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.
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.
I was trawling the Internet this evening and couldn’t help but let you know about this little piece of history I found. Not that I’m one to harp on about the good old days but some of the people working within the pre-media industry now are too young to have even worked with ISDN, to remember how easy it was to get files to and from customers. There was only one way of sending files via ISDN - 4-Sight or Hermstedt.
For those old timers in the industry who remember using ISDN here’s an article by John Henshall called “SAY GOODBYE TO THE WORLDWIDE WAIT“. It gives a good insight into what ISDN did for the graphic arts industry and is a completely nostalgic trip down memory lane. Written in 2000 it really wasn’t that long ago either, shows how quickly technology and in particular file transfer technology moves forward!
As the last supplier of ISDN products to the graphic arts and prepress industry I feel its our duty to provide for users a bit of the history of file transfer. John’s story reflects the position of many graphics businesses of the time who wanted to reduce the time to market and reduce the cost of sending disks, scans and other images using couriers.
Do you use ISDN, do any of your customers ask for files to be ISDN’d? Probably not which is in stark contrast to five or six years ago. It would be fair to say that ISDN file transfer isn’t anywhere near as popular a file transfer protocol as it used to be. It was hit for 6 when the Internet came along and now Internet file transfer products are becoming easier and easier to use so ISDN’s being used less and less.
So why ISDN anyway? Back in the mid 80’s Apple launched the first Mac’s which were rapidly adopted by the creative companies and so the creative process became digital. And….? Well this meant that artwork was saved as digital files and not paperbased or scans as before. Creative companies were now sending files on disks by courier to newspapers, printers and publishers and this meant that the time to market could be several days with proofs being faxed around and with all the courier costs it wasn’t exactly cheap!
4-Sight initially developed a range of products starting in around 1989 enabling point to point file transfer over ISDN. The Internet wasn’t even a concept that was widely heard of until the 90’s so a dial up connection was the way forward. The graphic arts industry was revolutionised in a very short time, the time taken by the creative process was slashed and adverts could be sent to market the same day - in fact within minutes!!
4-Sight sold thousands of solutions throughout the UK, USA and worldwide which wasn’t bad as they had originally budgeted for less than 10 per year. ISDN became the new standard for file transfer and 4-Sight developed a range of products including ISDN Manager, ISDN Assistant, ISDN Broadcast and laterly Transmission Manager. Hermstedt also got in on the act with Grand Central Pro among other solutions and Easy Transfer from Sagem.
Then the bubble burst…….along came the Internet! It was faster and cheaper to maintain and companies started to look for alternatives. The only limitation was the number of file transfer solutions for the Internet. FTP became the standard but that’s another topic.
So in a very short time ISDN died a death more or less. 4-Sight was closed in 2003 - prompting us to set up Pro2col - and Hermstedt last year. ISDN is a great back-up technology now for when customers Internet connections go down and they want an alternative way of transmitting data between two points. But, it would be fair to say there’s not a great future for ISDN file transfer.
Of course if you still need to support ISDN file transfer the the StingRay file transfer appliance supports it and will continue to support it going foward.
Well we’ve been promising ourselves that we’d start a company blog for some time now so today’s the day to kick things off. I suppose I should start off with telling you a little about the company and us.
Charles and I set up Pro2col in 2003 sat in a pub in Southampton. It wasn’t that late in the day and we’d had a few beers but we were sure that there was a gap in the market for us.
I’d just been made redundant by Savvis, who had recently bought WAM!NET. They closed down the 4-Sight division of the WAM!NET business leaving the UK graphic arts industry with no supplier of off-the-shelf file transfer solutions (Hermstedt had pulled out of the UK in 2002). Charles had been consulting for 4-Sight, worked for several leading Apple Mac resellers and worked with Apple as a consultant. Together we had a good blend of technical, marketing and sales experience which we thought we’d try to put to good use.
Pro2col started life as a partnership but we soon found that things were going a little better than had been anticipated and Pro2col Limited was set up in February 2004. Since then we’ve added some fantastic members to the team and been lucky enough to supply solutions to some amazing companies.
Our number one product by a country mile was Hermstedt’s StingRay file transfer server. We’d installed several hundred in the UK and had many customers that we maintained their servers for so we were surprised to hear that Hermstedt AG (the manufacturer) had gone into administration in early 2007.
We knew the team there very well having worked with them closely for the past three years so Pro2col moved to acquire the products, trademarks, brand and manufacturing rights for the StingRay to ensure initially that production could at least continue.
Since then we’ve set up Pro2col Deutschland based in Mannheim headed by Anette Hermstedt servicing the German marketplace. Our Development team is based in Germany and we’ve just released the first on many new developments for StingRay.
This blog is going to give you an insight into the team here and hopefully keep you informed on what’s going on with the StingRay and what useful bits of information we think you might find useful along the way.
I’m James by the way. Officially the MD but also general dogsbody and occasional teaboy.
