Northwestern U Updates File Transfer Tools
Northwestern University in Evanston, IL has implemented a new file transfer system to securely
send files between the university and external vendors or agencies.
Until
recently, Northwestern was using a Solaris server running Unix with
custom scripts to handle file transfers, but the system had reached its
end of life, and university administrators wanted to upgrade to a new
platform with a simpler user interface and better reporting
capabilities.
The university is a large organization with many
departments and a requirement to comply with the security and reporting
requirements of HIPAA, PCI DSS, GLBA, FISMA, FERPA and other
regulations. "We have numerous systems we call enterprise
applications," said Ron Blitz, senior systems administrator for
Northwestern's IT Administrative Systems Enabling Technologies
department, in a prepared statement. "Student applications to the
university, financial aid information, test scores, educational testing
service results, W-2 forms and bank deposits and Affordable Care Act
data are some examples. A lot of very essential functionality of the
university is funneled through our systems. At least 115 ongoing
projects currently require FTP."
However, some secure file
transfer systems on the market are designed for huge corporations.
Northwestern needed only a fraction of the functionality of those
systems and didn't want the added complexity and cost that comes with
them. Ultimately, their search led them to GoAnywhere Managed File Transfer by Linoma Software.
The
university now runs GoAnywhere on a Linux 5 server, and the system
eliminates the need for custom scripts, single-function tools and
manual processes, according to a case study on the company's site.
GoAnywhere "automatically encrypts files with AES-256, compresses and
decompresses files, connects to other secure FTP servers, and
guarantees file delivery with connection retries and file auto-resume."
The system also replicates data between database servers and translates
between file formats
"I would say it's extremely flexible," said
Blitz in the case study. "It's easy to construct a script-like process
without writing any code. Customizing transfers specific to each
trading partner takes minutes and is often just a simple 'drag-n-drop'
or right-click away from being ready for Production."
About the Author
Leila Meyer is a technology writer based in British Columbia. She can be reached at [email protected].