Prior to the content library, virtual machine templates or ISO files were typically shared through an NFS datastore as a common practice. There were also other archaic techniques to move files through external/portable storage to share data around using third-party solutions. A content library simplifies this portability and enables this as a native feature. Any valid datastore available in vCenter is exposed as a repository for commonly used files. Furthermore, if the datastore is connected directly to participating ESXi hosts, the data transmission operations can leverage vSphere Storage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI) to greatly reduce the file transfers.