Storage Trends: File Virtualization Gathers Steam

File virtualization, designed to enable transparent data mobility across heterogeneous NAS systems, has finally begun to gather steam. As noted in this Enterprise IT Planet story, more recently, the big breakthrough has been the application of file virtualization to integrate features such as deduplication, SSD, and cloud computing.

---

"According to Renny Shen, product marketing manager at F5 Networks (which acquired the file virtualization technology of Acopia), the original purpose of file virtualization was to enable transparent data mobility across heterogeneous NAS systems. Companies planning data migrations or consolidations needed a way to perform those initiatives without incurring the downtime inherent with traditional methods. More recently, the big breakthrough has been the application of file virtualization to integrate features such as deduplication, SSD, and cloud computing. The growth in adoption of these technologies will further drive the need for storage virtualization, as enterprises will require a mechanism to transparently move data between different storage platforms without disrupting users. This plays right into file virtualization's strengths –- and the technology is rapidly moving forward to meet the needs of current storage environments."

Read the Full Story at Enterprise IT Planet