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The ability to harness, manage, and extract value from exponentially growing data volumes has become the ultimate market differentiator. As organizations and the technologists who help them drive success pivot toward data-centricity and artificial intelligence (AI) initiatives, the demands on IT infrastructure have reached unprecedented levels. 

CIOs and senior IT leaders are now tasked with navigating a complex terrain of data growth, security pressures, and the imperative for seamless access and analysis. Successful implementation of data management strategies is about achieving tangible benefits in operational agility, decision-making speed, and responsiveness to customer demands. 

According to a recent global survey of IT decision-makers by Frost & Sullivan®, a cohort of 85% identified becoming more data-centric and AI-enabled as a critical business goal. More than half of respondents indicated that AI is the technology they plan to invest in most heavily over the next 12 months. This isn’t merely a trend — it’s a sea change driven by the need to unlock the full potential of enterprise data assets. 

This transformation journey isn’t without headwinds. Traditionally, unstructured data has been tightly coupled with specific workloads or applications, creating fragmented repositories across locations and infrastructures. This fragmentation has not only impeded data access but has also created barriers to team collaboration, with different versions of files scattered across multiple systems. 

Moreover, with the average organization experiencing 26 successful cyberattacks annually and facing a more-and-more complex regulatory landscape — including the European Data Act and the Protecting Americans’ Data from Foreign Adversaries Act — data resilience and protection have never been more essential. 

Hybrid Cloud Storage is the Solution 

The modern enterprise requires technological solutions that can efficiently handle unstructured data while ensuring business performance. The scale of modern data operations presents additional obstacles. Namely, the growth of edge computing and IoT devices that generate terabytes of data every day, managing multi-generational IT systems, and the persistent shortage of skilled IT professionals. 

Distributed teams also need seamless file sharing and co-authoring capabilities to maintain uninterrupted productivity. Each of these factors compounds the already formidable challenge of creating a truly unified, secure, and efficient data management strategy. 

The 2025 Frost Radar™ for Hybrid Cloud Storage confirms what forward-thinking IT leaders already know — hybrid cloud storage has emerged as the definitive solution for advanced data management. It offers strategic data placement with the freedom to position workloads based on performance requirements, security mandates, and cost considerations. It can also offer unified data access that enhances collaboration by allowing teams to work on the same files simultaneously, regardless of their physical location or the devices they’re using.  

Notably, the Frost report asserts that hybrid cloud is an enabler of dynamic scalability that allows technologists to adapt to change without the limitations of traditional infrastructure. Enhanced cyberstorage through native data replication and near-real-time recovery capabilities round out the key benefits. 

From the Panzura perspective, hybrid cloud data management also delivers significant operational advantages through its intrinsic flexibility, allowing technologists to maintain legacy systems where appropriate while selectively adopting cutting-edge cloud services for specific use cases or workloads. We see this as a pragmatic path to modernization that respects existing investments while enabling forward momentum, bridging the gap between existing business operations and future initiatives. 

Leading the Market as the No. 1 Innovator 

Panzura has been recognized as the number one innovator in this Frost Radar report on the strength of the CloudFS hybrid cloud file platform while also noting the innovation we have achieved with Panzura Symphony data services platform. We see this as validation of our ongoing commitment to developing solutions which address the most pressing data management challenges facing modern enterprises. 

The report, from a Panzura perspective, dives into how CloudFS stands apart through its unique ability to create a seamless, unified data environment that transcends the traditional boundaries between on-premises infrastructure and cloud environments. 

Its real-time collaboration capabilities enable dispersed teams to work together efficiently on shared projects with best-in-class version control and file locking features that prevent conflicts while maintaining data integrity. Unlike competitive solutions that have often been retrofitted for cloud compatibility, CloudFS was architected from the ground up for the cloud era. 

The Frost report highlights several key innovations that position Panzura at the forefront of the market. CloudFS delivers one of the fastest recovery point objectives (RPOs) among all evaluated vendors, with sub-60-second RPOs regardless of data location. It ensures business continuity even in the most challenging scenarios. 

The platform is built on a comprehensive security framework. It includes extended capabilities like Panzura Detect and Rescue for real-time detection of file data threats – both external like ransomware, and internal like accidental deletion or misconfiguration as well as detecting data exfiltration. 

It offers automated interdiction, enhanced role-based access controls, and audit alerts that immediately flag unauthorized data transfers from secure environments. For collaborative environments, these security features are particularly crucial, as they protect shared workspaces from both malicious actions and unintentional errors that could disrupt team productivity. 

CloudFS is comprehensive in its scope. The platform supports object stores from AWS, Backblaze, Cloudian, DellEMC, Google Cloud, IBM, Microsoft Azure, Minio, Oracle Cloud Infrastructure, Wasabi, and others — providing broad deployment flexibility. 

It is also AI-ready. For example, strategic positioning of CloudFS nodes in cloud regions closest to customer LLM implementations ensures file data accessibility without costly and time-consuming data migration. Recent performance enhancements with CloudFS 8.5 Adapt include support for Linux KVM and Proxmox on virtual nodes, CloudFS Instant Nodes for high availability, and CloudFS Regional Store with multi-bucket support and global data consistency. That means exceptional performance for massive file operations that support analytics and AI services. 

Technical Superiority and Advantage 

According to Frost & Sullivan, the hybrid cloud storage market is still in its emerging stages, with few vendors providing complete solutions that support unified data, multiple storage formats, and diverse data types. Despite this nascent status, the market opportunity is immense, with estimates placing the 2024 market at approximately $100 billion and projecting a compound annual growth rate of about 16% over the next six years. 

What sets Panzura CloudFS apart in this market goes beyond technical capabilities. Its advanced collaboration features allow multiple users to simultaneously work on the same files with granular file locking that operates at the sub-file level, ensuring that multiple contributors can edit different sections of a document concurrently without creating version conflicts. 

Its architectural advantages manifest in smoother operations, more consistent performance across diverse environments, and a superior user experience that masks the underlying complexity of the hybrid infrastructure. CloudFS allows organizations to achieve a seamless, cost-effective shift to the cloud, boosting resilience, reducing cost and complexity, without sacrificing local-feeling file operations.   

The Frost Radar specifically highlights our commitment at Panzura to AI enablement. For example, later this year we will fully integrate AI assistants into the CloudFS platform, providing deeper data insights and intelligence that will further elevate the value proposition for customers. These AI assistants will also enhance collaboration by analyzing usage patterns to suggest workflow optimizations and identify potential collaborative opportunities across teams and projects. 

Our approach to data intelligence positions CloudFS as more than just a storage solution — it’s seen by technologists as a strategic enabler to fully leverage their data for competitive advantage. With each node maintaining metadata of all the files managed by the platform, data itself remains instantly available without the need to relocate it from its stored location. 

This optimizes both performance and cost efficiency. Collaborative teams get near-instant access to the latest file versions regardless of where team members are located, eliminating the productivity delays associated with traditional file sharing methods. 

Panzura is Setting the Standard 

As a recognized innovation leader according to the latest Frost Radar, Panzura is uniquely positioned with CloudFS and Symphony to help teams navigate the complexities of hybrid cloud adoption and realize the full potential of their unstructured data assets. We’re innovating faster than our competitors, and we see recognition as a number-one innovator in the Frost report as proof of that fact.  

Alongside innovation, security and performance capabilities in CloudFS continue to set the standard for what a hybrid cloud file platform should deliver. Consider that CloudFS is the only solution of its kind to have been granted FIPS 140-3 certification by the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) for its core data encryption and key management processes. This is particularly important for collaborative environments where sensitive data is shared across multiple users and locations. 

Enterprise organizations, operating increasingly across dispersed locations, need more than just storage. They need intelligent, secure, and flexible data management that can help them adapt to evolving requirements. CloudFS delivers on all these fronts according to Frost & Sullivan. It makes it possible to turn file data challenges into strategic advantages. 

We invite you to explore how Panzura CloudFS can transform your approach to file data services and accelerate your journey toward becoming a truly data-centric, AI-enabled organization. Contact our team to schedule a personalized demo and consultation. We also invite you to download a complimentary copy of the 2025 Frost Radar for Hybrid Cloud Storage.