Pro2col’s UK Support team received the first batch of new 1U StingRay file transfer servers today. As you can see Pete, who works in the Support and Customer Service team is thrilled to be modelling the server for our blog
Pro2col receives first 1U StingRay file transfer server at the Support department
Existing StingRay users are able to upgrade their servers up until 30th July at significantly discounted rates. Prospective StingRay customers aren’t left out as for the same period offers exist. For further information contact Pro2col Sales on 0870 250 2220 or email sales @ pro2col.com
Well its been a long time coming but finally we have the 1U appliance that we’d been after from Hermstedt AG. Smaller, faster and more robust we’re really pleased with the new server and hope our existing and new customers will be too!
We’ve created a short video to show you the server and to guide you through the process and why its a good idea to make the investment in the new hardware.
Regarding upgrading
If you are due a technology refresh to ensure the continuing reliability of your file transfer equipment, this is the perfect time to re-invest in the new, superior Hermstedt StingRay.
If your existing StingRay server is less than 3 years old then you’re alright, but if your StingRay server is installed in a high volume environment e.g. magazine and newspaper publishers picture desk workflow, upgrading should be a serious consideration.
Contact Pro2col, your local reseller or email info @ hermstedtstingray.com for pricing and further information.
Its been a little while since our last post which is rubbish as I’d set ourselves the target of making sure that we stay on top of keeping in contact with our customers. It has however been a very busy last couple of months for us here and we’ve now added a Twitter account for all those StingRay file transfer servers who want to keep up to date with news, views and release details.
Follow us on twitter
If you use Twitter add us and we’ll Tweet you all the latest updates. You can find us at - http://twitter.com/filetransfer
There’s an article on Pro2col’s web site demonstrating how StingRay has been used by a number of publishing companies within their incoming picture desk workflow. StingRay is used by a number of publishers round the world for this purpose with its ability to handle large volumes of incoming FTP transmissions and to forward them on to Asset Management/Picture Desk workflows. Have a look and give us a call if you’ve got any questions.
As a vendor of a file transfer solution its really important that we know exactly what the market wants. To help us to take the development of the Hermstedt StingRay file transfer appliance in the right direction we’ve set up an online survey to help us capture your thoughts. If you’ve got a spare two minutes we’d be really grateful if you’d take the time to complete our seven question survey which you can get to by clicking here
I’ve previously talked about file transfer becoming more integrated into business processes but ensuring that a company’s branding can be extended through a managed file transfer solution is a hot topic too.
We’re finding it more and more critical for customers to be able to replicate their brand at any point at which a customer may have contact. With that in mind we’ve been busy customising many of our customers log-in’s which you might like to have a look at for inspiration. Some have even decided to remove all branding so that they can use it across a group of companies.
We’re working on a number of additional customisation options, including CSS, email templates and more as we strive to provide what our customers are asking for. Its going to be an exciting 2009 with all the new updates and features planned.
There are many different business environments and requirements for file transfer solutions. Some companies need to transfer minimal amounts of data, small files sent irregularly where online sites like filetransfer.com would suffice. Others transfer significant volumes of data and take the time to research and invest in a managed file transfer solution that they can run in-house so that they have a greater degree of control, these solutions take the form of either file transfer software installed on a company’s hardware or a file transfer appliance - but which is best?
One solution does not fit every scenario. I’d be foolish if I stated that a particular solution was best and to hell with the others. So I’m going to provide you with some pointers as to why I personally think that a hardware based file transfer solution is best for managed file transfer and I’ve broken it down into sections:
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Hardware
When purchasing an appliance you can be sure that the hardware is tried and tested and runs the file transfer software. Any upgrades to the managed file transfer solution will have been tested running on the appliance ensuring the minimum of disruption during the upgrade.
When purchasing a software solution there are many different hardware options that the software might be installed on. It is next to impossible to test all the different hardware combinations that the managed file transfer software could be installed onto, meaning that there is a greater likelihood of speed issues, functionality not working and bugs being identified during your installation or upgrade.
Operating System
OS vendors are constantly improving their operating systems, whether it’s Windows, Apple or any of the flavours of Linux, which is as you’d expect really. With many operating systems having automated updates available this can play havoc with software solutions that are as yet untested on the latest operating systems. Software frequently has problems when new operating system updates are released creating more development overhead for the managed file transfer software vendors.
This problem is completely eradicated with hardware/appliance-based solutions where the vendor is able to control the installation/implementation of any updates.
Software
A key advantage of software based managed file transfer solutions are the speed to deploy and the obvious cost savings achieved by not needing to invest in hardware as part of the solution.
Support
Vendors generally tend to be able to offer a better level of support when they’ve supplied the hardware. Firstly they’ll be able to access the core OS and know how to support the solution to a whole different level because of this. In addition and this is a key consideration - the buck stops with them! If you’ve supplied the hardware for a software based managed file transfer solution then there will always be a bit of a “them and us” scenario regarding support issues.
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Clearly being a vendor of a hardware based Managed File Transfer appliance I’m going to fall on the side of hardware being best. Without my vendors hat on though I genuinely do believe that the benefits outweigh the downsides when it comes to choosing an appliance over a software solution.
There are probably a number of other considerations that I’ve not listed here so I’d be interested to hear your thoughts. Go here for a definition of Managed File Transfer.
Managed File Transfer is fast becoming the latest buzz phrase for all those businesses needing a file transfer solution. Managed File Transfer is not a new concept its been around for a number of years its just that companies now need file transfer to be an integrated process within the organisation instead of a standalone process with little to no management information.
The term Managed File Transfer basically suggests that the process of transferring files is audited, providing reporting, guaranteed delivery and automation. Hermstedt’s StingRay Managed File Transfer Server has been around for seven years now and provides a great degree of management information including which user sent the files, when and what files they sent and to who.
StingRay screenshot of Managed File Transfer information
In addition to tracking and logging all of the managed file transfers that the StingRay undertakes it also stores all of the accounting logs on the server for exporting in a tab delimited format so that they may be used for accounting purposes.
Managed File Transfer doesn’t need to be expensive. There are many products on the market which position themselves in this space many of them many times more expensive than the StingRay Managed File Transfer server.
Why should companies invest in Managed File Transfer? Quite simply other file transfer solutions don’t offer the range of features required for today’s file transfer requirements. Send and forget just isn’t an option these days businesses need to be able to rely on guaranteed delivery of data. Managed File Transfer is the future of file transfer.
Momentum is gathering with regard to development of the StingRay file transfer server. With Hermstedt not releasing any updates for a couple of years we thought we’d follow the 2.5.0 release in December with a 2.5.1 release in February. Whilst there are only a few minor changes they are not insignificant.
With the release of new features comes new challenges and as the Email Hyperlink feature was only text based there was always the potential for problems with the rather long hyperlinks to the files stored on the StingRay. With some PC email clients we found that the links were being broken so we bought out the HTML links as quickly as possible which certainly helped with the formatting of the emails too!
Email Hyperlink Screenshot (StingRay v 2.5.1)
All StingRay users on version 2.5.0-x should now upgrade to the latest firmware version to take advantage of this enhancement.
Implementing a new file transfer solution can significantly improve the way in which your company works especially if you’re in the graphic arts or prepress industry. Providing a range of file transfer protocols to enable you to work with your customer in the way that they want to transfer files, is only part of the battle. If you don’t have the infrastructure in place, that is the Internet connectivity (bandwidth) then you won’t be able to take advantage of your new solution.
During my regular trawl of the Internet I found a great article which helps users to understand a little more about how long it takes to send files over the Internet. The article, written by Greg Ferro goes on to explain about how latency and data encyption can add to the overall time taken to transfer your files.
If you need to analyse the throughput required on your Internet connection to transfer large files at a reasonable speed then have a read of this article - How Long Does It Take to Transfer Data?
