Customer Voices: FTP Alternative Success Stories with Signiant
FTP is the original “file transfer protocol” as the acronym suggests. Introduced in 1971, FTP became the de facto file transfer standard in the early days of the Internet and is still widely used today. However, this technology was never designed nor intended to meet the needs of today’s media and entertainment industry. Frustrations with the limitations inherent in FTP have driven many to seek out an FTP alternative, and many have chosen Signiant as their preferred solution. Signiant’s advanced capabilities and reliability make it an ideal FTP alternative for modern media and entertainment needs.
Here’s what customers are saying:
Jóhannes Reykdal, MCR Playout and Media Services Group, RÚV Iceland: What we have suffered through the years with FTP, we look back with horror and see just how easy it is right now [with Signiant].
Andrew Marescotto, Director of IT and Program Management, Blue Ant Media: [FTP is] a pain in the butt. It’s a nightmare. Hosting it always had problems. It’s not secure. There are all these variables that were in there. We’re no longer doing FTP. We primarily work with Signiant to do all of our deliveries internally and externally.
Matjaz Fajdiga, Head of TV Engineering, RTV Slovenia: We had the same pipe for Tokyo and Beijing (Olympic Games). We spent a lot of time overcoming FTP issues in Tokyo. Jet and Media Shuttle solved those problems in Beijing. Simple as that. Now we just throw the file into the right watch folder, and that’s it. Everyone said it was like night and day.
Birkir Björnsson, MCR Playout and Media Services Group, RÚV Iceland: [Signiant] has streamlined every transfer, compared to what the FTP was. Sometimes the grass is actually greener on the other side.
Luis Albritton, Fmr. Chief Engineer, Definition 6: We used to have an FTP server. We played fast and loose. Getting data from one location to another was all about how fast — not how safe. That layer of security is the part that takes a little bit of an education; you’ve got to teach them, “Listen, this is a new way.”
Marc Andreu Valls, Director of Media Services, MEDIAPRO: Before moving to Media Shuttle, we distributed content by FTP. That protocol’s limitations made long transfer time lapses and interruptions a constant issue of concern in our day-to-day operations. In comparison, Signiant’s acceleration maintains a consistent level of performance when transferring large files, even over great distances.
Jesse Korosi, Fmr. Director of Post, Sim: When we’re sending media to and from VFX vendors, they often use crappy FTPs, and every single vendor that’s on the job will have their own iteration of that. Trying to manage 20 or 30 different mechanisms for file IO, as opposed to a facility, on a job is a nightmare.
Jóhannes Reykdal, MCR Playout and Media Services Group, RÚV Iceland: Receiving files, we had to send FTP server information with username and passwords and very often people didn’t even know what FTP was. It was leaving a bad taste in our mouth. Now [with Signiant] we send them a link, and everything is self-explanatory from that. It’s a lot more convenient for us and simplifies all communications.
