Cloudian adds Storage Made Easy file-sync-and-share compliance

Object storage specialist Cloudian has announced an enterprise file-sync-and-share product that can track compliance breaches and alert administrators.

The product – built with technology from file-sync-and-share outfit Storage Made Easy – will enable customers to build their own private Dropbox-like services that can track data moving in ways that contravene the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), for example.

Deployments will see Storage Made Easy software installed on Cloudian object storage appliances across customer datacentres. Access for clients can be from Windows, Linux, Android or iOS endpoints.

Storage Made Easy scans files to look for up to 60 different pre-set types of personal data, such as passport numbers or credit card details, but can be configured according to user requirements. In that way, it spots potentially personal data and alerts administrators and/or blocks file movements.

Cloudian marketing chief Jon Toor said the product is intended to help with compliance requirements for customers to maintain storage within physical boundaries and to keep tabs on personal data.

“It gives the IT manager complete control over file movement and allows organisations to monitor personal data,” he said. “The software is constantly looking at files and scanning for personal data.

“It allows organisations to be aware of how data is moving and to where, potentially so it can be stopped from doing so – for example, by restricting movement outside a specific geography or alerting that something should not form part of shared files.”

Storage Made Easy is a file-sync-and-share software product designed to work with S3 storage, while Cloudian is S3-based storage that is built for on-premise use but can also be hybrid cloud.

File-sync-and-share is most commonly associated with cloud-based services such as Dropbox and Box, but Cloudian’s offering joins other private enterprise products such as those from Nexsan and Commvault.

Data can be replicated between Cloudian instances at different datacentres or to a cloud service, said Toor.

The features of this match-up between Cloudian and Storage Made Easy would not extend to the cloud, however. “It is definitely intended as an on-premise solution,” he said. “If you are using the public cloud, you’re on your own.”