FTP is one of the earliest file transfer protocols and is widely used on the Internet. However, it also has many shortcomings and risks, causing many Fortune 500 companies to abandon the use of FTP. This article will analyze the shortcomings of FTP from the following aspects, as well as the choices and alternatives of Fortune 500 companies.
Disadvantages and Risks of FTP
In terms of security, it uses clear text to transmit usernames and passwords, which are easily eavesdropped and tampered with, leading to data leakage and damage. FTP also has no encryption mechanism, and transferred files can also be intercepted and modified, resulting in incomplete and inconsistent data. FTP does not yet have an authentication and authorization mechanism. Anyone can access files on the FTP server. There is no permission control and audit function, and the security and compliance of data cannot be guaranteed.
In terms of reliability, it does not have a resumption and recovery mechanism. If there is a network interruption or server failure during the transfer process, the file transfer will fail or be incomplete, and the transfer will need to be restarted, which wastes time and resources. FTP also has no verification mechanism and cannot guarantee whether the transferred files are correct. If the files are incorrect or damaged, it will affect the normal operation of the business.
In terms of efficiency, it uses a single TCP connection to transfer files. Each transfer requires establishing and closing connections, consuming network bandwidth and server resources. FTP also has no compression mechanism, and the transferred files are not optimized in any way, taking up more storage space and network traffic. FTP does not have a concurrency mechanism, so it cannot transmit multiple files at the same time or share files between multiple users, which reduces the speed and efficiency of transmission.
In terms of compatibility, it only supports basic file types and character sets, and cannot handle complex file formats and encodings. There are no unified standards and specifications for FTP. There may be differences and conflicts between different FTP servers and clients, causing file transfer failures or errors.
The choice of Fortune 500 companies
Because FTP has so many shortcomings and risks, many Fortune 500 companies have abandoned the use of FTP. According to a survey of the Fortune 500 companies, in the first quarter of 2023, only 8% of the Fortune 500 companies were still using FTP as the main file transfer protocol. By comparison, in the fourth quarter of 2019, this proportion was still 32% . This shows that in the past three years or so, more than two-thirds of the Fortune 500 companies have given up using FTP.
Alternatives to FTP
It can be seen from the above aspects that the world's top 500 companies have abandoned the use of FTP and used or looked for better FTP alternatives to improve their data security, reliability, efficiency and compatibility. So, for other enterprises, how to replace FTP? Is there a solution that can take into account all the advantages and be simple and easy to use?
Raysync (a privatized deployment solution, which can also be connected to the public cloud, and users of enterprises and social organizations can apply for a free trial) is an enterprise-level large file transfer service with a self-developed Raysync transmission protocol. It can help enterprises quickly, safely and efficiently Easily transfer files of any type and size. Raysync has the following advantages and features:
1. High performance transmission
The transmission speed of the self-developed Raysync protocol is 100 times faster than FTP/HTTP. It supports tens of thousands of concurrent enterprise large files and massive small files. The bandwidth utilization rate is as high as 96%, effectively reducing network delays, packet loss and other impacts.
2. Financial grade security
It adopts the world's top financial grade AES-256 encryption technology, supports SSL encrypted transmission, supports national encryption standards, resumes transmission at breakpoints, error retransmission, and multiple file verification (Hash, rsync verification).
3. Data is stable and efficient
It supports intelligent breakpoint resumption, error retransmission, and timely troubleshooting; at the same time, it has a built-in multiple file verification mechanism to ensure normal operation, and the entire process is intelligent, stable, efficient and guaranteed.
4.Multiple ways of transmission
The transmission method not only supports upload and download of local and server storage, but also supports point-to-point transmission, one-way and two-way synchronous transmission and other functions; you can also view exclusive user space and specific permission management.
5. Global central control
Raysync supports central management and control platform control, provides exclusive user space, and specific permission management, enabling real-time monitoring of live transmissions and traceable transmission logs.
6. Convenient deployment & excellent compatibility
Raysync supports mainstream operating systems, with flexible deployment in 1 minute, ready to install and use; cross-platform (Windows/Linux/AIX) deployment, and supports virtual machine deployment/high availability deployment/container deployment.
To sum up, FTP is outdated and insecure, and is not suitable for the needs and scenarios of modern enterprises. Fortune 500 companies have abandoned the use of FTP and switched to more advanced and secure file transfer protocols. For other enterprises, we recommend that they also replace FTP as soon as possible and choose a more suitable and reliable file transfer solution .