One of the new features coming out inside of Windows Server 2012 is the ability to create what's called a Scaled Out File Server. The Scale-Out File server is basically and active/active cluster solution in which all file servers can serve SMB client requests, so long as the scaled-out file shares are hosted on shared storage. StarWind Software for years have been providing a software solution for shared storage, eliminating the need for expensive SAN or unreliable NAS hardware. Starwind has issued a press release stating their involvement with the Scaled Out File Server and how they can basically take the directly attached storage from the nodes, and simply turn that into shared storage for your clustered environment, eliminating the need to purchase additional hardware to support the new Microsoft feature. Certainly this could be a great option for a SMB looking to provide some high availability without breaking the bank! You can check out the full press release here.
