Compellent has expands its unified storage offerings with the zNAS (network-attached storage) solution, which consolidates file- and block-level storage on a single, intelligent platform based on the ZFS file system.

With its Fluid Data architecture, Compellent zNAS can actively manage and move data in a virtual pool of storage, regardless of the size and type of block, file or drive. As a result, enterprises can simplify management, improve performance for critical applications and reduce complexity and costs.

According to the "Unstructured Data in 2010: Trends to Watch" report issued by Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG), the rise in unstructured data, such as office documents, digital images and video, will account for the bulk of growth within the data centre, driving IT to consider unified platforms to alleviate the strain. Compellent customers can now benefit from consolidating multiple file servers along with block data onto a single Compellent zNAS system, reducing hardware, administrative overhead and associated IT staff costs in the process.

Compellent unified storage with zNAS offers a single interface to streamline management of heterogeneous Unix, Linux and Windows file and block data.

Fluid Data architecture increases storage efficiency and utilisation by automatically tiering file storage at the block-level, intelligently thin provisioning storage for unstructured data and delivering rapid data recovery and thin replication.

Integrating SAN and NAS management simplifies planning, provisioning and recovery of virtual servers in VMware, Microsoft, Citrix, and Oracle environments.