NetApp looks to support customers' multi-cloud workloads with new partnerships and software updates designed to help the storage vendor stand out in a competitive field.
The company also added capabilities to help customers avoid lock-in with vendors, such as VMware or cloud providers, according to analysts.
Updates released in the past month include workload management software for AWS, generative AI (GenAI) reference architectures for both AWS and Azure, and disaster recovery for VMware data within NetApp's software and hardware.
NetApp's customer data centers have become hybrid and multi-cloud environments and need flexibility in workload placement and migration, said Krista Macomber-Case, an analyst at Futurum Group.
Most organizations are using several clouds, along with on-premises infrastructure for workloads, so making sure NetApp's technology can support that freedom of movement -- without stepping on the toes of business partners -- will remain the vendor's focus in the months ahead, she said.
"I've seen a consistent message around a hybrid multi-cloud approach," Macomber-Case said. "[It's] been important to them. They're making sure they have a broad ecosystem of partners, but [they have to be] marching in a consistent direction."
Feature refresh
NetApp's AWS and Azure customers gained new services and features last month, continuing the vendor's multi-cloud approach, and a VMware on-premises recovery capability.
NetApp's AWS customers gained new capabilities last month, including Amazon FSx for NetApp OnTap performance enhancements, Amazon Bedrock reference architecture while using Amazon FSx for NetApp OnTap, and the NetApp BlueXP Workload Factory for AWS.
The NetApp BlueXP Workload Factory for AWS is a data infrastructure service to automate the planning, providing and management of cloud resources for workloads, databases and GenAI, NetApp stated in a press release. The service is available to all BlueXP customers using Amazon FSx. Initial supported workloads include Microsoft SWL Server databases, VMware and storage management.
A new capability for NetApp's Microsoft Azure customers is the NetApp GenAI Toolkit -- Microsoft Azure NetApp Files Version, connecting data stores in NetApp's Azure services to retrieval-augment generation workflows. This service also exists for Google Cloud.
The NetApp BlueXP Disaster Recovery for VMFS, an automated disaster recovery capability for VMware data and virtual machines (VMs) by NetApp, now supports recovery plans for moving VMFS data from on-premises to on-premises hardware rather than requiring a cloud intermediary.
VMware partners
Backup recovery tools have become a way to enable software platform migrations among enterprises, and infrastructure vendors have taken note, Macomber-Case said.
Enterprises could use the disaster recovery capability for VMFS to shift workload from VMware into other virtualization platforms, Macomber-Case said, as backup and recovery tools have become a way to enable software platform migrations by enterprises.
Infrastructure vendors have taken notice of the trend as disaster recovery vendors now advertise how their software can enable migrations away from the VMware virtualization platform, such as Hewlett Packard Enterprises' (HPE) Zerto, analysts said. The disaster recovery software enables migration of virtual machines to Linux kernel virtual machines (KVM) as an open source alternative.
Third-party storage vendors are also offering open source VMware alternatives, like StorMagic's SvHCI, similarly built off open source software.
Customers have become more interested in migration since Broadcom's acquisition of VMware earlier this year, according to Macomber-Case and other analysts. These customers anticipate price increases and more restrictive contracts as Broadcom has shifted the VMware portfolio to besmaller number of offerings available only through subscriptions.
These services enable NetApp to continue supporting its partners while offering customers flexibility, said Scott Sinclair, an analyst at TechTarget's Enterprise Strategy Group.
"They want to be good partners with VMware, but they want to support their customers," Sinclair said.
Sandeep Singh, senior vice president and general manager of enterprise storage at NetApp, said customers may use these features for migrations, but he expects NetApp customers will remain with VMware due to the platform's maturity and partner ecosystem.
"What they don't want to do, in the short term, is end up going from a tier 1 hypervisor to a tier 3 hypervisor," Singh said. "You could degrade your [virtualization] capabilities, and you don't want to switch just to get locked in again."
Another virtualization platform may lack enterprise features or support services, Singh said. Customers could also plan a shift into new architectures like containers.
"Modernization of capabilities is continuing," Singh said. "We see customers who want to go to VMware on cloud or, as their workloads shift, go to containerized options. There's no one size that fits all."
NetApp also added new cybersecurity and ransomware protection features to its storage this year, Singh said. These capabilities bring the storage vendor into the larger IT discussion around security, a differentiation in products customers are seeking out, he added.
"Storage can be that last line of defense," Singh said. "We're making sure that we are part of that ecosystem of infrastructure."
Moving off VMware is no easy task
Customers may stick with VMware because alternatives lack maturity, Sinclair said. Customers' VMware virtualized data centers have grown massive over the decades, and it requires a herculean effort to migrate fully away from this to an alternative that might not have the same set of features.
They'll support those alternatives, but there really isn't a perfect like-for-like alternative to VMware.
Scott SinclairAnalyst, TechTarget's Enterprise Strategy Group
"[NetApp] will support those alternatives, but there isn't a perfect like-for-like alternative to VMware," Sinclair said. "VMware environments are so huge that even if someone wanted to get off it tomorrow, they can't."
Maintaining those partnerships with other infrastructure vendors and workload flexibility across the hybrid cloud will also separate NetApp from competitors that offer a deeper catalogue of hardware and capabilities, said Mike Matchett, founder and analyst at Small World Big Data.
"Once storage and operating systems became something you could run in a virtual machine, it's simply a matter of [storage] becoming performant," he said. "The storage later is the fluidity between cloud and hybrid cloud. NetApp can deliver that."
Vendors dealing exclusively with storage, like NetApp and Pure Storage, need to compete with vendors that can sell a variety of hardware, such as HPE or Dell Technologies, as well as innumerable features of hyperscaler clouds, Sinclair said.
"Players like NetApp and Pure Storage are going into a space where their competitors are always in the conversation because they do not offer servers," he said.
Tim McCarthy is a news writer for TechTarget Editorial covering cloud and data storage.
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