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This is a very long discussion issue but I'll try and give you a few ideas.
A NAS device basically gives you the ability to centralize or consolidate the storage and provide the remote file serving for the clients. The administration of storage is then reduced to managing the NAS device rather than the multiple servers. The consolidation allows for better utilization than you would have with multiple file servers.
The use of a gateway is a decision that should be based on whether you already have SAN installed or not. If you do, you can share the storage resources and infrastructure of the SAN and use the gateway as the NAS access which may be a less expensive solution. If you don't have a SAN already installed, a separate NAS device may be the least expensive.
Randy Kerns
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