FTP
(File Transfer Protocol)
Have you ever heard of FTP? It stands for File Transfer Protocol and is one of the lesser known treasures of the Internet. We've mentioned before that there are many different layers (or protocols) to the Internet. FTP is one of them. As the name implies, File Transfer Protocol (or "FTP") is used to transfer files.
We've mentioned that you can attach files to email. This is true. However, keep in mind that your email attachments shouldn't be any larger than one megabyte. They could get truncated (or cut-off) and generally speaking, people aren't real appreciative of finding that they have to wait for a large email attachment to download.
Many businesses are taking real advantage of FTP by establishing FTP sites where they transfer files to and then let their clients or vendors download them. You can kind of think of it as an electronic storage shelf out there in cyber-space. It is an effective cost-saving alternative to saving large files on a diskette or some other storage media and having them delivered via an overnight carrier service or regular snail mail. The savings are even more enticing to businesses that may currently be establishing a direct "computer to computer" connection to their client or vendor via a long distance phone call.
Types of businesses that are currently realizing the benefits of FTP are:
- Engineering Firms generating large AutoCad or blueprints files
- Architectural Firms
- and Digital Graphic Designers or any other type of designers that create their work in a digital format
In most cases, this information is proprietary and there are security measures that can be established to ensure that your information is not available to the general public or for that matter, a competitor.