NuView Gets Personal

NuView Inc. is shipping software that combines its global namespace technology with administration of user access rights (see NuView Releases MyView).

The software, dubbed MyView, lets administrators assign user profiles across multiple servers. Users only see the directories they're entitled to use. If a worker moves from one department to another, he or she doesn't need to change the profile but is automatically equipped with direct access based on new entitlements.

"Everyone thinks about global namespace. What customers need to do is find a way to make it manageable," says NuView CEO Rahul Mehta. He says pairing security with file management is an ideal way to do this.

To support his view, Mehta quotes statistics, such as: 80 percent of security breaches are triggered by corporate insiders; and 60 percent of helpdesk calls come from people whose efforts to move access rights from one server to another are bollixed.

MyView is different from NuView's foundation namespace product, StorageX, though Mehta says it runs well alongside it. In this first release, MyView runs only under Windows, while StorageX runs under Unix and Windows. MyView also doesn't provide the data management features of StorageX, such as data migration, consolidation, and replication. In a sense, it's a one-trick pony.MyView is also priced differently from StorageX, which is priced by capacity, starting at $2,000 per server. MyView costs about $25 per user, and a single package supports up to 50,000 users.

Right now, it's tough to gauge customer interest. About 25 of NuView's 300-odd customers are beta-testing MyView, including Emory Healthcare, Mehta says. More should glom on as NuView informs its resellers, including EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) and Network Appliance Inc. (Nasdaq: NTAP). At press time, Mehta acknowledged he hasn't had time or resources to get those channels online with MyView.

So far, NuView is the only one of a small cadre of file virtualization suppliers to focus directly on combining security and storage administration. Rivals Acopia Networks Inc., NeoPath Networks, and Rainfinity are working other angles to differentiate themselves in the growing segment.

Earlier this week, for instance, NeoPath revamped its software for better performance (see NeoPath Enhances File Management). In July, Acopia announced multisite capabilities, and Rainfinity upped its efforts to sell "virtual NAS" (see Acopia Reaches Out and Rainfinity Creates NAS Service Org).

At least one analyst thinks NuView's onto something that could help it keep afloat amid all this activity. "The lines are blurring for storage administrators. Within the next couple of years, we'll see them become increasingly well versed in security," says Brad O'Neill of the Taneja Group consultancy.The fact that MyView isn't on Unix yet doesn't bother O'Neill, who says most of NuView's clientele is Windows-based anyway. One thing O'Neill would like to see the vendor do, though, is extend the capabilities of all its wares, including StorageX and MyView, across multiple geographic sites.

As demand builds for better file virtualization, it's likely customers will demand that various packages, including MyView, become better integrated.

Mary Jander, Site Editor, Byte and Switch