How To Use Syncplicity Panorama On A Mobile Device

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On the Radar: Syncplicity

Panorama

New mobile content access tools for modern

business work styles

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Summary

Catalyst

The typical knowledge worker has documents and files stored on network file servers, in document management systems, on collaboration platforms, and on desktop or laptop computers. Access to these important assets is generally limited to PCs connected to the corporate network, so employees using mobile devices, such as tablets and smartphones, often store copies in unmanaged

cloud-based storage repositories and/or the corporate email inbox so that they are more readily accessible. This is clearly inefficient, and it also gives organizations cause for concern from an information security management perspective. What is needed is a solution that can bring together all of these different repositories and enable the employee to edit and use the content using any

authorized device, mobile or otherwise.

Key messages

 Syncplicity Panorama enables users with iPads to securely access files stored on on-premise file shares, home directories, and SharePoint sites.

 Utilizing a three-tiered architecture, it obviates the need for costly file migration and VPNs, and it extends the business value of existing enterprise content management investments.  Using a policy-based administration model, organizations can control access to documents

and files while providing end users with a highly productive mobile document access and distribution facility.

 Syncplicity Panorama provides mobile content management security capabilities including remote wipe, pass-code enforcement, and “open-in” control.

Ovum view

Backed by EMC, the future for Syncplicity looks bright. The vendor’s cloud-based enterprise file sync and share product ranked as a leader in Ovum’s assessment of the market, and Syncplicity

Panorama extends the vendor’s offering to support managed mobile device access to files and documents stored in on-premise repositories, specifically file servers and SharePoint sites. Importantly, files and documents accessed via Syncplicity Panorama continue to be well managed thanks to mobile security policies.

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Recommendations for enterprises

Why put Syncplicity Panorama on your radar?

Many organizations have an eye on the cloud from an enterprise collaboration perspective, yet business policies often mandate that content is stored on-premise. The addition of Panorama to Syncplicity Enterprise Edition makes the offering flexible enough to handle different content types in a secure and compliant manner that allows policy-based targeting of separate data stores residing on-premise or in the cloud. Syncplicity Panorama removes the need for employees to copy business files and store them in unmanaged cloud repositories, thereby reducing data leakage and compliance concerns.

Highlights

Notable features

Syncplicity Panorama extends the reach and range of the vendor’s well-established cloud-based enterprise file sync and share service to traditional on-premise file servers and content management systems. It provides secure access to home directories and network file shares, and it works with any storage that supports Server Message Block (SMB) protocol. This means that users can create, edit, and save files to their home directory and network shares from their mobile devices and also have secure offline access to important company documents and files.

Many organizations are considering Microsoft Office 365, but in the meantime, users struggle to access existing SharePoint sites and document libraries from mobile devices connecting outside of the corporate firewall. Syncplicity Panorama removes this barrier and provides secure access – including full check-in/check-out support – to SharePoint 2010 and SharePoint 2013 server farms. Using a three-tier connector architecture, Syncplicity Panorama obviates the need for costly data migration projects or the deployment of complicated VPNs, and it can drastically reduce information security management issues and the business concerns of data leakage. It requires a dedicated server running Windows Server 2012 R2 to facilitate access to on-premise content, and this should be located in the corporate data center between the DMZ and private elements of the network. Designed to satisfy the requirements of the chief information security officer, Syncplicity Panorama preserves existing authentication and access control lists (ACLs), and it augments existing security settings with mobile device policies that work in conjunction with the device app to enforce passcodes and restrict “open-in” actions.

Using the admin console, system administrators can quickly and easily set up and control access to on-premise resources such as network shares and SharePoint libraries. Users that have been granted access to bookmarked folders see them immediately within the app user interface. If access is revoked, for whatever reason, the resource is removed along with any cached files.

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Syncplicity Panorama for Network Shares can be purchased as a standalone product, which is available for free to EMC customers, or as Syncplicity Enterprise Edition, which provides additional managed access to Microsoft SharePoint, EMC Documentum, desktop files, and shared files.

Background

The way that work gets done within the enterprise is changing, and EMC’s acquisition of Syncplicity in 2012 was a strategic maneuver to maintain the vendor’s pre-eminent position in the enterprise content management market. Enterprise mobility is having a transformational effect on many business processes and a significant impact on business productivity. The acquisition of Syncplicity by EMC offers enterprise customers a comfortable glide path to cloud-based content management services, and it also facilitates the introduction of new mobile work styles.

A leader in the enterprise file sync and share market, Syncplicity is designed to improve the

productivity of the mobile workforce while simultaneously providing real-time document protection and continuous availability, thereby addressing key concerns relating to file sharing and information security management.

Current position

Syncplicity by EMC is an industry-agnostic enterprise file sync and share product suited to a range of horizontal use cases, especially those that are mobile in nature. Compared to other products in the market, it ranks highly in terms of mobile end-user functionality and offers extensive enterprise IT management features. Syncplicity’s mobile features are among the best in class, offering insights and predictive analytics, push notifications and auto-sync, geo-tracking, and multi-select move/copy. Its native content management and search capabilities are still somewhat under par, but its social features, such as activity feeds, RSS feeds, the ability to follow files and folders, and in-app editing, are useful enough. The addition of Syncplicity Panorama to the product portfolio strengthens the vendor’s position in the market significantly.

Data sheet

Key facts

Table 1: Data sheet: EMC Syncplicity

Product name Syncplicity Panorama Product classification Enterprise file sync and share

Version number Not applicable Release date January 2015

Industries covered Horizontal solution Geographies covered Global

Relevant company sizes Small, midmarket, and large enterprise

Licensing options SaaS (supports hybrid deployment model)

URL _{www.syncplicity.com} Routes to market EMC direct, channel partners, and Web

Company headquarters Hopkinton, MA, US Number of employees Approximately 60,000 worldwide

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Appendix

On the Radar

On the Radar is a series of research notes about vendors bringing innovative ideas, products, or business models to their markets. Although On the Radar vendors may not be ready for prime time, they bear watching for their potential impact on markets and could be suitable for certain enterprise and public sector IT organizations.

Author

Richard Edwards, Principal Analyst, Enterprise Mobility & Productivity [email protected]

Ovum Consulting

We hope that this analysis will help you make informed and imaginative business decisions. If you have further requirements, Ovum’s consulting team may be able to help you. For more information about Ovum’s consulting capabilities, please contact us directly at [email protected].

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