FTP Alternatives for High-speed File Transfer

What is FTP?

FTP is an unencrypted file transfer protocol, meaning that it sends data, usernames, and passwords in plaintext. In the ‘70s and ‘80s, when employees were transferring files behind firewalls, this wasn’t an issue.

In the past 40 years, file transfers have changed and cybercriminals have become more sophisticated. Confidential files are sent outside companies’ firewalls and can be read if they’re sent with FTP. To avoid these security issues, companies choose SFTP, FTPS, or HTTPS to transfer files.

Corporations and other entities have daily requirements for file sharing, both within their organizations and among their larger external networks. These requirements are compounded by the need to demonstrate compliance with various industry mandates, such as HIPAA, SOX, the GDPR, and PCI DSS. The good news is there are secure FTP solutions that are more effective alternatives to transferring files that help to avoid the many risks associated with FTP.

1.HTTPS

Hypertext Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) adds security to HTTP by offering certificate authentication. Additionally, it encrypts a website’s inbound traffic and introduces an encryption layer via TLS to ensures data integrity and privacy. HTTPS protects a web visitor’s identity and secures account details, payments, and other transactions involving sensitive details. When it comes to transferring files, this protocol enables the use of a simple but secure interface for uploading data from business partners or customers.

2.FTPS (File Transfer Protocol over SSL)

Often mistaken with SFTP, FTPS is an extension to FTP. FTPS adds support for Transport Layer Security (TLS) encryption, which was formerly known as SSL.

TLS uses public and private keys to encrypt communications. The public key is available to everyone who requests information from the server and it encrypts information before transfer. The private key is only available to the owner of the server and it decrypts information after transfer.

3.SFTP (SSH File Transfer Protocol)

SFTP is an encrypted protocol that uses Secure Shell or SSH. SSH works by creating an encrypted connection between a client and a server. Companies prefer SFTP because it requires credentials (a username and password) before the user is allowed to connect to an SFTP client.

SFTP often used for business trading partners to share information as it’s platform-independent and firewall-friendly, only requiring one port number to initiate a session and transfer information.

4.Managed File Transfer (MFT)

Managed file transfer (MFT) secures and simplifies the process of exchanging files. MFT lets businesses replace FTP servers and continue using secure protocols.

A managed file transfer (MFT) solution supports each of the secure FTP solution options listed above (SFTP, FTPS, AS2, and HTTPS) for secure data transmissions among internal users and external entities. This method includes an extensive list of security features that make it an ideal choice for meeting the stringent guidelines of many industry regulations.

Raysync – A Perfect FTP Alternative Managed File Transfer Solution

Raysync’s high-speed transfer protocol is a core transfer technology developed by RAYWING PTE. LTD. based on the UDP transfer protocol. This breakthrough technology does not simply optimize or accelerate data transfer but it takes a leap forward in the transfer technology to completely eliminate the underlying bottleneck while overcoming the limitations of traditional network and hardware. Raysync is able to fully make use of network bandwidth thus provides ultra-low latency, high speed, and end-to-end output service. The transfer rate can be increased by nearly 100 times, achieving over 96% of bandwidth utilization rate while easily adhering to the security, controllability, and stability requirements for TB-level large files and massive small files transfer.

Transport Layer: A Black Tech that Overthrows the TCP Protocol

The TCP transfer protocol does provide a reliable data transfer under ideal conditions, but with its fixed throughput bottleneck, a prominent and serious condition would occur due to high packet loss and latency caused by a long-distance network transfer.

Raysync guarantees reliability in the application layer with an innovative method that eliminates drawbacks such as low efficiency in TCP, packet loss, processing errors, and unstable transfer rate. To ensure 100% reliability, Raysync adopts the best mechanism that accurately identifies and passes on the actual packet loss condition on the transfer channel.

Application Layer: Best Alternative to FTP

The FTP transfer protocol has been used for more than 40 years, but it is also a fact that the efficiency of FTP file transfer has been far less than the growth rate of data in the face of today's complex file exchange requirements. FTP is even worse in the file management tasks that enterprises urgently need today.

In order to transfer files while maintaining security through FTP, this requires complex scripts, continuous maintenance, and even other applications to assist. All of which may cause time and money losses to enterprises by varying degrees.

Basing upon UDP’s high-speed transfer protocol, Raysync breaks through the bottleneck of large file transfer which satisfies enterprises’ needs by building an intelligent transfer platform that processes and integrates massive data at an unprecedented speed.

It’s quick to learn and simple to set up—see for yourself with a free trial!