ShareFile extends file-sharing to mobile devices
SMB file-sharing and cloud document service provider ShareFile recently extended its service to smartphones, tablets and mobile devices.
The ShareFile service, which competes with the likes of cloud offerings from DropBox or BOX.net, is offering mobile synchronization as a free update for subscribers. The applications let small and midsize businesses share files securely, by allowing recipients to view them without downloading them to the device. Downloads can obviously be problematic from a security and privacy point of view. The mobile access option supports a range of platforms including Android, BlackBerry, iOS and Windows 7 Mobile.
Jesse Lipson, the software programmer who founded the service and is now ShareFile's CEO, says his service supports collaboration by allowing individuals to grant access to cloud-based workspaces. "Users have been mostly focused on external sharing of files that are too large and sensitive to otherwise share," he said. "Now, people are using the service to sync files to the cloud so that they can view them on their iPad or mobile devices."
Unlike some of its rivals, ShareFile doesn't offer a free version of its service. Its Basic offering, which allows two employee accounts, provides 5 gigabytes of monthly bandwidth and up to 5 gigabytes of storage for a price of $29.95 per month. An unlimited number of clients or users can look at that information.
The company's most popular option called Professional costs $59.95 per month. It allows 10 employee accounts, 10 gigabytes of monthly bandwidth and 10 gigabytes of storage. That seems to be the rule for the other offerings: 1 gigabyte of storage or bandwidth per employee account. This also is where ShareFile's encryption options start (the Basic offering doesn't provided stored file encryption or other features such as Outlook plug-in or drive mapping.
ShareFile also has two other options: Enterprise, supporting up to 20 accounts with corresponding bandwidth and storage at $99.95 per month; and Enterprise Gold, with up to 150 employee accounts, for $499.95 per month.