DATA-AWARE DATA FLOW MANAGER

A method and system directed to reducing the bottleneck to storage. In one aspect of the invention, a data-aware data flow manager is inserted between storage and a process or device requesting access to the storage. The data-aware data flow manager determines which data to cache and which data to pipe directly through. Through intelligent management and caching of data flow, the data-aware data flow manager is able to avoiding some of the latencies associated with caches that front storage devices. The data-aware data flow manager may determine whether to cache data or pipe it directly through based on many factors including type of data requested, state of cache, and user or system policies.