File streaming vs edge filers: eliminating the middleman

Every middleman promises to make things easier. The truth is often different.

Edge filers are pitched as the bridge between local performance and cloud scale. Cache your files on-prem, sync changes back to the cloud and get the best of both worlds — local speed and cloud accessibility.

In reality, this bridge often becomes a new bottleneck consisting of expensive hardware, fragile syncs and collaboration that remains tied to locations.

This piece explores where edge filers fall short and how file streaming eliminates the middleman entirely, giving teams instant, direct access to cloud data from anywhere. 

The edge filer premise

Edge filers were designed to solve a real problem: cloud storage was cheap and scalable, but too slow for real work. Local storage was fast but isolated.

The edge filer solution is to cache frequently accessed files on local appliances, sync changes back to the cloud automatically and give everyone the speed of local storage with the safety of cloud backup.

Common platforms include Nasuni, CTERA, Hammerspace, Panzura, Egnyte and Blackmagic Cloud Store. (Some of these platforms are also called storage gateways, depending on architecture and deployment model.)

Edge filers are typically deployed in hybrid environments to:

• Provide low-latency access to active files via on-prem caching

• Synchronize cloud and local storage for business continuity

• Consolidate storage systems under a unified namespace

For teams where everyone is in the same office and workflows are predictable, edge filers can still work well. But as teams go global, datasets grow and real-time collaboration becomes critical, the cracks start to show.

Where edge filers fall short: the gateway bottleneck

Edge filers are meant to eliminate cloud latency. But in practice they often create more problems than they solve.

Infrastructure costs spiral

Every new office needs its own appliance. That's another filer to spec, ship, install and maintain, every time you grow, the result is:

• Physical appliances at each location

• Ongoing maintenance, support contracts and hardware refresh cycles

• IT must deploy, maintain and troubleshoot hardware everywhere

• Costs multiply with team growth and additional sites

When Widseth evaluated their edge filer setup, the math was simple.

VPN dependency undermines remote access

Edge filers promise remote access, but the reality is more complicated. To access files outside the office, remote workers typically need VPN connections to the filer.

This means:

• More VPN infrastructure and licensing costs

• Latency through VPN tunnels

• Security vulnerabilities and access management overhead

• IT burden managing VPN credentials and troubleshooting connections

As Omer Mushahwar, CTO at Torti Gallas + Partners, discovered when comparing solutions:

Sync can be fragile

The more locations you add, the more fragile the whole system becomes.

• Failed syncs create version conflicts

• Updating files often triggers full re-uploads across sites

• Multi-filer setups dramatically increase complexity

• One broken sync can mean lost work and broken workflows

Collaboration still depends on location

Edge filers promise remote access, but the reality is more complicated.

• Access speed depends on proximity to the filer

• Remote workers experience lag or limited access

• Teams are tethered to physical infrastructure

• True distributed collaboration remains out of reach

It’s an architecture issue, not a feature gap

You wanted the freedom of the cloud. Instead, you got the constraints of on-prem infrastructure, just in more places.

Adding infrastructure to “fix” cloud latency only introduces new failure points, higher costs and workflow friction. They’re fundamental limitations of putting hardware between users and their data. With today's technology, that middleman simply isn't necessary.

Cut out the middleman with file streaming

Teams don’t need more infrastructure to fix the cloud, they just need a faster path to it.

With edge filers, your files take a detour: cloud → filer → users. It works, but adds cost, complexity and another point of failure.

File streaming takes the direct route: cloud → users (with a smart cache on each device).

Instead of bouncing files through a central appliance, data comes straight from the cloud to each user’s device, streaming only what’s needed, right when it’s needed.

There’s no syncing, staging or waiting for updates to trickle through a central box in someone’s server room.

The result?

• No middle layer to maintain

• No duplicated files hogging storage

• Lower costs

• No lag, just instant file access, anywhere your team works.

How LucidLink works

LucidLink is file streaming built for the cloud era.

We asked, what if the cache didn't need to live in a rack somewhere? What if it could live on each user's device — smarter, more distributed and infinitely more flexible?

The result is fast, secure access to shared data from anywhere, with no hardware and no friction.

• No on-prem hardware required: forget about racks of appliances or storage gateways. LucidLink connects your team directly to your cloud storage.

• Smart caching built in: each user has a local cache managed by the LucidLink client, so files open instantly and stay up to date automatically.

• Effortless setup: IT doesn’t need to deploy or maintain anything complex — just install the client, log in and start working.

• TeamCache for shared environments: for teams working from the same location, LucidLink’s optional TeamCache boosts local performance, while maintaining smooth global collaboration and our zero-knowledge security model.

What it means for your team

• Global access: work from anywhere with the same seamless performance. No VPN needed, no matter how far you are from “HQ.”

• No centralized bottleneck: each user’s smart cache means there’s no single appliance slowing things down or waiting to sync.

• Built to scale: add users, not hardware. Growth is as simple as installing another client.

• Real-time collaboration: everyone works from the same cloud data in real time. Updates appear instantly — no re-syncs, no version conflicts, no “who has the latest file?” drama.

For Torti Gallas + Partners, the decision was clear after considering all the major players.

“We looked at Panzura and Nasuni and all the big collaboration platforms like Box and Dropbox and nothing fit all of our needs. A lot of them didn’t work with all of our file types, for example linking to CAD files."

“With Panzura and Nasuni we would still have had to VPN into the office which is sort of pointless. It didn’t solve our work-from-anywhere initiative. The decision to go with LucidLink was a no-brainer,” Omer Mushahwar, CTO at Torti Gallas + Partners."

Edge filers vs. LucidLink file streaming

Why add a middleman when you can stream directly?

Edge filers solved a problem of their era: giving teams low-latency access to cloud files. But as workflows go global and files grow massive, that solution creates more problems than it solves.

File streaming eliminates the middleman entirely. Teams no longer purchase hardware, manage appliances, troubleshoot sync or juggle versions. You just open the file and start working, directly from the cloud.

The big wins with LucidLink:

• Work instantly: open huge files without waiting

• Collaborate seamlessly: multiple team members edit the same files in real time

• Stay aligned: one source of truth, zero version conflicts

• Simplify IT: no appliances, no babysitting syncs

• Scale effortlessly: add users or offices without disruption

The future of collaboration isn't adding infrastructure between teams and your files. It's eliminating the distance altogether.

Ready to eliminate the middleman? Try LucidLink free for 30 days or book a demo.