Los Altos, CA – November 13, 2007 – Radiance Technologies, the leading provider of digital asset delivery systems, today announced the results of a survey of over 300 corporate “knowledge workers” that spotlights an array of limitations, frustrations, and work-arounds in sending massive multi-gigabyte files over the Internet. The survey, the first of its kind to document file-transfer practices of a broad segment of corporate and organizational professionals, revealed five key findings about the challenges of handling massive files and the means used by workers to overcome barriers:

• Email Size Limits Vary, Affecting Individual Productivity. File size limitations often eliminate email as a tool for sending massive files. Seventy one percent of the respondents say their companies place restrictions on the size of emails, messages and attachments.
• Video, Audio and Image Files Dominate. File sizes are increasing with the proliferation of video, audio and images. Sixty four percent of the respondents send files of five megabytes or larger every day or several times a week, and 81% of those polled say graphics and photos are what they send most often, followed by 62% saying they send video and audio files.
• Employees Use Email Work-arounds for Large Files That Often Carry Sensitive Data. Since corporate email systems restrict sending of very large files, a surprising 29% use personal email accounts or instant messaging to get around corporate size limits, leaving no trail of where corporate files are sent. Sixty three percent of respondents resort to FTP, and 49% send CDs or DVDs by overnight mail, an outdated, “low tech” method.
• FTP is Not Enterprise-Ready. Respondents use FTP, although it lacks features and functionality required for broad adoption across the enterprise. Twenty three percent of the respondents find FTP time-consuming and cumbersome; thirty percent say they are not sure if the file they send was read by the person it was sent to; eleven percent wait to see if the file was successfully sent.
• File Tracking is a Key Concern. Overwhelmingly, respondents cited the lack of file tracking as a limitation. Ninety percent said it would be helpful to have an automatic record of who sent and received a file. Eighty percent said their workflow and productivity would improve if they could send and receive files more easily over the Internet.

One surprising finding is that 29% of knowledge workers found their personal email accounts an easy away around file size limits at work. Corporations set file size and attachment limits to avoid having to add servers and storage capabilities to hold all the files workers can create. What they may not realize, the survey found, is that workers will send those files any way they can –almost always via less secure methods that do not allow corporate data to be tracked. With personal email, IT personnel and CSOs cannot be sure that documents and data have not leaked beyond the corporate firewall.

Virtually all respondents also cited standard methods – FTP (file transfer protocol), third-party software, intranets and VPNs – as their tools for sending massive files despite the inherent lack of security associated with those tools. The most often cited alternative, FTP, is used by respondents despite their overall dissatisfaction with, and distrust of, FTP as an enterprise-ready application. Nearly one-third, 30%, reported not knowing whether a file sent via FTP had reached its destination or was received by the right person. Moreover, an astonishing 42% stated that their large files comprised spreadsheets and databases – typical repositories for sensitive or proprietary information.

“Survey respondents across a range of industries report the same frustrations with existing methods of sending or sharing massive files,” said Thomas Engdahl, CEO of Radiance Technologies, which commissioned the survey. “It's amazing that a function of such significance to the success of businesses and organizations is left to insecure methods such as personal email and instant messaging, or outdated methods such as FTP and overnight couriers. As files balloon in size with the growth of high-definition video, audio and images, it's time for enterprises to address this problem head-on with a new type of enterprise-class asset delivery.”

According to Engdahl, the survey highlights the need for corporations and agencies to reevaluate the way their knowledge workers collaborate with dispersed teams, including partners and suppliers, on large, high-value digital assets. One method, he says, is to enable those workers to offer secure online file transfer as part of an overall digital-asset delivery system. Such a system, with full file-transfer data monitoring and tracking, inherently incorporates auditing capabilities for compliance. And corporate large-file limits can be eliminated so that even multi-gigabyte files can be sent over the Internet.

Three hundred and six individuals responded to the survey. They spanned the ranks of content creators, middle management and executive staff involved in advertising or marketing communications. Major industries represented include manufacturing, retail, healthcare, technology and telecom, and automotive, with strong representation from consumer goods, financial services, and recreation/travel.

Radiance Technologies' Survey on Sharing Large Files in the Workplace, “How Conflicts Between Productivity, Security, and Standards Put Companies at Risk,” Fall 2007, is available at www.radiance.com/survey or by contacting Radiance in the United States at 650-625-9510, ext. 203.

About Radiance Technologies
Radiance Technologies is the leading provider of asset delivery systems for moving and managing large digital assets through any network with speed, security, control and reliability. The company develops and markets Asset Delivery Systems to organizations that need to deliver high-value, collaborative digital assets on time. Radiance TrueDelivery is empowering knowledge workers by simplifying and managing digital asset delivery. Radiance was founded in 2000, and its investors include Levensohn Venture Partners, Vanguard Ventures and Sutter Hill Ventures.

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Media contacts:
Karin Taylor
Trainer Communications
Phone: 408-979-0891
Email: rad@trainercomm.com