Comparing Dropbox and Egnyte - White Paper
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Comparing Dropbox and Egnyte
White Paper
Egnyte Inc. | 1890 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View, CA 94043, USA | Phone: 877-7EGNYTE (877-734-6983)
www.egnyte.com | © 2013 by Egnyte Inc. All rights reserved. | Revised June, 2013Egnyte v. Dropbox
Table of Contents
Introduction 3
Egnyte Security 3
The Consumerization of IT 3
The Challenge to Regain Control 3
Dropbox: Developed for Consumers – Nightmare for IT 4
Egnyte: Developed for Business - Centralized Control 5
Accessibility from Anywhere 6
Remote File Access
Workplace File Access
FLEXIBLE DEPLOYMENT – CLOUD, ON-PREM OR HYBRID 7
Cloud ONLY With Egnyte Cloud File Server
On-prem ONLY With Egnyte Storage Connect
Hybrid with Egnyte Storage Sync
Egnyte v. Dropbox Comparison Chart 7
Summary 8
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Egnyte Inc. | 1890 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View, CA 94043, USA | Phone: 877-7EGNYTE (877-734-6983)
www.egnyte.com | © 2013 by Egnyte Inc. All rights reserved.Egnyte v. Dropbox
Introduction
Consumers are embracing cloud storage solutions as a central place to store and access files from any computer or mobile device.
Many of these consumers are business users who bring these tools into the workplace for mobile access to business files. This
trend is an increasing concern for IT departments who must ensure data security and maintain control.
This whitepaper explores trends and services available from Dropbox and Egnyte. The issues of control, security and accessibility
will be examined and compared between the two services.
Mobility is Transforming the Workplace
As organizations expand geographically and employees spend more time on the road or telecommuting, IT teams are challenged
to deliver the same level of accessibility in all locations. Mobile devices enable productivity on the go, yet require applications that
support file access and sharing. Many large organizations also need to extend collaboration beyond distributed offices to include
business partners and customers.
The Consumerization of IT
Until recently, employees had to make do with what was supplied by their IT department. Employees used tools that were approved
by IT in-spite of them being cumbersome or restrictive at times. But the tables are turning on IT departments. Employees are
bringing tools they use at home into the workplace to stay productive when they are on the go.
A recent Forrester study found that 41% of US information workers are using one or more personal cloud services at work rather
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than IT’s offerings.
The Challenge to Regain Control
Corporate IT faces the challenge of embracing this revolution, while taking back control of sensitive corporate data. Most cloud
services such as Dropbox were developed for consumers, not for businesses.
While individual users can easily share and access their files with such tools, security and centralized control is often compromised
in the process. Consumer services do not support key features required by enterprises, including sophisticated permission
management, synchronization of shared storage devices, and robust centralized administration capabilities. Businesses increase
the risk of data leaks and regulatory compliance violations when employees select their own consumer-grade rogue cloud
solutions.
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Source: The Personal Cloud: Transforming Personal Computing, Mobile, and Web Markets and Foresights Workforce Employee
Survey, Q3 2010.
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Egnyte Inc. | 1890 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View, CA 94043, USA | Phone: 877-7EGNYTE (877-734-6983)
www.egnyte.com | © 2013 by Egnyte Inc. All rights reserved.Egnyte v. Dropbox
Dropbox: Developed for Consumers – Nightmare for IT
Dropbox is a popular solution broadly adopted by consumers. The base offering is free, with the option to pay for additional
storage. The product has a streamlined user interface and desktop sync capability that makes it ideal for individual users.
Dropbox for Business, which is aimed at businesses, provides a good way for enterprises to share and collaborate. However,
because Dropbox was developed as a solution for consumers, it fails to provide scalability, enterprise grade security, and auditing
which are all crucial for businesses. Dropbox has been designed without a centralized administration philosophy, which puts the
individual in control of file access rules. The files and folders in user’s Dropbox for Business account are not accessible to
teammates or IT unless they are deliberately shared.
Source: Dropbox Forums https://www.dropbox.com/help/218/en
What happens when employees bring in their individual Dropbox accounts to access company data and IT is left in the dark?
With dispersed individual Dropbox accounts littered throughout the company, IT has a difficult time controlling the flow of important
business data. Files could easily become visible and accessible to outsiders and leave the company vulnerable to data intrusions.
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Egnyte Inc. | 1890 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View, CA 94043, USA | Phone: 877-7EGNYTE (877-734-6983)
www.egnyte.com | © 2013 by Egnyte Inc. All rights reserved.Egnyte v. Dropbox
Egnyte: Developed for Business - Centralized Control
Unlike consumer cloud solutions, Egnyte is designed for businesses. Users can easily store, share and access files, from anywhere,
with any device - without compromising control. IT retains central administration and visibility to ensure that business data is
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controlled under the most stringent security and privacy guidelines.
Egnyte's robust centralized administration platform provides businesses with the ability to manage user permissions at any level (top
level shared folder, parent folder, or sub-folder). Any user with owner permissions can assign read/write/delete access for every
employee, ensuring that only the right users have access to the right files. Egnyte also supports automated permission and data
ingest to support already existing access controls.
Example: The Finance parent folder has 3 sub-folders: reports, budgets and payables. The entire finance team needs access to the
Finance folder, with the exception of the budgets sub-folder. The budgets sub-folder should only be accessed by the Corporate
Controller.
Dropbox takes a different approach to permission controls. When a file is shared through a public shared folder, there are no sub-
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folder controls - when files are added to the shared folder, everyone has full access to the files within. While this approach is
acceptable for consumer use, for businesses this could mean compromising the security and privacy of important business data.
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Egnyte's security and privacy policies adhere to HIPAA, FINRA, and EU Safe Harbor compliance
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Source: Dropbox Forums http://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=57672
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Egnyte Inc. | 1890 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View, CA 94043, USA | Phone: 877-7EGNYTE (877-734-6983)
www.egnyte.com | © 2013 by Egnyte Inc. All rights reserved.Egnyte v. Dropbox
Accessibility from Anywhere
The driving force behind the IT transformation is the need for simple remote file access for employees. This need is met by the
adoption of cloud services which allow users to access and share files from anywhere, with any computer or mobile device.
Remote File Access
The basic benefit of cloud storage is to provide file access, sharing and storage from anywhere. Dropbox and Egnyte both allow
accessibility through any web browser, mobile device, and desktop sync.
• Web browser - Users have the ability to access, share and store files from any standard web browser into one central repository
• Mobile device - Native mobile application allows users to access and share files directly from their smartphone or tablet
• Desktop sync - Desktop application automatically syncs files between the personal computer and the cloud, providing file access
online or offline
Workplace File Access
Business cloud solutions have taken accessibility to the next level, providing employees with the ability to access and share files
through existing workplace platforms such as Salesforce, etc. Egnyte offers employees a wide range of familiar workplace access
methods, allowing for uninterrupted workflow under any IT infrastructure.
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• Mapped drive - Users can access files directly on their desktop through a mapped network drive
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• FTP - Integrated FTP server allows large file transfers with any FTP client
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• Third-party integrations - Integration with workplace productivity platforms such as Google Docs , DocuSign, Salesforce.com
and many others
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Source: Dropbox Forums http://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=49687 - post-374848
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Source: Dropbox Forums http://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=58685 - post-424005
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Source: Dropbox Forums http://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=40967 - post-333294
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Source: Dropbox Forums http://forums.dropbox.com/topic.php?id=9820 - post-61005
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Egnyte Inc. | 1890 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View, CA 94043, USA | Phone: 877-7EGNYTE (877-734-6983)
www.egnyte.com | © 2013 by Egnyte Inc. All rights reserved.Egnyte v. Dropbox
FLEXIBLE DEPLOYMENT – CLOUD, ON-PREM OR HYBRID
When it comes to file access, sharing, or collaboration, the size, sensitivity, or data type dictates where the files are located: in the
cloud, strictly on-prem or using a hybrid approach. As compared to Dropbox’s Cloud ONLY approach, Egnyte supports multiple
deployment options to address all use cases in an enterprise:
Cloud ONLY With Egnyte Cloud File Server
Egnyte Cloud File Server provides robust online storage and collaboration without sacrificing security, compliance, and control.
Egnyte Desktop Sync offers cloud sync for individual users on their PC or Mac. Egnyte sync scales to millions of files, provides sub-
folder sync capability and enforces access permissions uniformly on local files.
On-prem ONLY With Egnyte Storage Connect
Given the recent concerns around cloud security and government spying, enterprises are not comfortable putting mission critical
information in the public cloud. Egnyte Storage Connect enables secure remote access to data behind firewall without replicating or
passing any files through the cloud.
Dropbox DOES NOT have anything to match this capability.
Hybrid with Egnyte Storage Sync
In addition to Desktop Sync, Egnyte Storage Sync automatically ingests data and permissions and bi-directionally syncs chosen set
of storage systems/servers with the cloud, enabling employee access to any file in the company that they have access to without
manually replicating the data or permissions. Files can even be replicated across multiple, diverse storage systems for cross-office
file sharing and data redundancy.
Dropbox DOES NOT have anything to match this capability.
Egnyte v. Dropbox Comparison Chart
Feature Egnyte Dropbox
Flexible Deployment
Cloud Only YES Yes
On-Prem Only YES NO
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Egnyte Inc. | 1890 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View, CA 94043, USA | Phone: 877-7EGNYTE (877-734-6983)
www.egnyte.com | © 2013 by Egnyte Inc. All rights reserved.Egnyte v. Dropbox
Hybrid Only YES NO
File Access
Web Browser YES YES
Mapped Drive YES NO
Mobile Support YES NO
FTP Support YES NO
Authentication – SSO, SAML YES YES
Native AD Authentication YES NO
Password Policy Controls YES NO
Desktop & Server Sync
Desktop Sync YES YES
Local Storage/Server Sync YES NO
Folder Controls
Grandular Folder Permissions YES NO
Source: https://www.dropbox.com/help/362/en
Summary
Egnyte offers a more comprehensive cloud solution for businesses when compared to Dropbox, a cloud solution that is designed
for consumers. Egnyte provides all the scalability; security and collaboration that IT departments need to maintain control over
employee file sharing. This enables accessibility without compromising data safety and privacy.
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Egnyte Inc. | 1890 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View, CA 94043, USA | Phone: 877-7EGNYTE (877-734-6983)
www.egnyte.com | © 2013 by Egnyte Inc. All rights reserved.Egnyte v. Dropbox
About Egnyte
Over 1 billion files are shared daily by businesses using Egnyte´s unique technology, which provides the speed and security of local
storage with the accessibility of the cloud. Users can easily store, share, access and backup files, while IT has the centralized
administration and control to enforce business policies. Founded in 2007, Egnyte is based in Mountain View, California and is a
privately held company backed by venture capital firms Google Ventures, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, Floodgate Fund, and
Polaris Venture Partners. For more information, please visit http://www.egnyte.com or call 1-877-7EGNYTE.
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Egnyte Inc. | 1890 N. Shoreline Blvd. | Mountain View, CA 94043, USA | Phone: 877-7EGNYTE (877-734-6983)
www.egnyte.com | © 2013 by Egnyte Inc. All rights reserved.You can also read
