Kiteworks & Wasabi partner to lower cloud storage costs

Kiteworks has announced a partnership with Wasabi Technologies to provide an integrated solution for cloud storage and secure file transfer, aimed at organisations seeking cost-effective and secure options for managing sensitive data.

The collaboration combines Kiteworks' secure managed file transfer platform with Wasabi's hot cloud storage, delivering a solution designed to meet the needs of highly regulated industries such as healthcare, financial services, government, legal services, and media and entertainment.

According to both companies, the combined offering addresses market demand for alternatives to traditional cloud storage that offer robust security, compliance, and automation features, while reducing operational costs.

Laurie Mitchell, Senior Vice President, Global Alliances and Partner Marketing at Wasabi Technologies, said, "Our partnership with Kiteworks creates a powerful solution that transforms how organisations manage, secure, and transfer their data. By combining Wasabi's affordable, high-performance and scalable cloud storage with Kiteworks' secure managed file transfer capabilities, we're helping customers achieve operational excellence while meeting the most stringent security and compliance requirements."

The integrated solution is positioned to deliver four primary benefits to organisations. Firstly, it claims to optimise total cost of ownership by offering cloud storage with no egress fees at costs up to 80% lower than providers such as AWS S3, Azure Blob, and Google Cloud. The companies state that this, combined with governance and security automation, results in immediate cost savings and long-term reduction in risk associated with compliance penalties, security incidents, and inefficiencies.

Secondly, the partnership aims to enhance data security and compliance. Wasabi's secure cloud storage is paired with the Kiteworks Private Data Network, which manages risk associated with sending, sharing, and receiving sensitive information. Kiteworks is validated with security standards including FedRAMP Ready High and FedRAMP Moderate Authorised, SOC 2 Type II, IRAP, ISO 27001, 27017, and 27018. Wasabi has also achieved FedRAMP Ready status, supporting use by government customers.

The third benefit centres on simplifying migration and ongoing integration. Kiteworks Secure MFT allows organisations to automate and secure both data migration and daily operations with Wasabi through a visual workflow tool. A dashboard and centralised audit log support tracking and compliance, enabling users to monitor data transfers, address issues, and demonstrate adherence to relevant security policies and regulations.

Fourth, both companies highlight a reduced IT burden and risk profile. The Kiteworks Private Data Network offers a hardened virtual appliance with multiple built-in defences, including antivirus, zero-trust interfaces, and scale-out clusters for high availability. Organisations can implement least-privilege policies, robust encryption, and network scans integrated with existing data loss prevention and content disarm and reconstruction servers.

David Byrnes, Vice President Global Channels at Kiteworks, commented, "Organisations today are looking for solutions that deliver measurable business impact across multiple dimensions. This partnership creates a powerful combination where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Together, we're enabling organisations to achieve operational efficiency, reduce risk, and improve governance at scale. Customers can now seamlessly manage their entire data life cycle – from storage to secure sharing – with complete visibility, control, and compliance, creating tangible business value beyond what either solution could deliver independently."

The joint solution is specifically targeted at sectors facing stringent data protection and regulatory requirements. It seeks to address key concerns for IT and security leaders regarding cost management, data privacy, and regulatory compliance when handling sensitive and private data.

The partnership also offers managed service providers strategic benefits, as it allows them to position themselves as advisors on security and compliance, going beyond just providing basic cloud storage. The solution supports the creation of tiered service offerings, which can potentially increase customer retention and enable differentiation in the marketplace through measurable business results.