FolderMaestro Adds File Locking to Busy SMB Doc Collab Space

By Chelsi Nakano | Published Aug 11, 2009

For those seeking new file sharing and collaboration solutions on this lovely Tuesday, FolderMaestro has a new offering. Boasting unbeatable prices as one of their advantages over competitors, FileMaestro presents File Check-Out, a relatively inexpensive product that makes it easier to collaborate when you’re out of the office and on your laptop. They also seem to think they are taking on Microsoft SharePoint. How interesting.

The End of the Attachment

FolderMaestro, a virtual file sharing drop box for the enterprise, has been offering its services for well over a decade. Targeted toward smaller businesses that need to coordinate among team members for accessing files remotely, key features include flexible, downloadable, and proprietary distributed file locking and auto-synchronization solutions, which all aim to keep project files up to date and secure on all participating servers regardless of where changes are made.

Their new leg, File Check-Out, is a tool that addresses similar issues, but resolves document version conflicts. With the solution, an end-user marks specific documents stored on a network to be reserved or “checked out.” When a team member needs to work on a marked file remotely it becomes "locked," ensuring that that particular user is the only one with editing access until he or she is finished with it. After editing, File Check-Out automatically saves the new updated file and then releases the document for review and use by other team members.

File activity logs, monitoring, file-by-file permissions, alert functionalities, as well as administrative override, reportedly provides security, workflow transparency, and accountability.

“Today’s highly competitive environment means companies and project teams are operating globally on tight budgets and strict deadlines,” said General Manager Jimmy Tam. “With File Check-Out, FolderMaestro has created a flexible offering that works for small businesses as well as it does for large corporations, given the easy installation and savings compared to the few competing enterprise products on the market.”

$

File Check-Out will run you US$ 249 per laptop. If it is to be used in conjunction with FolderMaestro’s Multi-Server File Collaboration application, it’s US$ 4,000 per server.

And though those numbers are pocket-friendlier than similar offerings from Microsoft, they are still more expensive than web-based collaboration tools like Google Docs, which offers a free version and a professional version for US$ 50 per person per year.

If you're still interested (and have Windows) you can check out the company's free trial offering here.