Once considered an afterthought, corporate network file servers are becoming major management headaches. Complicated file migrations, heightened compliance concerns and stranded storage capacity are just a few of the file storage management issues forcing companies to re-evaluate how they handle this critical piece of storage infrastructure.

Forward-looking companies have embraced file virtualization appliances to recapture stranded storage capacity on network file servers and to perform file migrations among them. However, using file virtualization appliances as permanent corporate file managers is a big step that some corporations are unsure they want to take.