Data governance software specialist Varonis announced the release of DatAnywhere, which extends the usability of corporate file-sharing infrastructure to enable traditional file servers and network-attached storage (NAS) devices to behave like a cloud-based service, such as Dropbox.
DatAnywhere, which is available for Windows, Mac OS X, iOS and Google Android clients, includes file synchronization with existing common Internet file system (CIFS) shares over Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS), mobile device access, adherence with existing Directory Services and CIFS permissions, synchronization lists, multiple device profiles, extranet capability, and distributed scalability.
“Although enterprise file sync and mobile access is shaping up to be a very competitive market, Varonis’ background in data governance and protection solutions for enterprise collaboration gives them an edge. With Varonis DatAnywhere, organizations don’t have to modify their processes, infrastructure or permissions in order to give end users the functionalities they crave,” Terri McClure, a senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, said in a statement. “Access controls stay the same, data classification continues to function and data doesn’t need to be moved to a new server. Interestingly, internal users can collaborate with mobile users without changing a thing. It’s a really unique approach.”
No data needs to be moved from existing file shares or migrated to a proprietary repository, and users can collaborate with other users that still use the same traditional CIFS shares through mapped drives. DatAnywhere adheres to existing access controls, including Active Directory User/Group structure and file system access control lists (ACLs), and data protection and management capabilities stay in place.
Recent data protection research undertaken by Varonis found that 86 percent of employees describe themselves as heavy users of mobile devices – and only 15 percent say they don’t look at work-related messages or content after hours.
The same study showed that 80 percent of organizations say they do not allow their employees to use cloud-based file synchronization services, while 70 percent would allow use of these services if they were as robust as internal tools. However, fully one-fifth of companies said they have no measures in place to prevent staff from accessing file-synchronization tools.
“We are seeing tremendous customer demand for DatAnywhere, which has arrived at an opportune time for organizations that are experiencing the explosion of digital collaboration and the employee-propelled demand for mobile access, colliding with the necessity to protect their critical data,” Varonis president, co-founder and CEO Yaki Faitelson said in a statement “This latest innovation from Varonis extends our portfolio of enterprise-tested solutions, and will certainly accelerate our growth as we approach the 2,000-customer milestone in our worldwide business.”