With the advent of Web 2.0 and Service Oriented Application architectures, file-encapsulation is rapidly becoming the pervasive means for storing, distributing, and managing business data by policy. However, until very recently, a unified scalable, light weight, policy-based file management architecture was not available. This presentation explores how the file area network (FAN) leverages file virtualization, network-based policy enforcement, and globally distributed access, in an inclusive and open approach that not only "allows" but "calls for" multiple vendor technologies to interoperate.
