Nasuni Filer 2.0

Nasuni announced its new Nasuni Filer 2.0, with enhanced performance in Microsoft Windows environments, including support for Hyper-V server virtualization, Windows Azure, Distributed File System (DFS) namespaces, and Windows Previous Versions.

The Nasuni Filer also now supports private clouds and allows customers to provide their own cloud credentials, increasing the flexibility of the product. The most significant update to the Nasuni Filer since its launch, the new release improves the user experience, opens up the cloud to a broader spectrum of Microsoft customers, and creates new opportunities for partners.

"With every new release, we have a two-fold mission: introducing more customers to the cloud and expanding what a file server can do. Our 1.0, a NAS with unlimited primary storage and integrated backup, was already a strong, innovative foundation, and we’re building from there, pushing the file server to ease even more IT pain," said Andres Rodriguez, CEO of Nasuni. "Our goal is to make the Nasuni Filer the storage device of choice for coping with data sprawl and the daily demands of the IT workplace. The 2.0 release offers primary storage to the cloud to more users and has exciting new pain-killing features, such as one allowing end users to restore their own files so IT does not have to be dragged into every file restore. We are staying ahead of this market and are excited about fund raising in the fall."

The Nasuni Filer, a virtual appliance, now works seamlessly with Hyper-V – which comes included with Windows Server 2008 – as well as VMware, to deliver primary storage from the cloud that is indistinguishable from local storage. In addition to the previous menu of leading cloud storage providers, Nasuni users can now create volumes on Windows Azure, Microsoft’s cloud services platform. No additional plug-ins or software is required for leveraging the Nasuni Filer 2.0 on Hyper-V or Azure.

"Windows Azure storage services allow customers to scale to store large amounts of data, in any format, for any length of time, only paying for what they use or store," said Jason De Lorme, ISV Architect Evangelist at Microsoft. "Windows Azure Platform customers can easily integrate with partners such as Nasuni to simplify file access capabilities in a cloud environment."

Nasuni has also simplified file access with Microsoft DFS, enabling customers to set up a DFS namespace and add the desired share from the Filer as a folder target. The new support for Windows Previous Versions, in conjunction with the Filer’s snapshot feature, enables end users to restore previous versions of their own files without the assistance of an administrator. Customers can now use their own cloud credentials with the Nasuni Filer, a convenience for those who have a preexisting account with a cloud provider.

Nasuni’s new support for private cloud storage systems is aimed at companies that want to take advantage of the file accessibility and sophisticated geographic dispersal of cloud storage with the security, control and visibility of an on-premises storage solution. Private cloud support also allows Managed Services Providers (MSPs) to supply cloud storage with the form and function of a traditional file server. Nasuni’s support for private cloud storage services is intended to assist MSPs in providing complete cloud storage solutions to customers via partners such as Rackspace OpenStack, EMC Atmos, and Nirvanix Hybrid Cloud.

"MSPs are critical to widespread distribution of cloud services, and leading cloud storage providers have opened their systems to the MSP community," said Rodriguez. "The Nasuni Filer 2.0 is a simple way for MSPs to package and resell cloud storage in a form factor their customers are already used to. After email and web hosting, managed file storage is a valuable service to MSP clients."

The Nasuni Filer offers the benefits of cloud storage to a range of business users by simplifying file access, security, and disaster recovery, and it eliminates the expense of hardware infrastructure expansion. The Filer provides unlimited storage from leading cloud vendors, while still delivering – via its caching technology – the local performance expected of a traditional file server. Users can start storing and accessing files in the cloud immediately, with no APIs, no additional management tools, and no special competency in storage or web services. The Filer’s distribution as a software-only virtual appliance enables companies to leverage virtualization technology to reclaim and optimize their infrastructure without any capital expense.