Patent ID: 8583760

Claim:
A client computer handling real-data data requests from an application, the client computer comprising: a) a storage area network connection connecting the client computer to i) a storage area network, and ii) a SAN-attached storage device over the storage area network; b) a local area network connection connecting the client computer to i) a local area network, ii) a server computer over the local area network, and iii) the SAN-attached storage device via the server computer; and c) client programming that configures the client computer to i) retrieve metadata relating to the data request directly from the SAN-attached storage device via the storage area network, ii) interpret the metadata, iii) receive real-data from the SAN-attached storage device directly via the storage area network connection, and iv) submit requests to modify the real-data on the SAN-attached storage device to the server computer via the local area network connection.