Wide-Area File Services (WAFS) emerged in the last few years as a way of improving data access delays inherent in traditional remote file protocols. This solution leverages caching technology to enable the consolidation of enterprise data, coupled with specific protocol acceleration techniques to improve file access and storage across the WAN.
While file services are essential to enterprise operations, and should be a fundamental component of any application acceleration solution, enterprises have balked at the notion of deploying a dedicated point solution based heavily on caching, as is the case with WAFS.
Below are the main challenges associated with deploying Wide Area File Services. By integrating file services as part of a complete application delivery system, these issues are easily overcome with Local Instance Networking:
Application Transparency. WAFS are application-specific point products that only optimize file services. In contrast, Silver Peak accelerates all business critical applications, such as web, email, disaster recovery, streaming video, and VoIP, in addition to file services. Supporting a wider breadth of applications ensures a faster return on investment.
Data coherency. WAFS products act as a proxy, delivering cached copies of original content. They are therefore subject to coherency issues when multiple people are accessing the same information. Local Instance Networking, on the other hand, does not alter client/server communications. NX appliances inspect traffic in real-time, delivering exactly the same information that is being served by the host itself.
Seamless Integration. Most WAFS products require client PCs to be re-configured, which can be a significant burden to IT staff. Local Instance Networking does not require any reconfiguration of clients, servers, or applications, facilitating deployment and management.
Security, compliance, and management. Despite storing sensitive business information, many WAFS products do not use data encryption to protect local data stores. In addition, WAFS appliances require a full set of access control mechanisms to replicate the security features of file servers. This means that IT organizations are replacing actual file servers with less secure devices that require just as much day-to-day management.
