WWHow! Freeing Data Storage from Cages

E cient data storage is a key component of data manag- ing systems to achieve good performance. However, currently data storage is either heavily constrained by static decisions (e.g. fixed data stores in DBMSs) or left to be tuned and configured by users (e.g. manual data backup in File Systems). In this paper, we take a holistic view of data storage and envision a virtual storage layer. Our virtual storage layer provides a unified storage framework for several use-cases including personal, enterprise, and cloud storage.