Powering data-driven organisations

“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, IDC.  “NetApp’s cloud-connected flash solutions, coupled with their Data Fabric strategy, provide the performance, availability, agility and simplicity enterprises undergoing digital transformation need in their hybrid cloud infrastructure to create and leverage innovative business opportunities. 

“In advances that are coming our way, like 5G networks, we can see that 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. “With NetApp ONTAP, organisations can overcome the challenges introduced by these data-intensive technologies and cutting-edge innovations with a smart, powerful and trusted solution that maximises the value that organisations can derive from data.” 

Maximising Value in the Hybrid Cloud 

By accelerating applications painlessly and by delivering simplicity and security for a future-proof infrastructure, ONTAP 9.6 data management software allows organisations of all sizes to maximise the value of data and take on new data-driven initiatives. ONTAP 9.6 includes the following enhancements: 

·         Expanded NVMe over Fibre Channel (NVMe/FC) ecosystem now includes VMware ESXi, Microsoft Windows and Oracle Linux hosts, in addition to Red Hat and SUSE Linux, with storage path resiliency. Organisations can experience NVMe/FC performance for most workloads.  

·         FabricPool now supports Google Cloud Platform and Alibaba Cloud, in addition to Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and IBM Cloud Storage. Organisations can lower the cost of primary storage by automatically tiering cold data to any major public cloud or to a NetApp StorageGRID® private cloud.  

·         NetApp FlexCache® software now supports NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP, allowing organisations to experience the benefits of FlexCache in hybrid cloud deployments. 

·         Over-the-wire encryption for NetApp SnapMirror® technology and FlexCache increases security for data replication and remote caching.  

·         NetApp MetroCluster™ IP support for entry-level NetApp AFF and FAS systems now makes business continuity a cost-effective option for organisations, taking advantage of existing customer IP networks between sites.    

New Midrange End-to-End NVMe System 

Last year NetApp introduced the AFF A800, the industry’s first end-to-end NVMe system with industry-leading performance and unmatched data services that are backed by the industry’s most effective Efficiency Guarantee. With this announcement, NetApp has extended these benefits to the midrange market. The AFF A320 system enables customers to:  

·         Accelerate traditional and emerging enterprise applications such as artificial intelligence and deep learning, analytics, and databases with extremely low latency.  

·         Reduce data centre costs by consolidating applications with a powerful system.