BeInSync: A P2P Approach to Remote File Access No Longer Need Those Notoriously Clunky Remote Tools Mike Houghton
As mobility continues to grow and mature in corporate environments, so does the need for file access between multiple clients and locations. Not all business travelers have a need to remote control their home or office computer from a faraway location. More often than not, traveling users need only to access certain files or email while on the road.
So why deal with sometimes intolerable latency when remoting into a home computer or office PC? Well you don't have to anymore. Out of Tel-Aviv Israel comes software from BeInSync Ltd.
If you find yourself emailing presentations or emails to yourself so that you can retrieve them later once you arrive at a customer's location, then keep reading. Business users and mobile professionals will always have a need to access files from the office or home while on the road. This is where BeInSync comes in.
BeInSync offers a fast and secure method of accessing and synchronizing remote data. It's fast because the GUI overhead of actually controlling your host computer is eliminated. Unlike PCAnywhere, GoToMyPC or NetOp, BeInSync uses a private peer-to -peer (P2P) connection between the client and host, thus freeing up valuable bandwidth for what you really need it to do, namely transferring and synchronizing the files.
And while you can easily transfer files with the above-mentioned utilities, they do not address the potential for duplicate or out of date files. It's also secure because data passes through the BeInSync Network using strong SSL-based encryption. BeInSync prohibits unauthorized users from connecting to your computers and requires username and password authentication, which you provide.
The Difference
BeInSync is in a class of its own because it's not a remote control utility per se. It does however provide some of the same functions. Instead of providing remote access to your computer desktop, it links computers so that the files or folders that you select for synchronization are always available on all selected machines.
Set up is quick and easy, so you don't need to be an IT expert. And you eliminate the fear of overwriting same-named files with older versions because whenever you create, modify or delete any of these items, these changes are automatically reflected on the other share computers.
This is as simple as installing BeInSync on all the computers that you use, such as your home PC, your office machine and your laptop. Then specify what you want to keep synchronized such as your desktop, your My Documents folder, emails, contacts, favorites, etc and that's it.
Every time you make a change, those changes are propagated to all the computers on your list. Then, to further the capabilities of sharing files, you can send a "Share Invitation" to any colleague or customer. A shared folder is then created on their computers and automatically kept synchronized as changes are made. You can now work concurrently on the shared folder with the same ease as working on your local files.
And if you don't have access to one of your own computers you can simply use a public computer using any Web browser. Simply go to the BeInSync home page and login. This presents an HTML version of the BeInSync application with all of your shared and synchronized items.
However, in order for this function to work you will have to first enable this feature from the settings screen in your client software. Then it's just a matter of checking off the Web Access box. Setup is straightforward, but as a built-in security feature, this option is disabled by default.
Pros:
With BeInSync's P2P architecture your data is never placed on third party server.
Comprehensive wizard to guide users during installation and setup.
Using BeInSync on several computers eliminates the possibility of losing important data should a hard drive crash occur or your laptop gets stolen.
Easy-to-use Windows Explorer-like navigation.
Cons:
Synchronizing multiple items at one time or large files (over 10MB) occasionally caused application hang-ups.
No phone support at this time.
Pricing:
Free, fully functional 45 Day trial. You can continue to use the application for free after the trial but with limited functionality.
Once the BeInSync 45-day trial period is over, it will cost $59.95 per year for up to 10 computers.
Minimum Requirements:
Windows 2000 or Windows XP operating system, Intel Pentium III 600 MHz or higher, 128MB of memory and above
