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IP-Based Workflows – The Paradigm is Shifting, are You on Board?

Since returning from IBC 2018, I have been thinking about IP-based workflows and the great discussions we had about this emerging trend at our booth. While IP-based workflows are seeing increased adoption and bringing new opportunities, there are also challenges ahead. IP-based workflows aren’t exactly new, but adoption has greatly increased in the media space as of late....
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Why You Should Cluster Your File Transfer Systems

  Image What’s the true cost of downtime for your organization? You may think of it in terms of lost revenue—according to studies released in the last couple years, the average cost of system-wide downtime is $100,000 an hour, and that’s on the low end (it can get up to $300,000 or more). But there are other factors involved in the...
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Chris Speaks at IABM: How Far Can We Go With The Cloud?

This year was another successful IBC for FileCatalyst, and we thank everyone who visited us. Our booth was bustling with activity; from people asking questions about how our fast file transfer solutions can fit in their workflow to people engaged with our in-depth demos that walked them through the user experience firsthand. Big thanks to every attendee that stopped by our...
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Making Sense of the Numbers: Breaking Down Our Speed Chart

Image FileCatalyst World Speed ChartWhen we attend trade shows, like the IBC Show on the horizon, our FileCatalyst World Speed Chart always garners attention and starts conversations at our booth. The question people always ask about it is, “How?” And I can’t blame them. To take a file that would usually take five hours to transfer,...
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There are Threats to FTP Servers, are You Mitigating Them?

I just finished reading an article by Marianne Kolbasuk McGee about the threats facing healthcare companies when it comes to FTP servers. I thought it would be a good idea to outline these threats, provide some thoughts, and outline some of the ways FileCatalyst addresses them. The State of FTP Servers The FBI has warned the healthcare sector that the File Transfer Protocol ...
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Using FileCatalyst to Remedy Healthcare IT Issues

When it comes to healthcare, file transfers aren’t something to be left to Dropbox or FTP email attachments. The requirements are many; files must remain confidential, visible, and secure – every time. Achieving this is becoming ever more challenging as the sheer size and volume of file transfers grow with every year. I came across an interesting article titled “7 File Transfer...
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Globus Toolkit to End Support after 20 Years

  Image The Globus Toolkit has been an open source project since its inception, allowing the community to provide enhancements that have made it what it is today. But after a nearly 20-year run as what many see as the benchmark of grid computing, the Globus team at the University of Chicago will no longer support the Globus Toolkit. ...
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From the Magnetic Drum to the Cloud - A Brief History of Data Storage

Image In my earlier blog post, “A Day In Data: How Much Data We Generate and Consume in a Day” I examined the common data-related tasks and the amounts of data these tasks generate and consume in a day. When I finished my research, I was blown away by some of the figures I found. Did you know that 2.9 million emails are sent every...
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How to Achieve Fast Uploads to Cloud Storage

We see a lot of confusion among IT professionals about the pros/cons of cloud-based object storage like Amazon S3 and Microsoft Azure Blob. There tends to be a general lack of awareness regarding the smaller players, like Backblaze B2 and Wasabi for instance, and their benefits. The most confusion, however, revolves around migrating data to these various cloud storage solutions...
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A Day In Data: How Much Data We Generate and Consume in a Day

Image I‘ve been thinking about the amount of data created and consumed in a single day, and it got me curious to look into the figures. I found the results very interesting – so I thought I would make an infographic to visualize my findings. I decided to focus on the more personal, everyday tasks most people perform in a day, such as...
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The GDPR is Coming… What’s it Mean to You?

There is a new wave of regulation coming in the form of the European Union Data Protection Regulation (EU GDPR). These provisions and regulations have been in development over the last four years, and starting May 25th, 2018; it will begin to be enforced. After that date, substantial fines will be imposed on those who don’t comply with new regulations. Before we dive into what...
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Is Your Data REALLY Safe on the IBM i (AS/400)?

  Image “AS/400 is built to be safe and reliable.” “No one makes viruses for the IBM i. There are no known cases of malware, either.” “IBM has amazing IBM i server security, so we don’t have to worry about vulnerabilities.” Do these statements sound familiar? Perhaps you’ve come across these claims in the industry, heard someone...
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Uploading Files Into Azure Blob Storage at Multi-Gigabit Speeds

Moving data into cloud storage can present a number of challenges for organizations across all industries. Some of these challenges include finding a tool that can simplify the process and a solution that can move the data to the cloud as fast as possible. This blog will examine two methods used to transfer files into Microsoft Azure Blob storage: using Microsoft’s tool AzCopy...
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5 Ways to Protect Your Financial Organization from a Data Breach

  Image While several industries, including business and education, make up a big portion of yearly data breach counts, banks and credit unions aren’t left risk free. According to the Identity Theft Resource Center (ITRC), the banking/credit/financial sector totals 5.8% of 2017’s data breaches as of June 30, 2017. That’s up two...
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Data Breach and Incident Response Plans | 2017 Templates & Resources

Image As we continue to put our data online, through social media channels, cloud storage, and email attachments, we open ourselves up to the possibility of data breaches and other attacks. The answer to this problem isn’t to stop using the internet, of course. But organizations today need to pay serious attention to their...
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EFSS vs. MFT: What's the Difference?

  Image EFSS (Enterprise File Sync and Share) and MFT (Managed File Transfer) are two terms that are frequently thrown around in the IT industry. Each solution is used to transfer files to multiple locations and devices, and they can both be deployed on-premises or in a cloud environment. These similarities inspire frequent...
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Are Your Electronic Health Records (EHRs) Secure?

  Image Since moving to Electronic Health Records and modern EHR technology, the healthcare industry has taken great strides to enhance patient care, internal workflows, and business-to-business communication. These improvements bring organizations closer and closer to full integration with others in the industry; a goal that will,...
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Two Cybersecurity Takeaways from the Equifax Data Breach

  Image It’s been nearly a week since Equifax went public with knowledge of a massive data breach—perhaps one of the biggest to date. There’s no word yet on who is or isn’t affected, but it’s very likely that 143 million Americans (45% of the U.S. population and 80% of those who have a credit report) are now at risk of identity theft...
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How Often Should You Change Your Password?

  Image “Your password will expire in X days.” That pop-up or email is all-too-familiar for employees at organizations requiring login credentials with the common “90- or 45-day rule” for changing or updating passwords. It’s a security best practice designed to help keep your accounts—and your organization—secure from hackers and...
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Why You Should Implement a Third Party Vendor Assessment Program

  Image Third party vendors are incredibly useful. They allow businesses to automate certain processes they can’t do themselves, like implement payroll services to compensate employees, and bridge gaps in their technology. But while the money, time, and brainpower freed up by outsourcing tasks is a huge positive, third party vendors...