Citrix Systems' online storage and file sharing platform ShareFile will get integrated e-signing functionality thanks to the acquisition of RightSignature.
Citrix and RightSignature have already been working together for the past year on a joint offering. During this time Citrix has seen how organizations can take advantage of the combination of electronic signatures and secure file sharing, Jesse Lipson, general manager of Citrix's Documents Cloud, said in a blog post.
By acquiring RightSignature Citrix can more tightly integrate the functionality with its ShareFile platform, and also ensure that no one else snaps up the company. Lipson didn't offer any details on when the new offerings would become available.
RightSignature lets users create and sign legally binding documents online, in a way the company said is faster and more secure than handling paper documents. The already existing joint offering is a RightSignature add-on for ShareFile users. With the add-on documents have to be uploaded to RightSignature before they can be signed.
The online storage and document sharing market is competitive, so it makes sense for Citrix to expand the features it offers on ShareFile. Competing services are available from companies such as Box, Dropbox, Google and Microsoft.
ShareFile lets users upload and share files up to 10GB in size. There are client apps for PCs, Mac and mobile devices running Android, BlackBerry, iOS and Windows. There is also a plugin for Outlook that lets organizations replace attachments with secure ShareFile links to files.
The platform is available in four different versions: Basic, Professional, Corporate and Enterprise. The Corporate version, which costs from US$99 per month, is the most popular, according to Citrix.
The RightSignature team will join the Citrix organization immediately. RightSignature was founded in 2009 and has 330,000 customers and over 100 million users globally, it said. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
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