How BVS Modernized Their Legacy File Replication for Reliable, Always-On Compliance Training

BVS is a leading provider of banking and credit union employee training, serving financial institutions that operate in some of the world's most highly regulated environments. Through a modern, game-based learning platform, BVS delivers engaging and interactive training experiences that help banks meet regulatory requirements while enhancing learner outcomes.

Behind the scenes, that experience depends on something far less visible, but equally critical: the reliable distribution of web and video content across multiple servers and data centers. Any disruption, delay, or file inconsistency can directly impact customer access to training and compliance materials.

To support this mission, BVS operates a Microsoft Windows-based infrastructure spanning multiple data centers, with a centralized content repository responsible for publishing updates to numerous downstream web and application servers. Content updates occur multiple times per day, must propagate in near real-time, and, most importantly, must do so without locking files or disrupting live web services, preserving user experience.

As Phil Snyder, who manages infrastructure at BVS, explains: “This is all server-side, behind the scenes. When we copy a file to the repository, it just distributes the files. Nothing ever breaks, and nothing ever locks.”

For years, BVS relied on RepliWeb to power a one-to-many hub-and-spoke data replication model, where one source replicated content to multiple destinations. That model was deeply ingrained in their environment's operation and worked well for their needs.

When RepliWeb approached end-of-life, BVS was not looking to modernize for the sake of modernization. They needed a direct replacement that preserved existing workflows while reducing operational risk.

At its core, the requirement was a one-to-many file replication model capable of delivering real-time or near-real-time updates without forcing the organization into FTP-, SFTP-, or MFT-style workflows. Just as important, the solution needed to operate entirely within a Windows-based environment and allow for controlled handling of file deletes, rather than automatically propagating removals in every scenario.

BVS’s infrastructure included:

• Approximately 25 Windows file servers across basic and advanced tiers
• Eight web servers hosting roughly 20 websites, each managed as a discrete folder
• Two data centers connected via MPLS, supporting a mix of one-to-many and server-to-server synchronization jobs

BVS evaluated several alternatives, including SureSync, managed file transfer platforms, and other distributed file system replication tools, but repeatedly encountered the same challenges. Many solutions pushed the environment toward enterprise file transfer models that required SFTP workflows, specialized shares, and complex permission structures, introducing unnecessary overhead and reducing scalability.

What BVS needed instead was a trustworthy server-sync solution that behaved like RepliWeb, preserving their business model without added fragility or vendor risk. That search ultimately led them to Resilio Active Everywhere.

At BVS, file distribution is a mission-critical process. Web content, video assets, and application files must move reliably from a central repository to multiple downstream servers, without manual approvals or fragile workarounds that could disrupt live services for end users.

For years, BVS relied on legacy distribution tools such as Legato and later RepliWeb. While functional, these systems enforced rigid workflows and growing operational overhead, creating increasing risk as vendors deprecated products and support waned.

When RepliWeb began approaching end-of-life, BVS faced an urgent requirement: find a drop-in replacement that preserved their proven distribution model, without introducing enterprise file transfer complexity or brittle permission schemes.

After evaluating multiple alternatives, including enterprise file transfer and FTP-based tools, BVS selected distributed data movement with Resilio Active Everywhere for one core reason: it worked exactly the way their environment required. Rather than forcing BVS into SFTP workflows or complex permission hierarchies, Resilio fit naturally into their existing architecture, enabling a single central repository to automatically distribute content to multiple downstream web, video, and application servers.

As Phil Snyder describes, “Everything else I tried turned into enterprise file transfer. They required SFTP sites and special shares with specific permissions. It was all junky. I didn’t want 1995.”

With Resilio, setup was intuitive, jobs were easy to define, and agents ran quietly in the background. The result was a true “set it and forget it” system, something Phil considers rare in infrastructure software.

What began as a solution for web publishing quickly expanded into broader use cases across BVS’s environment. Today, BVS uses Resilio Active Everywhere to synchronize web content from a central repository, distribute video libraries across large-scale storage systems, and keep multiple Windows-based servers in cloud and colocation environments consistently up to date.

One of the most demanding workloads involves synchronizing over 40 terabytes of video content between large storage systems over suboptimal bandwidth links. As Phil Snyder notes, “We’ve got two massive storage systems, and we use Resilio to synchronize them, over 40 terabytes. It works freaking great.”

During the initial deployment, Phil had understandable concerns around deletion behavior and data integrity at scale. A brief interaction with Resilio support quickly addressed those concerns with a simple architectural adjustment. “Support gave me one quick reply that was really clever and elegant. I've just made it a read-only client distribution job. And it was like, ‘oh my god, that’s exactly what I do for every web server.’”

BVS initially deployed Resilio Active Everywhere across on-premises data centers and colocation facilities. When the organization later migrated its infrastructure to the cloud, Resilio moved with them seamlessly, without requiring changes to workflows or rearchitecting applications. As Phil Snyder explains, “We hosted everything ourselves at first, then moved everything into the cloud. Resilio worked great on-prem, worked great in colocation, and it still works super great in the cloud.”

Rather than adopting new cloud-native patterns prematurely, BVS maintained a familiar Windows-based environment, preserving consistent and reliable data distribution across locations. Today, Resilio remains a foundational service underpinning content delivery, regardless of where the infrastructure resides.

To date, BVS has transferred four terabytes of data using Resilio Active Everywhere, quietly and reliably. While Phil doesn’t frame success in traditional cost-savings metrics, the operational value is clear.

Even at scale, issues are rare. In the occasional edge case, support has proven fast and effective. “I opened one ticket, they told me exactly what to do, and it snapped out of it right away. That file has never been stuck again.”

When asked how he would describe Resilio Active Everywhere to peers, Phil doesn’t hesitate. “It’s better than everything else I’ve used.” More specifically, he points to trust, the confidence that data will move exactly as intended, without surprises or unintended side effects. “You can trust the application. It’s not going to do something weird that you don’t understand. It just works.”

For Phil, that reliability translates directly into peace of mind. “I never want to be up at two in the morning acknowledging alarms. Resilio is one of those things you set and forget, and that’s always the goal.”

Today, Resilio Active Everywhere remains a core component of BVS’s infrastructure, supporting web publishing, video distribution, and continued growth in the cloud. While the organization intentionally keeps its architecture simple, Phil actively looks for new opportunities to leverage Resilio wherever dependable data movement is required.

As he puts it, “Anytime we have anything we need to sync, we definitely consider it. I actively think about other ways to use it.”

If your challenges mirror those of BVS—aging replication tools and fragile hub-and-spoke workflows approaching end-of-life—it's time for a new standard in high-performance data movement.

Resilio Active Everywhere empowers compliance-driven organizations to move faster with real-time synchronization, always-on resilience, and the flexibility to work across on-premises, colocation, and cloud environments without disrupting existing workflows.

Contact us to see how financial services teams are replacing RepliWeb with a solution they can set and forget.