Wide-area file services (WAFS) is steadily picking up steam, according to TheInfoPro's Wave 8 Storage Study. Largely spurred by a need to consolidate backups, 11% of survey respondents say they're now using WAFS, nearly double the number in the previous study. Further, it's likely that approximately 50% of users currently piloting WAFS will eventually deploy it, says Robert L. Stevenson, managing director, storage at TheInfoPro. WAFS tends to have shorter adoption/piloting cycles than projects such as block virtualization and tape encryption, he adds.