NetApp is touting the new Azure NetApp Files as a huge extension of their Microsoft relationship, which gives them a level of integration with their Azure cloud that Microsoft has not done before with anyone. Other announcements include the General Availability of NetApp Cloud Insights, NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP, and new ONTAP support for NetApp HCI.
At their C3 partner event this week, NetApp exhorted partners to ramp up their efforts to sell NetApp’s new HCI offering based on Solidfire technology, while not letting up on their FlexPod CI activities.
NetApp has announced upgrades to key software products that make up their Data Fabric, including ONTAP 9.3.
The first-ever NetApp HCI solution, announced in June, will be available in October, and that, rather than the shinier and newer announcements at INSIGHT, was what had solution providers buzzing.
Elio is a chatbot that provides first level technical support using IBM Watson technology. NetApp has also enhanced their ActiveIQ cloud-based analytics.
The second stage of the NetApp transformation strategy emphasizes expanding their market to buyers beyond traditional storage and infrastructure decision makers, and they think FlexPod SF will help them there.
Other highlights include the new version of their ONTAP software, a new usage-based consumption option to purchase infrastructure, enhancing their OCI software, and expanding their free controller upgrade program to credits for a broader array of NetApp purchases.
Twelve years ago, NetApp acquired scale-out NAS startup Spinnaker, and began a long and horrific series of integration problems. This year, they acquired SolidFire’s scale-out technology, and took steps to learn from the lessons of the past.
Over the last year, NetApp has reshaped its channel strategy extensively, and will soon cap it with a new Hard Deck policy. Unlike a similar named policy of an old competitor, NetApp thinks this one will be highly popular with partners.
Mark Bregman, NetApp’s CTO, sits down for a detailed talk about NetApp’s technology strategy going forward, and why the company is convinced it has made the difficult transition from a vendor of yesterday to a vendor of tomorrow.
At a customer event in Toronto on Wednesday, NetApp CEO George Kurian laid out the company’s case to key customers and partners why the storage pioneer is well positioned for the new age of IT.
The fourth in SolidFire’s series of Agile Infrastructure architectures, this one facilitates the design and deployment of dynamic virtual infrastructure to deliver secure multi-tenancy.
Four specializations are being announced, one of which is around OpenStack, which SolidFire believes is an industry first. .
A new software solution for commodity hardware is aimed at service providers, and won’t be much of a reseller play, but gives SolidFire the distinction of being able to sell the exact same solution as an appliance, infrastructure, as a service, and now software.
The new offerings will significantly decrease the cost of entry for the SolidFire array.
