities

End-user friendly integration with productivity

tools or email clients and other enterprise apps

Platform and App

Integration

What we looked for: Feature

Advanced Features Scoring Methodology

For an explanation of how Advanced Features are determined, see Information Presentation – Feature Ranks (Stop Lights) in the Appendix.

Info-Tech scored each vendor’s features

offering as a summation of their individual

scores across the listed advanced features.

Vendors were given one point for each feature

the product inherently provided. Some

categories were scored on a more granular

scale with vendors receiving half points.

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Each vendor offers a different feature set; concentrate on what your organization needs

Dropbox

Barracuda

AirWatch

Box

Citrix

Accellion

Egnyte

File

Repository

Desktop

Sync Mobile Apps

Content

Admin

User

Admin

Security and

Encryption

Content

Collaboration

Auditing and

Reporting

Front End

Integration

Evaluated Features

=Feature absent =Feature partially present/pending =Feature fully present Legend

For an explanation of how Advanced Features are determined, see Information Presentation – Feature Ranks (Stoplights) in the Appendix.

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Each vendor offers a different feature set; concentrate on what your organization needs

SugarSync

Microsoft

Infrascale

OpenText

Salesforce

Hightail

Workshare

File

Repository

Desktop

Sync Mobile Apps

Content

Admin

User

Admin

Security and

Encryption

Content

Collaboration

Auditing and

Reporting

Front End

Integration

Evaluated Features

=Feature absent =Feature partially present/pending =Feature fully present Legend

For an explanation of how Advanced Features are determined, see Information Presentation – Feature Ranks (Stoplights) in the Appendix.

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Scenario 2: Enterprise application integration support

Why Scenarios?

Box natively integrates with many enterprise

applications, such as CRM, Single Sign-On (SSO),

social collaboration platforms, etc. Its app

marketplace is very mature with over 1,000 partner

applications that either expose their functionality in

Box or have Box embedded as the file sharing and

collaboration service within the enterprise system.

Hightail boasts a wide range of cloud integration

partners, such as WinZip, Mozilla Thunderland,

Salesforce, Outlook, SharePoint, and SkySync

amongst many more. It hopes to expand this list

soon with new partners such as Gmail, Mover.io, and

NetApp.

AirWatch offers deep integration with its own MDM

product, as well as solutions from VMWare and IBM.

Organizations needing best of breed mobile device

management integration should consider AirWatch a

frontrunner.

3

1

Enterprise Application

Integration Support 2

For an explanation of how Scenarios are determined, see Information Presentation – Scenarios in the Appendix.

In reviewing the products included

in each Vendor LandscapeTM,

certain use cases come to the

forefront. Whether those use cases

are defined by applicability in

certain locations, relevance for

certain industries, or as strengths in

delivering a specific capability, Info-

Tech recognizes those use cases

as Scenarios, and calls attention to

them where they exist.

The features of CFS solutions alone might not be enough for your enterprise

needs. Certain vendors excel at integrating with enterprise applications.

Exemplary Performers

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These vendors provide above-par mobile content access and management

solutions for on-the-go knowledge workers.

Scenario 3: Dedicated mobile applications

Why Scenarios? AirWatch is available on iOS, Windows, and Android.

Most distinctively, it offers enhanced functionality,

such as syncing across devices, in-line editing, and

in-line previewing. Coming from an MDM

background, mobile content management and

security are also strong.

2 1

For an explanation of how Scenarios are determined, see Information Presentation – Scenarios in the Appendix.

In reviewing the products included

in each Vendor LandscapeTM,

certain use cases come to the

forefront. Whether those use cases

are defined by applicability in

certain locations, relevance for

certain industries, or as strengths in

delivering a specific capability, Info-

Tech recognizes those use cases

as Scenarios, and calls attention to

them where they exist.

Exemplary Performers

Dedicated Mobile

Applications 3 Box continues to innovate with its mobile apps,

particularly post-3.0 releases on iOS. They offer

native support for Android, Windows Phone, and

BlackBerry as well. The new mobile preview provides

excellent PowerPoint rendering, eliminating the need

for additional products.

Barracuda is a relatively new entrant with its Copy

product, but its mobile apps are available across iOS,

Android, and Windows Phone and offer strong

management and access functionality in an

attractive, easy-to-use package.

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Product:

Employees:

Headquarters:

Website:

Founded:

Presence:

Secure Content Locker

16,638

Atlanta, GA

Air-watch.com

2003

Subsidiary of VMware

VMW (NYSE)

AirWatch takes a new approach on the file sharing market by coming at it from an MDM perspective

Innovator • Recently acquired by VMware, AirWatch has been a strong player

in the Mobile Device Management (MDM) space for the last

several years.

• AirWatch’s Secure Content Locker embeds CFS functionality into

their overall product portfolio.

Overview

• AirWatch Secure Content Locker provides organizations with a

range of storage agnostic options: storage can be provisioned

from AirWatch in the public cloud, accessed in consumer solutions

like Google Drive via a connector, or linked to on-premise storage

repositories or other solutions.

• Not surprising given their MDM heritage, Secure Content Locker

encompasses a wide range of granular security and user access

controls and reports.

Strengths

• Desktop synchronization capabilities are present, but haven’t been

the focus of AirWatch’s development efforts. As a result, some

competitors outmaneuver them in the traditional desktop sync

category.

• While Secure Content Locker is a strong product, AirWatch’s go-

to-market strategy has been limited thus far to selling into existing

AirWatch accounts. A broader focus on the content business will

help propel greater CFS mind share for the company.

Challenges

Pricing provided by vendor.

$1 $2.5M+

3 year TCO for this solution falls into pricing

tier 4, between $25,000 and $50,000

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Vendor Landscape

AirWatch has a strong feature set across the board: it’s a newer entrant whose MDM perspective positions it well

98 3rd out of 14

Value Index

Info-Tech Recommends:

If storage ubiquity and MDM-grade device management capabilities are a key requirement for your

organization, AirWatch should definitely be on your shortlist. AirWatch’s range of integrations might lag

behind some of their competitors, but their unique take on the market make them a compelling choice,

especially for organizations that are also considering broader MDM capabilities as well.

Collaboration Features of AirWatch

Overall Features Usability Afford. Arch. Overall Viability Strategy Reach Channel

Product Vendor

Features

Document collaboration Discussions Activity stream

No synchronous editing

present

Commenting on files,

threaded discussions Personalized activity stream

Lib. Services Desktop Mobile File Admin. User Admin. Cont. Security Cont. Collab. Audit/Report App. Int.