EMC also announced its Multi-Path File System for iSCSI (MPFSi), file-sharing software that boosts the performance of NAS networks by up to four times over earlier system capabilities. MPFSi works by allowing NAS user requests to come in over a standard file systems protocol (CIFS or NFS), but the data is then served to the host using the Internet SCSI (iSCSI) protocol.

The MPFSi software also allows data to be replicated asynchronously across a WAN using the iSCSI protocol.

iSCSI is a block-based protocol that allows for far greater data transfer rates.

"This allows large objects [files] for things like grid computing or software development to be served up much faster," Steinhardt said.