Modernizing storage with purpose in the AI era

NetApp storage updates

NetApp delivered several updates to its existing storage products, including the following:

• The new all-flash NetApp ASA A-Series. NetApp introduced a new, all-flash scale-out block storage option. This is a welcome addition to the portfolio. NetApp is augmenting the performance and scale of its SAN storage options, thereby strengthening its competitive response to players such as Dell, IBM, Hitachi Vantara, HPE and Pure Storage.  
• New FAS systems. NetApp added two new options -- the FAS70 and the FAS90 -- to its portfolio of hybrid flash storage arrays. As all-flash options increase for primary workloads, NetApp is positioning these hybrid arrays as being more cost-effective storage options for secondary data protection environments.
• Enhancements to Google Cloud NetApp Volumes. NetApp added the ability to provision larger capacities and automatically migrate data to lower-cost tiers to better control storage costs.
• Updates to Azure NetApp Files. Users now have the ability to automatically migrate data to lower-cost tiers to better control storage costs, as well as the ability to cross-zone replicate to improve data protection by replicating volumes across Azure availability zones.
• General availability of NetApp OnTap Autonomous Ransomware Protection with AI. Ransomware continues to present a pervasive risk to business operations and viability. According to NetApp, its AI technology can offer 99% accuracy when detecting ransomware threats, and users can automatically snapshot data at the time-point of the attack to accelerate recovery. In addition, NetApp will let users non-disruptively update its ransomware protection, independent of OnTap updates, making it easier to stay up to date against threats.

NetApp also delivered a forward-looking plan to introduce a disaggregated storage architecture based on NetApp OnTap. While the NetApp AFF series already offers high performance, the introduction of a distributed architecture should enable NetApp to deliver even greater performance scalability for compute-intensive workloads such as those supporting the training of large language models (LLMs). The most important part of this plan is that it will be built upon OnTap to offer the same or similar capabilities and experience that current users are accustomed to.

In addition, the company shared its forward-looking plan to create a global metadata namespace. Given the distributed nature of modern data, the extension of a global metadata namespace will make it easier to manage data to better enable data classification for AI.

While more indirectly related to the demands of AI initiatives, these additions still directly align with the larger storage modernization strategy that organizations must embrace in the age of AI.

Consider the following Enterprise Strategy Group research:

• 84% of organizations agreed "the growth of AI (including generative AI) has us reevaluating our application deployment strategy."
• 82% agreed "new security threats (e.g., ransomware) have us reevaluating our application deployment strategy."
• 78% agreed "we prefer to run AI applications on-premises."
• 76% agreed "we view on-premises application deployments more favorably today than we did five years ago."

The bottom line is that as AI rapidly escalates, the value that data can deliver to the business grows. And that value, in turn, increases the importance of data security in hybrid, multi-cloud environments.

Data centers in the age of AI

An interesting side effect is that on-premises data center environments are becoming increasingly strategically important once again. This evolution of priorities because of AI aligns incredibly well with NetApp's current and future direction, and it is something that stood out and impressed me at the event.

The increased importance of on-premises infrastructure means that modernization efforts must embrace on-premises data center storage. But the added pressure on organizations to better understand their data and move quickly means that isolated, disparate silos are unsustainable.

In other words, on-premises environments must evolve to offer, among other things, a consistent experience with public cloud environments.

As much as organizations might want to make sure that data is deployed close to the application, in practice, that is rarely the case. Requirements change. Customers' needs shift. NetApp's ability to provide consistent storage both on-premises across block, file and object protocols and as native public cloud storage options offers an advantage for hybrid cloud workloads, which AI is and is expected to continue to be.

The opportunity is simplification by consolidation. When we modernize, it should be for dramatic simplification, not simply to deploy a newer system silo. According to Enterprise Strategy Group research, 85% of organizations identified that storage modernization efforts have enabled them to consolidate their environment.

Siloed environments crush efficiency and cannot persist.

The additions of the new scale-out ASA storage, the distributed architecture and a global namespace will only further expand the applicability of NetApp's technology to additional use cases, such as LLM training, while the global namespace will enable better management of data across environments. And, with the advances in ransomware protection, NetApp is investing in better security across the data estate.

Going back to Kurian's comments, success with AI will require more than just getting an AI project to production. It will require being ultra efficient in creating, managing and using data. This cannot happen if your environment requires a disparate architecture for every workload and location. Consistency is the key to efficiency, and what sets NetApp apart stems from the data fabric vision that NetApp put in place years ago.

NetApp already has first-tier relationships with all the major public cloud vendors -- AWS, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud -- leveraging the same technology that it offers on premises. Ultimately, many of the announcements at Insight 2024 were forward-looking in nature, and NetApp will have to deliver. But with NetApp technology already embedded with the major cloud providers, and its established leadership in enterprise file storage, the company is in a strong position to deliver the wide-scale data storage simplification that enterprises will require to be winners in the AI era. 

Scott Sinclair is Practice Director with TechTarget's Enterprise Strategy Group, covering the storage industry.

Enterprise Strategy Group is a division of TechTarget. Its analysts have business relationships with technology vendors.