Enterprise data storage firm NetApp rolls out offerings for hybrid, multi-cloud environments

Enterprise data storage firm NetApp has announced Ontap 9.6 and new AFF A320 storage system platforms for hybrid and multi-cloud environments that will help its customers with greater speed, better performance and scalability.

The platform will work across public, private, hybrid and multi-clouds and help enterprises to manage 5G data streams apart from getting artificial intelligence (AI) use cases off the ground, NetApp said.

The Indian-origin George Kurian-headed company's cloud-connected flash solutions also provide customers with analytic insights that can give them a competitive advantage, it said.

“With the advent of technologies like 5G networks, a company’s ability to generate, gather and disseminate a massive volume of data will be enabled like never before and companies that aren’t ready are going to be overwhelmed,” said Joel Reich, executive vice-president, storage systems and software, NetApp.

The new advances will also accelerate the application performance and security apart from simplifying the process, NetApp said, adding that this will make the infrastructure future-proof.  

“As enterprises evolve to new, more data-centric business models where data is a key strategic resource, data availability requirements are on the rise,” said Eric Burgener, research vice-president, infrastructure systems, platforms and technologies group at IDC.

NetApp's FabricPool also now supports Google Cloud Platform and Alibaba Cloud, in addition to Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and IBM Cloud Storage, giving customers an option to choose a provider they are comfortable with apart from integrating with private cloud.

Last year, NetApp had introduced the AFF A800. With the current update, NetApp has extended these benefits to the midrange market, enabling customers to accelerate traditional and emerging enterprise applications such as AI and deep learning, analytics, and databases with extremely low latency, the company said. It added that the new platform will reduce data centre costs as well.