Selling data storage is like running a grocery store — it may not be the most glorious or exciting corner of the market, but it’s one for which demand is relatively constant. And the data storage channel got a little larger this week with the debut of Likewise Storage Services. Here’s the scoop, and why it matters.

Until now, Likewise remained focused pretty squarely on cross-platform authentication services, specializing in developing solutions for integrating Windows, OS X, Linux and other Unix environments. The addition of storage services to its lineup thus represents a major new undertaking for the company, one which both broadens its scope and pushes its strategy in new directions.

Likewise Storage Services draw on the organization’s traditional expertise, however, since the new offering is oriented around simplifying data storage across different operating systems. According to the company’s press release:

The release also lists the technical features, which include:

For the time being, the new product is available only for OEMs, but Likewise promises a release for end-users by early fall.

Measuring the Value

SMB/CIFS and NFS, the protocols on which Likewise’s latest solution is based, are not new, nor is Likewise the first organization to use them to provide cross-platform file sharing. The open source Samba project has made that possible for years. Likewise Storage Services, however, is designed to add value on three major fronts:

For organizations with the resources and manpower to configure Samba and NFS on their own, Likewise’s new offering may be of little interest.  But for the rest of us, it promises to make file-sharing across different platforms easier and more reliable.

At the same time, the Likewise Storage Services FUSE module lets you mount remote Windows shares on a Linux computer to access folders and files.

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