I have a client who wants to do something like Dropbox, but doesn't want it hosted on someone else's servers. I had proposed an old school VPN and offline files, but they didn't really like the log into the client first, then you get files and I also had problems with users NEVER logging in, only using the offline files, and the information gets stale or they have no idea what to do with version control.
So I am looking for something that will sync files/folders of a given share on a private server that works in similar fashion as carbonite or dropbox. It also does not have to be free per se. I found OwnCloud, but was wondering what else might be out there. Also, it seems to be geared more for a home user perspective. I am hoping this can be integrated into an AD environment so end users would use same login information. I also just found FileCloud, which looks like what I need, since it handles a offsite mapped drive, which is very appealing since that is what users are used to.
That issue aside, I have found Synology to be a very appealing product for a host of different uses.
As for the FTP idea, it is also not that great for the specific reason of needing different locations for a specific user. I can simply make the share structure available on FTP, but it still relies on the end user to actually log in, and decide on file version issues as well, At least with drop box, the syncing starts happening almost immedaitely. So when they are home and just watching netflix or away from their workstation, that is happening in the back ground. FTP will require them to log in, download, choose overwrite or not the local version, then work, then do the opposite.