It’s a local file cache - just not as you know it.

When you design a serverless school there’s the always the option to leave a little bit of local storage in the mix, just to be on the safe side but this is always a mistake.

To operate a local file server within a role based security model you need local accounts. Cloud directories do not understand Kerberos unless you reintroduce a local domain controller and Active Directory on yet another server. 

Once you’ve put Active Directory back into the mix and installed the device to run it on the temptation will be to solve any problem using the old techniques and before you know it you’ll have a rack of servers or, more likely, be suffering 'virtualisation creep'. Nothing has changed and you're back to square one.

The common accusation against a cloud first school is that you can’t access cloud data without some form of local storage or caching of files. When a class of 30 students opens a 10Gb media stored in the cloud everything will freeze as 300 Gb of data is pulled down a 100Mbs connection and two years ago that was probably true. Except now it doesn’t freeze because there is a local cache, just not the one you might expect.

In a cloud first school the local cache is distributed almost all the workstation and managed directly by the One Drive or the Google File Stream client. This creates a distributed, fault tolerant local cache with access to TB’s of local solid state storage and almost limitless CPU cycles all talking to a back-end that is moving data to and from the site using predictive on-demand technologies. 

One Drive supports delta level file updates across a wide range of file types including most graphics packages. A 90K update to a 10GB file creates 90k of traffic. The system has its own built in form of QoS, trickle feeding updates back to the cloud while making sure common files are received from the local cache.

Collaborative workflow is standard, as is file versioning and user on-demand recovery.  

If configured correctly the data never moves outside the school security boundary.  DLP policies and intelligent labelling and classification controls access based on content so that files are secured from any location and any platform. The school data protection strategy can be realised in an observable rule set applied to every device, personal or school owned.

Technically the distributed replication approach backed by DLP is so superior to a local file server it's like trying to compare a firework to a Falcon Heavy.  This is the model both Google and Microsoft are betting business on and trying to retro-fit centralised file syncing to the cloud goes against the technological direction for both companies

Distributed sync, cloud to device, no servers required is the way forward.