FileCatalyst Webmail and Workflow have had a new major upgrade, bringing our ground breaking web applications up to version 4.4

Our new Outlook™ Plugin for FileCatalyst Webmail is now officially released. The plugin integrates directly into Outlook for Windows, allowing people to send large files without leaving their email client. Transfers are still tracked by the Webmail application as before; the only difference is the mechanism for initiating the transfer. Click the image to see full-size.

Here are some of the other key features and improvements:

• Ability to automatically create XML file containing all the Job details in Workflow.
• Java API, ability to submit jobs programatically from any third party Java Application
• Temporary accounts, designated users can now “invite others” to the system, this triggers an invitation sent via email and the new account is set to automatically expire after a predefined number of days.
• Ability to specify when a User Account expires. Once expired, the user will no longer be able to login to the application.
• Automatic deletion of expired user accounts (for both temp and regular users)
• New user status added – “File Area only no job entry”, when a user is in this status they will not have the ability to submit jobs. Only access to file area and group folders will be available to the user.
• Added Database Connection Pooling
• Return first order form found for the user instead of default order form for HotFolder/Plugin/API submissions.
• Capture FTP logs when uploading links, PDF and XML files
• In case of error during upload of PDF, XML or file links, added wait and retry functionality
• In Webmail, simplified the download links sent to the recipients, new links look like: http://myserver.demo/GET/JOBID this helps to by-pass some phishing/SPAM filters
• Improved logging when re-ordering a job
• New filter on user list, allows admins to filter the user list by user status, full access, job entry only, temp user, admin etc…
• Fix installers to work with Windows7 and 64 bit systems.
• Improved performance of many SQL database calls

For download and install instructions, please contact your FileCatalyst representative. For more information about these products, visit http://www.filecatalyst.com/products/

We recommend that all clients upgrade to the latest version as soon as possible.

At its heart, GDC is a technology show. Yes, gaming is the main focus, but that focus is not on the consumer end like an E3 or a PAX. Looking around, you’ll see exhibitors displaying technologies that help game developers with the creation and delivery of their virtual experiences.

Last year’s GDC seemed to center on the delivery of “social networks”. This whole trend answers the question on how to keep the player plugged into their game community when they are not actually playing the game. Delivery mechanisms for these social networks included the web, the PC as well as the iPhone. This year, the message seemed to be about content delivery….from a couple different angles.

Content delivery, for a gamer, can come from multiple sources. It can come from the traditional “brick and mortar” stores like EB Games or GameStop or can come from services like Steam or Impulse. One of the big stories from GDC this year was yet another content delivery method called OnLive. OnLive is a game delivery service which seeks to bring “cloud computing” to the end user which would virtually eliminate the need to gamers to ask the age old question, “does my machine meet the specs to play this game”. Interesting idea and, if it takes off, it can really change the way in which games are delivered to gamers. Scratch that…it would be a complete paradigm shift of game delivery.

Another twist in content delivery…and I may be stretching this a bit…was the proliferation of tools for independent developers. We saw quite a few game engines as well as server technologies that help empower the one man teams to deliver their content to gamers. One of the favorites of the show would have to be the Unity Engine. This is a complete gaming solution that has the extremely low price point $199 for the Indie license. Very affordable for someone who just wants to build a game. I had a chance to play with it on the show floor and it was very easy to use. Most of it is just “drag and drop”, but it does have Javascript and C# components that help with the development of game behavior and states. It imports various 3D modeling formats like Maya, 3D Studio Max, and my personal favorite…Blender. It’s a great platform to develop games on…and a bonus, it can publish on the Web, iPhone and the Wii. You can’t beat that

One last thing…the iPhone, as a platform for gaming seems to be getting HUGE traction within the industry. I was fortunate to attend a session by Gordon Walton, who currently works at Bioware, which was about the top 10 things to look for in a game designer. In what was really an offhand comment, he said something to the current trend for other gaming platforms like the iPhone.

Now, for your entertainment…Big Buck Bunny, which was created totally in Blender and just blows my mind away:

Big Buck Bunny from Blender Foundation on Vimeo.

Cheers,
Darren

The following press release went out today; if you have not stumbled across it in your travels, have a read! Naturally, we are quite happy with the announcement. Several of our staff are game enthusiasts, and the gaming industry is full of interesting people (like those at SEGA). It works out well that our products are so useful for game development studios. On a related note, we’re down at the Game Developers’ Conference (GDC) in Austin as we speak. Swing by booth 6333 NH.

The press release:

San Francisco, CA March 25, 2009 — Unlimi-Tech Software, the pioneer in accelerated file transfers is pleased to announce the selection of FileCatalyst Workflow by SEGA® Corporation. The deployment of FileCatalyst Workflow allows SEGA to successfully manage and transfer game development files, including game-supporting multimedia files, raw and binary game code.

The FileCatalyst Workflow software application is a unique file-based workflow solution that offers comprehensive tracking and management of files as they are processed through a digital workflow. The uniqueness of the application is exemplified by its ability to accelerate file transfers as they move from one project node to the other. Advanced acceleration algorithms allow for improved bandwidth utilization and data reduction – leading to file transfer rates of 100x faster than traditional FTP.

“We were looking for a solution that would consolidate our disparate file transfer systems into a single file-based workflow application. Our main goal was to improve our productivity and efficiency through this application,” said Jake Salgado, Director of IT, SEGA of America, “We selected FileCatalyst technology because of the speed gains it offered – previously it would take longer than a day to transfer our project files, now we can do it in hours. The time we shave off in our transfers translate to immense productivity gains when you realize we have a global work force in different time zones.”

FileCatalyst® acceleration technology is completely software-based, and is designed to overcome network performance bottlenecks to maximize use of available bandwidth. This technology is packaged into FileCatalyst Workflow, providing file-based workflow. The process is completely customizable and offers automated and scheduling features, email notifications and LDAP/Active Directory integration.

“We are pleased to be an integral part of the applications deployed by the SEGA development group,” said Chris Bailey, CEO of Unlimi-Tech Software, “The gaming industry is experiencing huge issues relating to delivery of the massive amounts of content in today’s games. FileCatalyst allows game development companies to minimize file transfer times, and thus improve productivity across the game development workflow.”

About SEGA of America

SEGA of America, Inc. is the American arm of Tokyo, Japan-based SEGA Corporation, a worldwide leader in interactive entertainment both inside and outside the home. The company develops, publishes and distributes interactive entertainment software products for a variety of hardware platforms including PC, wireless devices, and those manufactured by Nintendo, Microsoft and Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. SEGA of America Web site is located at www.sega.com

About Unlimi-Tech Software

Located in Ottawa, Canada, Unlimi-Tech Software is the creator of FileCatalyst®, the world’s leading file transfer solution. Founded in 2000, the company has more than seven hundred and fifty commercial and government clients. FileCatalyst® technology is a software-based solution designed to accelerate and optimize file transfers across global networks. FileCatalyst® is immune to the effects that latency and packet loss have on traditional file transfer methods like FTP, HTTP or CIFS. FileCatalyst® addresses these issues for enterprise WAN, satellite and wireless communications, media and content providers, and government and military organizations.

For more information, visit the FileCatalyst website at: www.filecatalyst.com

Two of the problems we address with our accelerated file transfer solutions are security (offering SSL and AES encryption, as well as safe authentication methods such as LDAPs) and of course speed. By addressing speed of delivery, we also allow companies that would formerly record data to media such as DVD to instead use digital delivery so that their data doesn’t get…. misplaced. Thinking about these two ills that we offer a cure for inspired me to dig into some recent breaches of security throughout the world. Some of these could have been avoided by using a secure file transfer solution… some were just plain old human error. All of them, a little shocking! Number One is current as of yesterday and is quite a doozy!

Without further adieu, my top ten security breaches related to file transfer:

10 ) New Mexico Administrative Office of the Courts. For 8 days in May, an unsecured document was exposed on the agency’s FTP site on the state’s computer server.

9 ) Port of Seattle Six CDs missing from the ID Badging office at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport

8 ) Lexmark International – The employee personal data was inadvertently exposed, it included Social Security numbers, dates of birth, along with names and addresses.

7 ) HM Revenue and Customs, UK sent two discs containing the entire child benefit database… and the discs got lost

6 ) Ubisoft Leaks New Game Information Via FTP

5 ) Dreamhost exposes thousands of FTP passwords: http://www.dreamhoststatus.com/2007/06/06/security-breach/

4 ) 8,700 stolen FTP credentials found on the public Internet

3 ) Virgin Media collects customer banking details on CD, then loses it

2 ) Microsoft FTP Server Leak : a 1 GB database containing millions of names and mailing addresses was exposed to the public internet

And the number ONE recent security breach:

1 ) Sensitive information about Marine One, President Barack Obama’s helicopter, was leaked through file-sharing software

If you don’t want to see your company name on my top-ten list, then consider FileCatalyst for your next IT infrastructure purchase!