Panzura has unveiled the latest evolution of its hybrid cloud file platform with the release of CloudFS 8.5 Adapt. This major upgrade introduces groundbreaking features that elevate business continuity, performance, and security.

Designed to meet the demands of modern IT infrastructures, CloudFS 8.5 Adapt prepares organizations for the future of artificial intelligence (AI) workloads, data fabrics, and composable tooling while maintaining robust and resilient file services. 

The release brings innovative functionalities like Instant Node for minimizing downtime and Regional Store for enhancing localized access and performance. These advancements are complemented by improved security and flexibility, making the platform indispensable for hybrid cloud environments. 

Instant Node: Redefining Business Continuity 

One of the standout features of CloudFS 8.5 Adapt is Instant Node, which introduces a new benchmark for business continuity. IT teams face mounting pressure to maintain uninterrupted operations amid disruptive events such as natural disasters, cyberattacks, and hardware failures. Downtime during such incidents can result in significant financial and reputational losses. 

Why Instant Node Matters 

Instant Node enables IT teams to replace failed nodes or transition on-premises nodes to the cloud within minutes. This capability is a game-changer for organizations migrating from traditional environments like VMware, as it facilitates seamless and low-risk transitions to cloud-based architectures, or other hypervisors. By eliminating extended downtime, organizations can ensure their operations and customer-facing services remain unaffected. 

Moreover, Instant Node provides a cost-effective alternative to Panzura’s Local HA option, which involves redundant servers and storage, which require upfront investments and remain underutilized, Instant Node allows businesses to achieve resilience by leveraging local VM hardware resources. This balance of performance and cost positions Instant Node as a highly attractive solution for businesses of all sizes and is a unique feature in the industry. 

Flexibility for IT Modernization 

Beyond disaster recovery, Instant Node supports automated hardware upgrades, planned migrations, and other infrastructure changes without operational disruptions. The feature integrates seamlessly with existing IT systems through its REST API, allowing automation and third-party orchestration tools to streamline recovery workflows. This adaptability empowers organizations to modernize their hybrid cloud environments confidently. 

 

 

Regional Store: Boosting Localized Performance 

Latency and performance bottlenecks often plague geographically distributed teams that rely on centralized file access. The new Regional Store feature in CloudFS 8.5 Adapt addresses this issue by bringing data closer to end users. 

Optimized Data Access 

Regional Store enables organizations to configure up to four object storage buckets across their preferred cloud provider’s regions. These buckets synchronize to maintain data consistency, allowing teams to access uncached file data locally rather than from distant primary stores. For example, AWS’s 36 global cloud regions and Azure’s 60+ regions provide ample opportunities for localized access. 

Impact on Productivity 

By reducing latency and accelerating file access, Regional Store eliminates delays for users working with large files or time-sensitive projects. This improvement minimizes unproductive downtime, reduces errors, and enhances collaboration across distributed teams. For workflows involving AI pipelines, real-time collaboration, or high-performance computing, Regional Store delivers significant benefits by optimizing data placement. 

Cost and Performance Balance

Regional Store also helps reduce cloud egress costs by aligning data placement with usage patterns. IT teams can select appropriate storage classes for specific scenarios, ensuring a balance between performance and cost-efficiency. While Regional Store can be used as an HA object store, its primary purpose is to improve local access and streamline operations.

 

 

Additional Enhancements in CloudFS 8.5 Adapt 

Panzura has introduced several other enhancements in this release to strengthen security and simplify operations: 

Extended Role-Based Access Control (RBAC)

Strengthens security and simplifies user access with advanced Single Sign-On (SSO) capabilities by integrated with OKTA as an identity provider. It also enhances security by centralizing identity management and reducing the risk of unauthorized access.  

Storage Tier Support for Azure

Building on its previous support for AWS tiering in CloudFS 8.4, the platform now offers support for Azure storage tiering. This provides flexibility to align storage strategies with performance and cost requirements. Organizations can optimize storage costs by directing data to appropriate tiers based on usage patterns, without compromising performance thanks to local caching. 

Access Tier support and Azure, and S3 Intelligent Tiering in AWS both support three tiers of instantly retrievable data. CloudFS has two options to utilize this feature, “hyperscaler-managed” moves the data at the 30/60/90-day intervals (which may incur API charges) or “CloudFS-managed” can direct the hyperscaler to store the data directly to a specific tier.

By directing the data to the lowest tier, the customer can save money on storage and API costs in the long term. As the “hot” data will be cached locally on the CloudFS node, the users should see no performance difference by directing the data to the lowest tier. 

Preparing for the Future 

CloudFS 8.5 Adapt positions organizations to harness the power of emerging technologies like AI and data fabrics. By integrating flexible, resilient, and high-performance file services, it supports diverse workloads and operational requirements. The platform’s focus on reducing costs, improving security, and enhancing user experiences ensures that businesses can confidently innovate and scale. 

With CloudFS 8.5 Adapt, Panzura continues to set the standard for hybrid cloud file platforms, empowering businesses to meet the demands of today’s data-driven world while preparing for tomorrow’s challenges.