Data center hybrid cloud infrastructure key for enterprise, service provider networks

At the recent NetApp Insight North America 2014, NetApp, Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) announced new software, services, and partnerships designed to simplify data management across clouds in the data center for enterprise and service provider networks.

As the hybrid cloud continues to gain traction within the enterprise, NetApp believes that the data management elements in different parts of a hybrid cloud must be connected and work together to form a coherent, integrated, and interoperable system. This "data fabric" enables data to be consistently managed, transported seamlessly from one part of the cloud to another. It also enables enterprises to apply consistent policies and services to the data in the hybrid cloud regardless of the application, technology or cloud infrastructure provider.

"Hybrid clouds will be the backbone of IT today and tomorrow," said George Kurian, executive vice president of Product Operations at NetApp. "We help enterprises maintain control of their data as they bridge their on-premises architecture with the cloud of their choice. The NetApp Data Fabric for the Hybrid Cloud is the right architecture for building enterprise-class hybrid clouds. Our software improves the economics, flexibility, and business impact of a customer's existing infrastructure, while our cloud technology solutions give customers the needed confidence in our ability to help them navigate the future."

The announcement included a new version of the NetApp clustered Data ONTAP operating system, Cloud ONTAP, OnCommand Cloud Manager and NetApp Private Storage for Cloud. Combined, these patented and patent pending offerings enable customers to embrace the hybrid cloud while maintaining control of their data and ensuring choice across a blend of private and public cloud resources.

New services offered in the announcement also include the company's Enterprise Transformation Workshop for Cloud, which helps customers envision and architect the right cloud storage strategy for a successful evolution to the hybrid cloud. For organizations looking to optimize the deployment of NetApp technology in their infrastructure, NetApp offers the Efficiency and Optimization Service. This service performs a comprehensive storage-level health check and analysis to help preempt transition problems and enhance performance. Additionally, for new and existing customers moving to clustered Data ONTAP software, the clustered Data ONTAP Migration Service, RapidData Migration QuickStart Service, and self-help migration tools facilitate a smooth and simple transition.

Jack Rondoni, vice president of storage networking at Brocade, commented, "Enterprises implementing private and hybrid cloud infrastructures rely on technology leaders to provide proven data center technologies, and NetApp and Brocade have been working together for over a decade providing highly available, reliable and high performance storage and storage networks optimized for the cloud. NetApp's Clustered Data ONTAP and Cloud ONTAP technologies combined with Brocade's data center-proven ethernet fabric and Gen 5 Fibre Channel fabric networks provide a robust and highly scalable infrastructure for enterprises implementing cloud architectures."

Jim McHugh, vice president of Unified Computing Solutions (UCS) marketing at Cisco Systems, added, "Our joint success in developing private cloud solutions in the enterprise with FlexPod is the perfect foundation for hybrid cloud solutions. NetApp's new hybrid cloud solutions complement Cisco's cloud strategy, provide businesses with the flexibility to manage changing environments, and give customers a smooth on-ramp to the Intercloud."

As provided in a press release, a description of each of the new technology components to the NetApp Data Fabric follows:

Clustered Data ONTAP 8.3 - A Proven Foundation for Cloud Data Management
Enhancements to the company's software-defined storage operating system, clustered Data ONTAP, help organizations of all sizes improve their levels of availability, performance and efficiency. New support for NetApp MetroCluster Disaster Recovery Software provides enterprises with uninterrupted recovery from failures across data centers. Critical business applications can continue to operate in the event of disasters or planned outages. The latest version of the software includes performance optimizations for all-flash nodes so that customers can maximize performance without sacrificing rich data management, protection, or flexible data movement. The new software includes increased efficiency that significantly improves the cost per gigabyte and cost per IOPS of clustered Data ONTAP delivering a better return on investment for organizations.

Cloud ONTAP - Enterprise-Class Data Management for the Public Cloud
Cloud ONTAP brings the power of clustered Data ONTAP to the public cloud. NetApp Data ONTAP is the world's #1 branded storage operating system.i The first release of Cloud ONTAP combines the power of clustered Data ONTAP with the scale of Amazon Web Services (AWS). The software, which is built on clustered Data ONTAP 8.3, uses patented NetApp technologies for non-disruptive operations, seamless scalability, and efficiency and combines them with the on-demand computing benefits of cloud services. This approach provides a consistent set of data services throughout a hybrid cloud environment. AWS is the first platform provider to run Cloud ONTAP services on its cloud environment and NetApp is collaborating with Microsoft Azure and Verizon Cloud for future releases. To help customers take advantage of Cloud ONTAP, NetApp is offering several cloud-friendly and traditional data center service licensing options.

OnCommand Cloud Manager - Efficient and Easy Provisioning for the Cloud
OnCommand Cloud Manager enables efficient and easy provisioning of clustered Data ONTAP instances between private cloud and public cloud providers. A simple and intuitive graphical user interface gives customers and partners seamless visibility into their hybrid cloud environment and eliminates the complexity of storage setup and movement of data from one location to another.

NetApp Private Storage for Cloud - Expanding Cloud Storage Choices While Helping Customers Maintain Control of Data
NetApp also introduced NetApp Private Storage (NPS) for SoftLayer and announced the new NetApp Private Storage for Cloud family. NPS for Cloud enables customers to use multiple clouds and maintain control of their data on a single NetApp data storage device strategically placed in select colocation facilities. NetApp has tested cloud connectivity with many Equinix locations and with select alternate colocation facilities worldwide. The cloud solution combines cloud elasticity and savings with the performance, availability and control of private, dedicated enterprise storage. SoftLayer, an IBM company, is the latest cloud provider to partner with NetApp with an NPS for Cloud approach. Other NPS for Cloud solutions currently available are NetApp Private Storage for Amazon Web Services and NetApp Private Storage for Microsoft Azure.