Global Namespace

Enterprise Challenges

• Heterogeneous file storage islands are individually accessed and managed.
• Users and applications are statically mapped to servers and therefore bound to the capacity of those servers.
• Managing the growing number of user file access mount points for data that is logically related but physically distributed across multiple servers.
• User downtime and re-configuration is required for adds, moves, or changes to file storage infrastructure.

The Acopia Solution

Acopia's Global Namespace controls the layout and presentation of file data to the user. This allows the enterprise to decouple users from their physical file servers, thus eliminating today's rigid mapping and individual system constraints. File servers are masked from the user, allowing the enterprise to add capacity, consolidate servers, and transparently migrate file data across systems with no impact to the user.

An Acopia Adaptive Resource Switch (ARX) serves as the file access point users are accustomed to with no new client or server software required. Data can now be logically organized and presented to the user under a single-or several-consolidated file access points regardless of its location on a physical server. Acopia provides the mapping of file request to file server while allowing the user to maintain a single consistent file path.

Benefits of the Acopia Solution

• Enables the creation of an enterprise-wide Global Namespace that spans distributed heterogeneous file storage.
• Simplifies user file access by logically organizing data under either a single mount point or several consolidated mount points.
• Eliminates downtime during administrative adds, moves, and changes without impacting a user's file path.
• Allows the enterprise to greatly increase overall utilization by managing a single pool of capacity rather than discrete elements.
• Provides file storage transparency while preserving the existing file path for the user.