The first email attachment ever sent was on March 11, 1992, by Nathaniel Borenstein, the father of the file attachment. Though Borenstein’s creation was merely his fulfillment to one day email pictures of future grandchildren, the file attachment marked the beginning of what is known as ad hoc file transfer —the most widely used method to transfer files in the world today.
Definition of Ad Hoc File Transfer
Ad hoc file transfer is simply the manual transfer of electronic files from person to person via email, instant messaging or, in recent times, through file sharing apps. Virtually all businesses rely on Borenstein’s ad hoc file attachment to exchange information with customers and partners, but standard ad hoc services cause business issues such as file size limits, no visibility of sent files and a lack of data security.
Enterprises Need a More Secure Solution
To solve these issues, ad hoc file transfer solutions were created as an alternative to standard file attachments. Enterprise ad hoc file transfer enables employees to not only email large files but add advanced security features such as encryption, auditing of every action, download expiration and notifications.
Instead of sending files directly to an end-user’s email server, ad hoc file transfer solutions upload files to its own secure server and sends recipients a link to download files. This is important because it enables IT to govern all file activity within and outside the organization.
The following chart demonstrates why enterprise ad hoc file transfer solutions offer more enhanced file transfers than standard email and file sharing apps:
| Ad Hoc Features | Enterprise Ad Hoc File Transfer | Standard Email / File Sharing Apps |
|---|---|---|
| Unlimited File Size |  |
 |
| Complete Audit Trail | |
|
| Data Encryption | |
|
| Mobile and Desktop Apps | |
|
| Document Access Control | |
|
| Microsoft Outlook Integration | |
|
| Download Expiration | |
|
| Anti-Virus Scanning | |
|
Thru File Transfer for the Enterprise
Thru is a provider of ad hoc file transfer solutions that enable employees to securely send files of any size from commonly used applications such as Salesforce and Outlook. As a flexible enterprise transfer platform with an extensive web services API, Thru integrates with any existing application and workflow to solve a variety of file transfer use cases.
