Panzura, creator of the fastest global cloud file system on the planet, today announced that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has issued Patent #10630772 entitled "Maintaining Global Namespace Consistency for a Distributed Filesystem."

The patent encompasses several technologies, including real-time file locking capabilities across an unlimited number of distributed locations, that deliver immediate file consistency to remote workers and distributed teams while using the cloud as a global data storage medium.

[ Watch this VMblog Expert Interview with Rich Weber of Panzura - Data Access for Remote Enterprise Workers ] 

Immediate data consistency enables distributed and WFH team members to work together in real-time as easily as if they were all in the same physical location, even with challenging files and applications. The patent is also an important milestone in Panzura's unique ability to deliver full data consistency at the edge and between multiple clouds.

According to Gartner, 74% of CFOs plan to shift at least some employees to permanent remote work post-COVID-19. In light of these work trends, Panzura President Rich Weber contends that enterprises need to invest in pragmatic WFH solutions that deliver the same secure, user friendly experience - including fast data access - to enterprise users, regardless of whether they are working.

At the height of the COVID lock down, many enterprises increased investments in bandwidth, network connections, and storage capacity to eliminate time wasted accessing massive amounts of data stored in remote data centers. These solutions come with a substantial price tag, but none of them adequately addresses the issue at hand: to enable enterprise users to work together in real-time on the same datasets as if they were working in the same office -- without risks of data collisions, overrides, or frequent version control errors.

"We set out to solve specific data access speed and collaboration issues that only occur once you move unstructured data files to the cloud and service globally distributed teams," said Weber. "Our 34 patents, developed over seven years and currently available in Panzura CloudFS 8, ensure no technology can move big files faster or allow frictionless collaboration from dispersed teams."

Full Data Consistency with Immediate Availability

Through Panzura's patented technology, companies can consolidate the data they currently have spread across multiple office locations into cost-efficient cloud storage, while replicating the local network attached storage file operation technology they have always taken for granted.

For example, Panzura's file locking system prevents duplications and data collisions from happening while enabling people to work on the same data sets, regardless of their location. Its unique hub-and-spoke and peer-to-peer architecture simultaneously synchronizes all file changes made throughout an enterprise's network to the cloud, and to every location in the network - every 60 seconds. Should one location in the network require the most up-to-date version of a file before the sync completes, a peer-to-peer request delivers the data in real-time. This results in the latest version of the file always being immediately available, unlike traditional methods that result in file replication, versioning issues, data collisions, and even data corruption.

"Immediate data consistency is the Holy Grail to delivering a local, single-site NAS experience, allowing teams across the globe to work like they're all located in one office. Enterprises with remote and distributed workers should look for a cloud-native solution like Panzura to eliminate costly data redundancies and worker inefficiencies," said Chris M Evans, Principal Analyst with Architecting IT.