NetApp announces VMware sovereign cloud integration, to simplify data management for enterprise

IT storage company NetApp announced on Wednesday that it has collaborated with VMware to add a new integration between its StorageGRID object storage suite and VMware Sovereign Cloud. This collaboration aims to support customers who have complex data privacy and residency regulations.  

NetApp also announced a collaboration with VMware to modernise API integrations between NetApp ONTAP and VMware vSphere. These two companies have had a partnership for over two decades, and the recent announcement was made at the ongoing VMware Explore 2023 Barcelona event. 

The concept of sovereignty is becoming increasingly important in cloud computing, especially for entities that process and maintain highly sensitive data, such as national and state governments, as well as regulated industries like finance and healthcare. National governments are also seeking to expand their digital economic capabilities and reduce reliance on multinational firms for cloud services. 

Rajeev Bhardwaj, Vice President of Cloud Provider Platform at VMware, stated, "VMware Sovereign Cloud providers help customers in highly regulated industries meet the need for highly secure, data-driven innovation. Because no one company can do this alone, VMware relies on a powerful and interconnected ecosystem to bring innovative solutions to market." Bhardwaj added that the integration between NetApp's StorageGRID and VMware Sovereign Cloud will help customers simplify complex data environments and ensure that their data remains secure and compliant with data sovereignty laws in their regions. 

NetApp's Sovereign Cloud integration with Cloud Director will enable providers to offer customers better assurance that sensitive data, including metadata, remains under sovereign control. This integration will also prevent access by foreign authorities that could violate data privacy laws. 

Phil Brotherton, Vice President of Solutions & Alliances at NetApp, emphasized the increasing importance of data sovereignty to large organisations and their growing need to manage and store highly sensitive data. He stated, "The integration of NetApp StorageGRID with VMware Sovereign Cloud is a significant achievement for NetApp and a real game changer for our customers with unstructured data in the cloud who must maintain sovereign control of that data at all times." 

In addition to the collaboration with VMware, NetApp also announced the modernisation of API integrations between NetApp ONTAP and VMware vSphere. This integration aims to help VMware administrators simplify the management and operations of NetApp ONTAP-based data management platforms across multi-tenant vSphere environments. 

During the NetApp Insight event held last month, the focus was on AI, ransomware mitigation and prevention, and the importance of a multi-cloud approach to data management. 

Furthermore, at Google Cloud Next 2023, NetApp and Google released Google Cloud NetApp Volumes, achieving one of NetApp's core corporate objectives: making its technology available as a first-party, native cloud storage service on AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud Platform. 

Meanwhile, at VMware Explore 2023 Barcelona, VMware announced a range of new offerings, services, and expanded partnerships to help customers adopt a cloud smart approach to their multi-cloud journey and bring the power of artificial intelligence (AI) to the enterprise. One of these announcements was VMware Private AI with Intel, a collaborative effort to help enterprises build and deploy AI models and enhance AI performance using VMware Cloud Foundation and Intel AI software suite, processors, and hardware accelerators. 

Additionally, VMware announced a collaboration with IBM to bring IBM Watson to on-premises environments, allowing clients to combine VMware Private AI and Red Hat OpenShift to enable fast and transparent generative AI capabilities.