1. A method comprising: tracking resource utilization across one or more storage servers, the one or more storage servers support serial and parallel workloads; responsive to receipt of a workload requiring optimization and based upon the workload requirements and tracked resource utilization, calculating a layout of a set of servers a parallel access protocol should utilize to service an I/O request, wherein the layout includes data ranges to the set of servers; employing the calculated layout to service an I/O request, including balancing an I/O load associated with the request across the storage servers, wherein the I/O load request includes a serial workload optimization and a parallel workload optimization.