1. A file storage system comprising: a gateway service adapted to service requests from clients for accessing files having respective file identifiers; a storage service adapted to provide permanent storage of file data corresponding to the files; and a metadata service adapted to maintain metadata corresponding to the files, a portion of the metadata correlating respective locations of the files in the storage service with the respective file identifiers, the gateway service communicating with the metadata service to determine a location of the bitfile data in the storage service in accordance with the file identifier, and with the storage service for providing clients access to the bitfile data in accordance with the determined location, whereby the clients need only provide the file identifier to access the file from the determined location.