System and method for distributed network data storage

A data storage system comprising:

• a network interface to facilitate communication with clients and with a plurality of network servers;
• and
• a file server, responsive to receiving a file to be stored from one of said clients, and operative to define a virtual device to include device portions on said plurality of network servers, to parse said file into a plurality of file portions, and to write each of said file portions to a corresponding one of said device portions.

A data storage system comprising:

• a client interface operative to receive a file request from a client;
• a file server responsive to said file request, and operative to retrieve a virtual device definition corresponding to said requested file, said virtual device definition identifying file portions located on a plurality of network servers, to retrieve said file portions, and to collate said retrieved file portions to generate said requested file.