Could someone please explain - in plain English - what is a “Managed File Transfer Solution”??
I read some things online, but the descriptions weren’t very clear. :-/
Thanks!
Debbie
Can you provide us with some specifics? Where did you see this phrase used that prompted your research on it? Context is everything, so I’d love to see how it was utilized to better answer your question.
I was reading about some company called Linoma Software in Inc magazine, and they have some product called GoAnywhere.
Wasn’t able to really figure out what the company or the software does.
It talked about “securely transferring data between systems using different protocols blah blah blah”…
Wasn’t FTP and Secure FTP already invented? 
That’s why I was asking.
HTH,
Debbie
Okay, that helped. So I went to http://www.goanywheremft.com/solutions/managed-file-transfer and identified their paragraphs of text are really not-very-helpful. So without watching the video (as it may explain more), I can only conclude that Managed File Transfers in this sense of the phrase is the process involved in an organization to accept and send file transfers.
It would potentially include, encrypting said files before transfer, sending them over FTP, SFTP, and the like, and then decrypting them upon completion. At least that is my interpretation of it.
I use FileZilla to securely upload code from my laptop to my VPS with GoDaddy.
That is a “secure transfer of files between systems”.
Of course, FileZilla is widely used, tested, and open-source whereas this GoAnywhere does not look widely used, is proprietary and who knows how secure it really is?!
Or am I not understanding what it does?
Debbie
GoAnywhere is designed for enterprise, I have no doubts it is secure. However with a $6,000 licensing price tag it is likely outside your budget and it is definitely outside mine 
But to answer your question better, yes, it does far more than what you are giving it credit. It isn’t just for FTPing to a web server, it does a WHOLE lot more than that.
So can you help me figure out what that “WHOLE lot more” is exactly??
(I don’t want to buy anything. I’m just trying to understand what the company and its software does…)
Thanks,
Debbie
Honestly, I couldn’t begin to tell you, as I’ve never really used it. From what I know it simplifies things from an enterprise perspective when you need to accept/process FTP transactions with third party companies through a variety of protocols. From being able to initiate them from the Mainframe to a Windows server, or from a Windows server to the Mainframe, or via email, whatever.
It’s a little more than that - what it does is allow you to FTP/file transfer not only to internet enabled machines, but also to those behind firewalls (intranet) which aren’t openly accessible machines.
It’s like a FTP version of gotoMyPC, logmein, etc.
Hey, now you just added another software package I don’t know and complicated things!!
(Dave to Debbie: “They first thing you don’t know… Well, it’s sorta like the FTP version of another thing you don’t know about!”)
What does gotoMyPC, logmein, etc do?? :-/
And does One-thing-I-don’t-know-about + Another-thing-I-don’t-know-about = Yet-something-else-I-don’t-know-about??
Debbie
logmein, gotomyPC, etc. allow you to remotely login to a machine from another machine. Often times, the service allows you to connect cleanly without having to worry about firewalls or machine security. If the software is running on you machine, you can be at work and connect to your machine at home as if you’re sitting at the desk. It’s also called Remote Desktop Connection in the windows world, or VNC in the mac world.
It’s an invaluable tool for support staff especially to trouble shoot problems, and to watch how they are actually encountering a problem. I’ve also used it to log into home to email myself a file I’ve desperately needed from my home machine.
Is that the same thing as when the IT Dept at work want to log in to your computer remotely to trouble-shoot a bug?
Debbie
Pretty much. If it’s a windows machine, they typically use Remote Desktop Connections or shared meetings with Lync or something like that. Same type of scenario.
So this GoAnywhere software is more enterprise based and is able to not only securely transfer files via FTP, but also transfer files securely between systems not on the Internet as well as systems that might use Remote Desktop Connections.
Does that sound reasonably accurate?
Debbie
Yes.
Okay, thanks for explaining things to me.
Whatever it truly is, they seem to be making lots of $$$ off of it. (At least more than I’m making off of my website!!)
Debbie