Panzura, leading
the charge in removing the barrier to the cloud, today announced that
Panzura Cloud Controllers are now certified for Microsoft Azure and
available on the Microsoft Azure Marketplace. This new offering enables
customers to have an end-to-end global file system using -- Panzura
controllers on-premise and Panzura controllers running inside Azure --
all using Azure Storage.
By co-locating the same consistent, locking file system in
Azure as in the datacenter, applications developed for use within the
corporate datacenter can now run without a single change in Azure. Now
enterprises can not only use Azure storage for all tiers of file storage
across all distributed locations, but also as an in-cloud NAS for
applications running on Azure compute.
Panzura previously announced support for Azure object
storage, where the Panzura Global File System collapsed all tiers of
legacy enterprise storage into Azure storage, as well as removed the
need for WAN Optimization and expensive MPLS networks between
offices. Global file locking enables applications built for a Local Area
Network to work just as well over a Wide Area Network. Global
deduplication ensures that each unique block of data is only stored once
across the entire enterprise, reducing the total storage footprint up
to 90 percent.
Today's announcement of the Panzura Cloud Controller running
on Azure enables a transparent, hybrid architecture that solves
application performance issues caused when data is not co-located next
to the application. The Panzura Cloud Controller not only delivers an
in-cloud NAS to Azure, but integrates this in-cloud NAS with the rest of
the global file system in corporate datacenters. Data is always
immediately available and consistent in every datacenter including
Azure. High-performance computing, antivirus, file auditing, search,
indexing, and rendering applications, as well as application and desktop
virtualization can now run natively in the cloud, in the corporate
datacenter, or in both locations.
With Panzura, data is secured at rest as well as in transit
in between controllers and the cloud with FIPS 140-2 certified security
and customer retained security keys. This results in data in the cloud
being more secure than data behind corporate firewalls without the need
for additional cloud security gateway devices.
"As enterprises continue to take advantage of cloud scale and
economics, the importance of a hybrid architecture has become much more
evident," said Scott Sinclair, storage analyst with Enterprise Strategy
Group. "Active data and compute can be best served when next to each
other, which is exactly what Panzura enables whether the applications
run on compute in the cloud or compute in any corporate data center."
"When the data is only in the corporate datacenter, the
performance of applications in the cloud suffers. When the data is in
the cloud, the performance of applications in the corporate datacenter
suffers. Splitting data between the two causes inefficiencies due to
data integrity and versioning issues," said Barry Phillips, CMO of
Panzura. "The Panzura Global File System and Cloud Controller running on
Microsoft Azure transform cloud storage into a Global NAS so that
applications can run anywhere with the same fast, local performance."
"Customers want their applications to run with high
performance regardless of location, whether running in their datacenters
or in Microsoft Azure," said Nicole Herskowitz, senior director of
product marketing, Microsoft Azure, Microsoft Corp. "The addition of
Panzura to the Microsoft Azure Marketplace will help applications
developed for use within the corporate datacenter run as-is in Microsoft
Azure, letting customers realize the benefits immediately, by providing
a high performance global file service that spans all their
locations."