Novell has introduced an integrated file storage solution that provisions, moves, optimises and reports on file storage based on user roles and customised business policies.

Novell claims its new File Management Suite reins in the chaos of unstructured data in typical file storage environments with automated reporting, provisioning, decommissioning, relocating, vaulting and tiering – all driven by organisational policies and based on employee identities yet with no impact to the end user.

It contends that existing storage solutions manage data at the block level, without any intelligence on the file's context, relevance or priority, while Novell File Management Suite leverages identity so that an organisation's premium storage resources can be reserved for the data that is most important to the business. This drives efficiency in IT hardware, administration and ultimately enhances collaboration between users.

It is compatible with existing storage resource management solutions such as EMC, HP, Hitachi, NetApp, and others and interoperates across Linux and Windows platforms.

"Businesses struggle with their file systems on a daily basis," said Colleen O'Keefe, senior vice president and general manager of Collaboration Solutions and Global Services.

"For most organizations, file data - whether stored in archive for compliance or locally for daily use - is often inaccessible because it's not intelligently categorized in relation to the user that created it. Novell File Management Suite changes all of that by allowing an organization to take an identity-aware approach to file management and manage data at its source - the user. Not all files are equally important to the business, so why store them the same way?"

Pricing is $US37.50 per user for the entire suite: Novell Storage Manager; Novell Dynamic File Services; and Novell File Reporter. Novell Storage Manager and Novell File Reporter are also sold independently for $US15 per user, each. Above prices include license and maintenance.