ROI on FileCatalyst

How can you improve your company’s bottom line in today’s tough economic times?

With the proliferation of the internet, online file transfer has become a ubiquitous process for any business. Most companies use FTP applications to send and receive files. For the most part this makes sense, as these tools are inexpensive and require an acceptable learning curve from the end-user.  However, there are hidden costs in such transfer solutions.  These include hard costs such as software licensing and ongoing bandwidth expense, and also soft costs such as lost time due to slow file transfers.

Both of these costs can add up to a considerable shift in a business’s bottom line.  Imagine a company located within North America that needs to transfer files through a WAN.  Since every internet connection has latency (the delay time for a packet to get from one point in the network to another),  it becomes nearly impossible for a WAN to operate at its full throughout, resulting in significantly lower transfer speeds.

The FileCatalyst Advantage
FileCatalyst® acceleration solution provides the ability to achieve full line speed regardless of network latency. This helps to maximize the existing network infrastructure by ensuring that files are transferred as fast as possible and also helps reduce IT cost —mainly bandwidth costs paid to service providers.

To showcase how FileCatalyst® can speed up file transfers and lower IT costs, the following calculations have been made. First, bandwidth costs of various internet connections are shown below. These are estimates that are the norm in Q4-2008 within North America:

Monthly Internet costs
Bandwidth (mbps)	1.5	3	5	10	50	100
Cost (month)	$75	$250	$500	$750	$1000	$1300
Pricing supplied: GoWebMan and Roger’s Cable

Next, using the above costs, we calculate the ROI FileCatalyst® delivers for different scenarios:

Use Case Scenarios
Scenario	Line Speed (Mbps)	Cost (month )	Transfer / Latency	Max Throughput (kbps)	Utilization	FileCatalyst Advantage
Transfer files as fast as possible on existing Link	50	$1000.00	290 ms Latency with 1% Packet loss for New Zealand to LA transfers	490	1%	Bring throughput at 49300 Kbps and utilization at 99%. Increases speed 100x.
Upgrade bandwidth or infrastructure to get faster speeds.	10	$750	NA to/from Europe Average 160 ms	613	6%	Increase transfer speed by 1.5x and save $670/month as well.

Scenario 1: Transferring files as fast as possible on existing link.
For a post production house located in New Zealand with constant transfer of artwork files to and from its LA office, time is of the utmost importance. The average network latency of pan-Pacific transfers is 200ms, with an average packet loss of 1%. With FTP, a 50mbps connection will only be able to transfer files at 490kbps, with a monthly ISP cost of $1000.

By using FileCatalyst®, they transfer files at near link speed of 49300 kbps. This yields transfer rates that are 100 times faster than traditional FTP. Transfer of digital art that previously took 100 minutes can now be completed in 1 minute. The only question remaining is:  what is the additional 99 minutes worth to your team in saved productivity hours?

Scenario 2 – Upgrading bandwidth or Infrastructure to get faster speeds.
In this scenario you are transferring files between North America and Europe with a 10 mbps connection. Because of latency and packet loss your effective throughput is 613kbps—you are only using 6% of your bandwidth. You talk with your ISP and they suggest getting a faster link or upgrading your infrastructure.

Instead of upgrading and incurring higher monthly costs, you can deploy FileCatalyst for point to point transfers. With FileCatalyst, you could even purchase a slower 1 mbps link and still be able to send files faster than your 10 mbps link.  A FileCatalyst-enabled 1 mbps line will yield transfer rates of 980kbps, with an ISP cost of approximately $80 per month.

In this case, you are saving $670 per month in bandwidth costs, yet are still sending files 1.5 times faster than the 10mbps line.  Additionally, FileCatalyst provides all the server and client tools needed to make your business better and more efficient.

What is your ROI on FileCatalyst?

The above examples should give an idea on how FileCatalyst can yield higher ROI. There are other soft benefits for using FileCatalyst that are difficult to quantify during this ROI analysis. Ask yourself the following questions - How much is it worth for me to...

• Transfer files faster?
• Automate my file transfers?
• Guarantee delivery of files?
• Secure my file transfers?

These are some of the questions that can highlight the value of FileCatalyst for you organization. If you are interested in obtaining your own ROI for FileCatalyst, contact us and we will help maximize the efficiency of your resources and improve your business’s bottom line.