Enterprises continue to invest in numerous file servers or network-attached storage (NAS) systems to distribute and share data. Since these investments are expensive, requiring hardware purchases, require regular upgrades, and replacements, organizations are looking for more options for reducing the cost of keeping and sharing data.
As cloud storage continues to evolve, more practical solutions are entering the market. A common trend is moving cold archive data to cost-effective object storage. However, when data needs to be accessed regularly –like in the case of running HPC workloads, broadcast video, or medical imaging –data needs to be available immediately, from any location. IT departments are challenged with:
As more and more companies adopt the use of object storage, primarily for backup and archive, ideally, they would like to have object storage accessible for production data with the benefits of local NAS performance. Organizations want to decrease high-cost storage and move the rest of their data into elastic, low-cost tier storage without sacrificing usability or performance.
With LucidLink Filespaces, customers transition most of their workloads to object storage​, all but the most demanding high-performance ones. LucidLink enables “active archive” by converging archive and retrieval into a single solution so large files that need to be accessed regularly from numerous locations, like surveillance videos, medical images, and CAD/CAM files, to name a few, are immediately accessible.
Filespaces enables globally distributed teams to stream data directly to and from the object store, with no need to download and synchronize files. Filespaces works equally well over LAN and WAN, offers a concurrent streaming architecture, reduced network chatter, and end-to-end encryption (AES-256 in GCM mode) that protects data at rest and in flight. Data is instantly available to any device that has a Lucid client installed.
A LucidLink mount point connects users and applications to a global namespace as if it were a local, shared volume. The global namespace has centralized metadata, and all connected devices see a universal file system layout, which provides identical access and modification times. The direct connection between endpoint or server and the cloud enables organizations to stream data to devices instead of having to synchronize data. Filespaces is simple to use, requires no additional infrastructure or unique configuration, and is compatible with any cloud (public, private, or hybrid), all major operating systems (Windows, Linux, macOS), and any file type.
Customers replace all but the most demanding HPC workloads in their existing NAS environment with a LucidLink Filespaces running on object storage. Remote teams now have access to data instead of requiring a NAS at every location. With LucidLink, organizations move on-prem network shares and file servers into the cloud and enable universal access from anywhere with an internet connection. Organizations can transition most of their workloads to affordable object storage, and any software can easily utilize it without a connector or refactoring​. With Filespaces, customers stream and cache cloud data with the same quality as local NAS performance. For many customers, this means freeing up to 80% of their high-performance and high-cost storage, extending its useful life, and gaining significant additional capacity. ​
Using LucidLink customers can:
LucidLink enables customers to run NAS workloads on object storage, which provides flexibility, convenience, and substantial cost savings. Want to find out how you can run NAS workloads in the cloud? Contact us.
SaaS offering, no hardware or IT support required
End-to-end security encryption
Works with any object storage
Instant on-demand file access from anywhere
Works with any OS