FlexPod with Built-in Connectivity to the Public Cloud: The Elastic Solution for Complex IT Architecture Scenarios
Hermann Wedlich
In many countries, the motto today is: Move away from the combustion engine towards the electric car. This is how we want to counter "disruptive" climate change. But the switch to pure electric mobility is difficult for various technical, political and economic reasons. One solution to this dilemma is the hybrid or plug-in hybrid.
The situation is similar in IT with the public and private cloud. Just as the electric drive in most hybrid vehicles perfectly covers urban traffic and the combustion engine masters long distances, modern IT infrastructures also need an elastic concept.
FlexPod, the powerful "lung" of the data center
Increasingly, companies are developing modern applications initially in the cloud, e.g. under SAP (HANA), containers or Kubernetes platforms and IT architectures for AI and machine learning. When the applications are ready for series production or critical data is generated, they are returned to the local data center. This requires a reliable and intelligent system that enables these dynamic migrations securely.This is where the FlexPod comes in. Integrated with Cisco ACI Anywhere, Cisco CloudCenter, and NetApp Cloud Volumes, it enables organizations to leverage and optimize computing and data resources in a way that maps any cloud strategy. Whether the focus of data processing today is in the local data center or partially in the cloud, you can shift the balance between IT service deployments easily, securely, and using available interfaces.
NetApp Data Fabric solutions give your data wings
NetApp Data Fabric, as an independent layer of free data movement, supports public clouds to seamlessly connect a hybrid architecture. Enterprise applications such as SAP, enterprise databases, various analytics concepts, and DevOps applications benefit most (NetApp Cloud Central). This enables customers to ensure high availability and disaster recovery as well as connect modern microservices via containers or implement Kubernetes-based concepts (NetApp Kubernetes Service).Whether hybrid or purely "electric": FlexPod can do it!
A cloud-connected FlexPod is just the right tool to pave the way for businesses to a flexible, digital, disruptive future.The advantages that I have already highlighted in Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5 and Part 6 of the FlexPod success story, such as a pre-validated IT architecture concept, the degrees of freedom in scalability and reduction of operating costs, come to bear here.
Hermann Wedlich
Hermann focuses on developing IT business solutions and models for the digital transformation built on NetApp and eco partner offerings within the EMEA platform and solutions group. His mission is to generate and enable a momentum of positive change for NetApp customers, partners and their own sales force, towards new IT architectures and smart data services. Hermann has over 20 years of experience in IT, engineering and business development and is part of the NetApp EMEA AI and ML expert team, where he drives technologies and use cases for these new IT domains passionately.
