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The NetApp Platform - Intelligent data infrastructure
for the AI era and beyond

NetApp's 2026 solution strategy centers on building an intelligent, unified data infrastructure for hybrid multicloud environments and enterprise AI readiness

 

WIRD Group has a long-standing history of introducing best-of-breed new companies to the Swiss market. NetApp is one of these fine companies with highly advanced technology to serve our Swiss clients with reliable and innovative storage solutions.

Core Pillars of NetApp Solutions

Unified Hybrid Multicloud

 

NetApp is ranked first in the hybrid cloud storage use case by Gartner Critical Capabilities for Enterprise Storage Platforms, offering native integration across AWS, Microsoft Azure, and Google Cloud.

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AI & Data Readiness

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Solutions integrate data services with generative AI engines like Amazon Bedrock, Azure OpenAI, and Google Vertex AI to move AI projects smoothly from testing into production.

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Cyber-Resilience & Security

 

Advanced security features are embedded directly into the storage layer, bolstered by the acquisition of JetStream Software to provide continuous data protection and rapid disaster recovery in hyperscale clouds.

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VMware Integration

 

New ONTAP tools bring advanced storage controls and vSphere Metro Storage Cluster management directly into the vCenter user interface for VMware administrators. [1]

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Overview of NetApp's Solutions & Products

On-Premises & Hybrid Storage Systems (Hardware & Software)

 

NetApp utilizes a "Disaggregated by Design" approach, separating its data management software (NetApp ONTAP) from the underlying hardware media:

  • NetApp AFF A-Series (All-Flash FAS): The premium, high-performance NVMe storage line built for mission-critical databases and heavy enterprise workloads. Top-tier models are NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD certified, serving as the foundational storage for AI/ML training pipelines.

  • NetApp AFF C-Series: High-capacity, cost-efficient All-Flash storage (utilizing QLC/Capacity Flash). It is optimized for consolidating large file, block, and object workloads without the premium cost of performance flash.

  • NetApp ASA (All-Flash SAN Array): Dedicated block-storage systems optimized purely for SAN environments, offering a guaranteed 99.9999% data availability for enterprise block workloads.

  • NetApp FAS-Series (Fabric-Attached Storage): Hybrid-flash systems combining SSDs and HDDs. They are used to lower Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) for secondary storage, backup, tiering, and archival workloads.

  • NetApp StorageGRID: An enterprise-grade, globally scalable Object Storage platform. Designed for exabyte-scale S3 repositories, it provides high-throughput data access for large AI data lakes and cloud-native apps.

  • NetApp E-Series: Dedicated, high-throughput SAN storage architectures (powered by SANtricity software) designed for specialized, compute-heavy tasks like High-Performance Computing (HPC), big data analytics, and video surveillance.

Cloud-Native Storage & Public Cloud Integrations

 

NetApp remains unique in the industry for having its ONTAP storage operating system natively integrated into the infrastructure of the major hyperscalers:

  • Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP: A fully managed, native AWS storage service providing full ONTAP data management capabilities within the AWS ecosystem.

  • Azure NetApp Files: A high-performance, native Microsoft Azure file service integrated directly into the Azure Console for enterprise migration.

  • Google Cloud NetApp Volumes: A fully managed Google Cloud service optimized for rapid enterprise file shares and direct connectivity to Google AI tools (like Vertex AI and Gemini CLI).

  • Cloud Volumes ONTAP (CVO): A software-defined version of ONTAP that customers can deploy and manage themselves on compute instances within AWS, Azure, or Google Cloud.

Cyber-Resilience & Data Protection

  • Autonomous Ransomware Protection (ARP): Machine learning models built directly into the ONTAP storage layer. ARP detects anomalies in data behavior in real-time with over 99% accuracy and automatically triggers immutable snapshots for instant recovery.

  • SnapMirror & SnapCenter: Data replication and application-consistent backup software used to move, clone, and protect data seamlessly between different on-premises sites and clouds.

  • NetApp Cyber Resilience Services: End-to-end consulting, assessment, and recovery strategies aimed at minimizing downtime during cyber incidents.

Unified Operations, Data Management & SaaS

  • NetApp Console (formerly BlueXP): The unified control plane (delivered as a SaaS portal) used to discover, manage, automate, and secure the entire hybrid multicloud data estate.

  • NetApp Workload Factory: A cloud-native operational tool designed to automate, optimize, and streamline the migration of specific application workloads into public cloud settings.

  • Data Infrastructure Insights (formerly Cloud Insights): An observability tool providing real-time monitoring of infrastructure performance, costs, and risks across hybrid environments.

  • Active IQ Digital Advisor: An AI-driven analytics engine that proactively reviews on-premises infrastructure health, offering automated recommendations for efficiency, security, and upgrades.

  • Instaclustr Services: Managed open-source database-as-a-service (DBaaS) solutions (such as managed Apache Kafka, Cassandra, and PostgreSQL) integrated into NetApp’s cloud application portfolio.

Validated Solutions & Architectures

  • AI Data Engine / GenAI Solutions: Validated reference architectures (frequently co-engineered with NVIDIA) designed to securely feed enterprise data into Large Language Models (LLMs) and Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) frameworks.

  • FlexPod: A long-standing, converged infrastructure solution combining Cisco compute/networking with NetApp enterprise storage.

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