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What you should know and what you should ask when comparing CentreStack to SharePoint.
"CentreStack solves the problem of easy data storage with Office 365. With CentreStack integration, the Office 365 auto save feature can be set to save
on any file server that you choose, not just the Microsoft cloud, as is the default with Office 365."
ROB CHRIST
Director & Co-owner
Damecon
"Using OneDrive is a learning experience for people. Maybe it's straightforward, but it's not familiar. CentreStack's interface was the driving
factor in our decision to switch from SharePoint and OneDrive. Its easy to use interface, directly saves Tenacious Networks time - we don't spend time training clients and problem solving like we did with OneDrive. With CentreStack, we've added $24,000 a year in new gross profit!"
Aaron Patton
President
Tenacious Networks
"The primary competition is Dropbox, OneDrive or SharePoint out of Office 365. But they don't really match up to what CentreStack does.
I think CentreStack is far superior because of all the capability of sharing and syncing while keeping your data private and secure."
Graham Mannassi
Principal
Mannassi IT Solutions
Are you familiar with these SharePoint Online limitations?
SharePoint Online is a part of the Office 365 offering.
The benefits encourage businesses to migrate their file server to SharePoint online, thus saving the cost of maintaining a local file server.
However, there are several limitations you need to know before you start the SharePoint online migration journey. It may not be the right solution for you if you run into these issues.
Company A wants to migrate to SharePoint Online from their current Windows file server. However, when they are in the middle of the migration, they found out that the storage required grew from the current 6TB on the Windows file server to 15TB on the SharePoint Online. The Windows file server had Deduplication service turned on, and many files are PhotoShop files that are duplicates or similar. The company decided to delay the migration.
Company B attempted to migrate more than 700,000 files from a Synology NAS to SharePoint Online to leverage their Office 365 subscription. The data set included very long paths and file names which prevented migration of some files. Initially, they have the OneDrive sync client installed on over 50 laptops. However, the sync process saturated their network for hours at a time. Microsoft advised that OneDrive sync performance degrades above 100,000 items and urged them to create multiple sites with less than 100,000 items. As a result, Company B decided the reorganization costs and uncertainty were too high and started looking for alternatives to work with their data as-is.
Many legacy applications, especially databases, require block-level access to database files. SharePoint Online can't support these applications.
Other types of applications such as AutoCAD or InDesign create files as a bundle, including many supporting files in relative locations linked to the main file. Any file name changes through truncate or shorten will break these applications.
With so many businesses migrating to Office 365, using SharePoint for file sharing may seem like the inevitable path of least resistance, but there are challenges. First, there are data privacy and control issues. Microsoft requires that you migrate all data to their data centers, raising data privacy and compliance concerns. The inherent complexity and cost of the initial migration from file servers may require reconfiguration of NTFS permissions or may not be possible when there are line-of-business applications that depend on access to network file shares.
If you have a lot of data on your file servers and need application compatibility, SharePoint Online migration will be challenging. Your best choice is to stay with your current Windows file server to provide the best application compatibility support. However, you can use CentreStack to elevate it into the cloud to have SharePoint-like features, such as web browser-based access and mobile file sharing.
SharePoint deployment and maintenance require skilled developers and time to completion.
SharePoint requires migration of data to an online location, likely shared with other tenants.
If the file server stays for application compatibility, SharePoint becomes a second data repository.
There is a cost associated with either recreation of permission structures or clean up data before migration.
SharePoint and OneDrive have various limitations compared to a traditional file server. These limits are affecting performance.
SharePoint offers no endpoint backup or restoration in the event of data loss happened on the endpoint devices.
If the SharePoint limitations hold you back from migrating file servers to the cloud, there is a better way!
Take advantage of the cloud efficiency and cloud mobility doesn't mean you have to live with SharePoint limitations.
With Gladinet solutions, you can either cloud-enable existing file servers AS-IS or use Amazon S3 or Windows Azure to set up a hybrid cloud file server environment with your current file servers. Either way, there are no limitations.
Mapped drive over HTTPS channel to the corporate file server is a crucial feature. Employees are familiar with a mapped drive, and no additional training is required.
Corporate users already have corporate identities in Active Directory and related Active Directory federation service and SAML single-sign-on. They don't need yet another set of credentials to access a file-sharing solution.
Most of the file-sharing solutions offer manual file locking in the forms of "file check-in" and "check out." Gladinet provides automatic file locking by detecting file opening requests. When Microsoft Word is opening a file, the file locking process will be initiated automatically and finished automatically when the file editing finishes.
Finally, the ability to integrate with Active Directory and NTFS permission makes it so much easier for system administrators to set up the permission control. The permission features make the Gladinet solution stands out among the peers.
Backed by years of file server cloud enhancement, CentreStack provides a file server-friendly collaboration platform focused on keeping your data private, secure, and under your control. Perhaps more importantly, the user experience is simplified. Good usability prevents the hard temptation for users to subvert any complex security measures to use ad-hoc methods.
CentreStack combines the security and permission control from the traditional file server and the productivity and mobility from Cloud-based file sharing into one unified, secure file sharing solution. Instead of scheduling and planning for a file server to SharePoint migration, which takes time and takes money, you can turn your existing file server and IT infrastructure into a SharePoint-like file sharing solution.
Keep data in one place for both file server shares and cloud file sharing instead of allowing data to scatter.
Centrally manage granular NTFS permissions and AD users with auditing and reporting for all activities.
Simplify file server access from mapped drives on Windows and macOS, mobile apps on iOS, Android, and web browsers.
With SharePoint, it takes time and money to migrate existing file server data and train employees to change their daily workflow to fit the new solution.
Data saved to file shares replicates to the cloud and vice versa for business continuity with hybrid deployments.
In addition to manual file locking, automatic file locking, combined with version controls, protects distributed access and file collaboration.
Businesses can address data privacy concerns by using CentreStack as a SharePoint alternative that keeps data on-premises. Alternatively, Managed Service Providers may choose to deploy CentreStack in a private cloud like AWS or Azure.
SharePoint requires migration to online locations first. CentreStack provides the option to access data on your existing file shares remotely. CentreStack also uses current NTFS permissions and Active Directory users.
With SharePoint, the user experience changes between the local file server and SharePoint Online. For example, accessing SharePoint Online is quite different from accessing file shares with a mapped drive.
SharePoint migration takes time and money. CentreStack automatically uses existing users and permissions to save setup time and money. The no-migration strategy also enhances productivity overnight as compared to a lengthy migration.
Administrators can be overwhelmed managing data across file servers, SharePoint accounts, email, and other file access or sharing mechanisms. CentreStack provides a single platform with unified management for all access scenarios.
For complete control and visibility, administrators can manage permissions from the file server that was their source or natively with CentreStack.
CentreStack does not require that all the users exist in Active Directory. Users may right-click to share content with anyone who has an email address.
CentreStack adds cloud backup features to file servers. For file server network shares, optionally, the administrators can migrate them to the cloud.
CentreStack provides a white-labeled platform that makes it easy for MSP partners to build a private cloud file server solution based on infrastructure from Amazon, Azure, or Google.
CentreStack provides two levels of file locking and version controls to protect distributed access. Files are locked automatically when online, and users can also do manual check-out when planning to go offline.
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