RES debuts on-premise Dropbox rival

Workspace management vendor RES Software has launched an on-premise file sharing product for business users that are unwilling to entrust similar online services with their data.

The product is called RES HyperDrive and allows BlackBerry, Android, iOS and Windows Phone users to share and access corporate data without relying on consumer products, such as Dropbox.

It can also be integrated with Microsoft Outlook and accessed through Windows Explorer, Mac Finder or a web browser.

Hyperdrive can be licensed for use within an organisation's datacentre or private cloud on an annual basis, at 38 per user per year, or monthly at a cost of 3.50 per user per month.

Speaking to IT Pro, Grant Tiller, senior product manager at RES Software, said the product has already attracted a lot of interest from the government, financial services and banking sectors.

"They are [markets] that wouldn't be accessible to technologies like Dropbox because you don't know where the data is and the compliance rules [those kinds of companies] need to abide by," said Tiller.

"We have leveraged the fact that everyone knows about Dropbox [to create interest], because organisations also recognise Dropbox's weaknesses from a security standpoint."

Tiller described the product as a virtual appliance that runs on VMware ESXi, Microsoft Hyper-V or Citrix XenServer.

"Basically, it can be dropped into your infrastructure, pointed at your storage and within 10-to-15 minutes, you're up and running," he claimed.

Bob Janssen, chief technology officer at RES Software, said end users can also use the firm's Baseline Desktop Analyser tool to find out how much corporate data is being stored on consumer file sharing platforms.

"Until now, IT executives have been limited to allowing users to adopt consumer services or enforcing less flexible on-premise solutions within their datacentre," he added.

"The combination of security and simplicity makes HyperDrive a welcome addition to the RES Software product portfolio."