I had a good briefing with Binfer’s head of sales, Nate Van Drunen, earlier this week. Binfer.com provides secured (AES 256) direct transfer of large files. I have spent this week back in the client trenches subbing in for a lit support manager. That has been a timely reminder of the transferring ever larger collections to providers and firms. Really savvy techs can navigate Azure protocols, firewalls and RelOne S3 access to transfer M365 eDiscovery exports directly to corporate or provider processing. This is more than the average litsupport tech wants to tackle.

Example 50GB M365 eDiscovery search:

  1. Build export from search in Core eDiscovery – 8-12 hours
    1. Eevery tenant performance varies but we all know that it is dog slow.
  2. Download from M365 to remote desktop via avg speed – 1 hour
    1. We are all working remote right now, so no 10 Gbps unless you are VPN’d to on premise hardware. Even then you are limited by Azure send speed which has automatic throttling and a daily 10 TB cap. Yes, my clients have hit that cap.
  3. Upload to secured file sharing service at avg bandwidth – 25 hours
    1. Whether using Box.com, SharePoint, OneDrive or a dedicated file sharing cloud repository, I have found few that are optimized for large file transfer. Many will drop the transfer and force you to restart. There are few things more frustrating that watching the progress bar for hours on your second monitor only to discovery that the sizes or sumcheck do not match. M365 eDiscovery export downloads will NOT tell you when they crash early on large PST files.
  4. Send secured link to firm/provider along with the Chain of Custody form. Now they get to watch the progress bar.
  5. Download to remote desktop to QC size/checksum – 1 hour
  6. Upload to RelOne via Relativity Staging Explorer – 1-2 hours
    1. Max upload speed is 300 Mbps, but the client seems to doing a lot of handshakes that throttle load time.
  7. Total transfer time – 13-20 hours

As a consultant, I frequently run into irritated counsel who cannot understand why it takes so long to just run a search and have it ready to review. This is just one part of my typical SLA calculations used to create client eDiscovery disclosure materials and handbooks. It leaves out several QC steps, putting files into passworded compression file and other options. While most providers and firms do not bill straight transfer time, I have found it more often than you would expect during invoice audits. The default file transfer mechanisms were not built for the scale and security required in modern eDiscovery.

That brings me back to my Binfer briefing. I am sure that Nate will correct any mistakes or misunderstandings from our rambling web session. Here are my Binfer basics:

  • You install Binfer app to send/sync files or secured chat with other Binfer contacts.
  • You can receive files via secured link (no app) or free Binfer app.
    • So receiving files is free and does not require app installation – that can be important in many highly secured environments.
  • You can set up your own Web Drop where clients can drop files to have them directly transfer to your designated folder.
  • Subscriptions range from free (200 MB max) to $50 (1 TB monthly). Power users can stack subscriptions and there is an enterprise option to host your own Binfer server for a Private Cloud option.
  • File transfers, folder sync and chat are supported on desktop, server and mobile apps.
  • Binfer automatically compresses/decompresses during transfer for max performance.
  • Binfer’s early adopters were maritime users with intermittent satellite connections. So the system is designed to work around dropped connections.

 

Techies and providers have been using FTP drives and similar dedicated apps for decades. Binfer gives even a technophobic senior partner an easy way to send a large video file directly to opposing counsel without having to worry about cleaning up the staging site or having to compress/decompress everything.

Do I think that Binfer solves all my clients large file transfer issues? Nope. I would rather eliminate hops and transfers entirely with investments in eDiscovery platforms that have direct integrations to the data at rest. I would rather give counsel or others secured direct access to a curated review/search set in the client’s own eDiscovery solution than ever transfer data. However, very few corporations have invested in the mature eDiscovery technologies, skilled staff and defensible protocols to make that a reality. Yet. In the meantime, Binfer and similar products can minimize the impact of large file transfers.

Greg Buckles wants your feedback, questions or project inquiries at Greg@eDJGroupInc.com. Contact him directly for a free 15 minute ‘Good Karma’ call. He solves problems and creates eDiscovery solutions for enterprise and law firm clients.

Greg’s blog perspectives are personal opinions and should not be interpreted as a professional judgment or advice. Greg is no longer a journalist and all perspectives are based on best public information. Blog content is neither approved nor reviewed by any providers prior to being posted. Do you want to share your own perspective? Greg is looking for practical, professional informative perspectives free of marketing fluff, hidden agendas or personal/product bias. Outside blogs will clearly indicate the author, company and any relevant affiliations. 

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