Extending the Edge from the Data Center to the User to Address the Needs of a Distributed Workforce

The world of work has changed forever as the hybrid and fully remote models are here to stay. End users have changed the way they work, but unfortunately, core infrastructure has not changed enough to keep pace. Organizations need to provide the infrastructure to help employees remain as productive as possible whether they’re working from headquarters, a branch office, a backyard shed or a hotel lounge chair. I love the line from a recent Gartner report: "The data center is no longer at the center of data, as data services and storage are expanding toward the cloud and out to edge locations"! Organizations need to service users "at the edge" wherever that may be. They need a new way to store, access, share and protect files, so we are thrilled to announce the immediate availability of Nasuni Access Anywhere, a secure, high-performance file solution designed to support hybrid and remote workers.

A NEW SOLUTION FOR THE NEW WORLD OF WORK

As an add-on service to the Nasuni File Data Platform, Nasuni Access Anywhere allows customers to extend high-performance file access to remote and hybrid workers while empowering them with productivity tools to manage files from anywhere on any device. The service integrates Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Teams and Slack with corporate file shares, so every member of a project team can work and collaborate seamlessly.

From the early days of the pandemic, we recognized that work was changing. Many of our own employees noticed a significant uptick in productivity as they shifted to work from home. As a company, we embraced this new world ourselves, and we quickly started brainstorming ways to strengthen our platform to help customers adapt. After all, as many organizations have learned, supporting hybrid and remote workers is not easy with traditional solutions.

LATENCY, COLLABORATION, SHADOW IT AND OTHER REMOTE ACCESS PAINS

At a hybrid or remote site, poor network connectivity or no connectivity can lead to high latency, inconsistent access and file-sharing headaches – all productivity and collaboration killers. Relying on a legacy VPN addresses security concerns, but may worsen performance, prompting employees to save critical file data offline. This not only puts the data at risk – but also further disrupts collaborative workflows. Users found ways to address these challenges with rogue storage offerings, putting IT in a tough position to secure and manage all of this data.

The increasing popularity of apps like Microsoft 365, Microsoft Teams and Slack adds another technical wrinkle. These tools are now critical for collaboration, and users want to be able to access and share their corporate files from within these applications. This caused data sprawl and higher costs with file data being stored in multiple locations.

THE NASUNI ACCESS ANYWHERE DIFFERENCE

We designed Nasuni Access Anywhere to solve these problems and, more generally, to support the new model of work. The key features include:

1. VPN-less access to the corporate file share
Users enjoy local performance and access to all the files they need via the Internet, and the enterprise still maintains strong security, whether the service is supporting low-bandwidth remote users or branch offices with limited connectivity.

2. Offline access with desktop sync
Employees can still work offline if desired. The desktop file system will automatically sync their work to the corporate file share when connectivity is restored, alleviating a common pain point with today’s hybrid models.

3. Seamless integration with key collaboration apps
With Nasuni Access Anywhere, users can store, search, browse and even edit files within Microsoft Office 365, Microsoft Teams and Slack, streamlining and accelerating the associated workflows.

4. Secure files and folder sharing with external parties
The need to share files and folders extends beyond internal project teams. Nasuni Access Anywhere enables users to share content with partners, clients or other external parties without compromising control or security.

As the world of work evolves, Nasuni is helping its customers keep pace, developing solutions such as Nasuni Access Anywhere, designed to meet the needs of the hybrid environment. This new service coupled with a file data platform ensures enterprises are making files accessible from anywhere and protecting them against anything!

Learn more about Nasuni Access Anywhere: https://www.nasuni.com/remote-worker-vdi-and-remote-file-access/