Cloud as NAS :

        Using the public cloud as a NAS tier for primary storage is a much tougher sell for most IT shops than for backups or archives. But one of the emerging technologies that could start to make that prospect more palatable is the gateway that acts as a hybrid cloud storage appliance.

           The appliances supply an on-premises cache that can provide access to the most active or frequently accessed data, so latency or network or cloud outages won’t prevent users from getting needed files. Algorithms determine which data to store in the cache.

           Many of the appliances also offer data reduction technologies such as deduplication or compression to reduce bandwidth consumption and lower the fees associated with transferring data to and from the cloud. They also encrypt the data before sending it off-premises and offer extra features such as snapshots to lighten the load on backup systems.

         Several startups currently rule the roost in the NAS hybrid cloud space and typically partner with prominent cloud storage providers. They include Ctera Networks Ltd., Nasuni Corp. and StorSimple Inc. Nasuni makes a software-based virtual NAS appliance that installs on a virtual machine (VM).

          Another option is Nirvanix Inc.’s CloudNAS product, which can transform Linux or Windows servers into a virtual NAS gateway to the company’s Storage Delivery Network (SDN) encrypted off-site storage. Nirvanix uses standard protocols such as NFS, CIFS and FTP for access to its service.

           Rick Villars, vice president of storage systems and executive strategies at Framingham, Mass.-based IDC, predicted that major NAS vendors such as EMC or NetApp will eventually provide the protocol support for a cloud tier in addition to their SSDs and SATA and SAS drives.

           “We think that day is coming. It may not be this year. It may be parts of next year,” Villars said, acknowledging the business model challenges for the NAS vendors. “That’s the last step. That hasn’t happened yet, but there’s certainly no reason why they can’t. It would require some software. It would require some links. But you could absolutely add that function in.”