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What’s driving the resurgence of Managed File Transfer / B2B Gateways?

Gary Palgon
Vice President, Product Management
nuBridges

While the trend for businesses to connect electronically with trading partners has grown steadily over the past two decades – first via point-to-point connections followed by a single B2B Gateway or central hub, little or no effort was focused on creating similar exchanges within enterprises.  Yes, application integration was taking place, but control or centralization of file transfers wasn’t even close to being on the radar screen.

But that’s definitely been changing over the last eighteen months, much in part to security as a driver.

Companies of all sizes are revisiting their B2B file transfers to make sure that their external connections are secure, and centralizing them into a single gateway to allow for control and visibility.  This helps with compliance to security mandates as well.  Gartner recently released their Magic Quadrant for B2B Gateway Providers (link to: http://mediaproducts.gartner.com/reprints/microsoft/vol3/article3/article3.html) outlining key requirements and vendors to consider when addressing this.

And on the internal front, the same is taking place to secure file transfers within the four walls of the enterprise, often to lock-down credit card information, other personally identifiable information (PII) and sensitive business data.  Gartner also recently released their Magic Quadrant for Managed File Transfer (link to: http://www.gartner.com/DisplayDocument?id=703819) outlining the same for the internal view. 

And while there are definitely differences between the two, there are many areas of overlap as well. 

Let’s start talking about this – is a centralized managed file transfer gateway on the radar screen at your company?  Is the primary focus internal or external?  Is security the main driver behind the initiative?

A Week without Data Security Breaches

I didn't hear about a single data security breach the week of June 16, but then I spent the week volunteering at Camp Sunshine (http://www.mycampsunshine.com), a camp for kids with cancer. Perhaps it’s because I didn't read, watch or listen to the news!  But instead, focused on a different security issue – that of children with special needs enjoying a week at summer camp with other kids just like them, and  here they felt secure and safe enough to act like ‘normal’ children. 

In reality, according to the Privacy Rights Clearinghouse (link http://www.privacyrights.org) and Attrition.org (link http://attrition.org/) there were numerous breaches in the headlines that week -- Domino's Pizza, Citibank, Petroleum Wholesale and Colt Express Outsourcing Services. 

As a matter of fact, there were only three areas at Camp Sunshine that were even remotely related to technology -- outside of the infirmary equipment, of course.  The first was a room of computers loaded with games for kids who couldn't be exposed to physical activity outside.  The second was limited access to the Internet, which enabled us to contact Chick-Fil-A, who donated more than 400 chicken biscuits after the children called for an 'Eat More Chicken' campaign at camp (you can read about it in the camp's newspaper, the Daily Sunshine (http://www.dailysunshine.org)!  And finally, a high-tech (40 feet+) climbing wall, which was donated by Tom Noonan, former CEO of (now IBM) Internet Security Systems (ISS).

This climbing wall was one of the highlights of the weeks where a girl that had leg braces as a result of cancer was persuaded to try climbing the wall.  After scaling about 25 feet, she came down in tears of joy having reached far beyond the limits she thought she was capable. 

Now back at work, it's images from that week that should enable me and others around me to challenge ourselves to solve critical business problems while at the same time making a difference in this world.

Until next time,

Gary