Unblock your cloud transformation with Google Cloud NetApp Volumes

Exciting news for enterprise storage! Google Cloud NetApp Volumes now offers iSCSI block storage support for allowlisted customers, available soon to all customers in the coming months. This enhancement allows organizations to seamlessly migrate their high-performance SAN workloads to the cloud, taking advantage of NetApp^® ONTAP^® technology within Google Cloud.

For decades, enterprises have depended on NetApp for reliable, high-performance solutions to support their essential NAS and SAN workloads on premises. Although cloud migration offers many benefits such as agility, scalability, and cost efficiency, organizations have frequently faced challenges in migrating SAN workloads to public cloud due to the lack of low-latency block storage with integrated data management and protection, and a common cloud control plane for both enterprise file and block workloads.

Google Cloud NetApp Volumes now brings the full power of proven ONTAP SAN and NAS technology to Google Cloud in a fully managed, elastic service, empowering enterprises to truly modernize their data estates.

Engineered for enterprise-grade performance, NetApp Volumes offers submillisecond latency and supports dynamic scaling of throughput up to 5GiBps and random IOPS up to 160,000 per volume. This enables consistent, high-performance storage ideally suited for high-transaction OLTP databases, real-time analytics, virtual desktop infrastructures, self-managed database platforms, and other critical workloads. Dynamic scaling capabilities mean that capacity, throughput, and IOPS can be adjusted independently, so organizations can optimize resource allocation and control costs effectively by matching consumption to actual needs.

Advanced data services like NetApp Snapshot^™ copies, thin clones, and cross-region replication are natively integrated. Combined, these features facilitate smooth transitions from on-premises SAN environments and support true hybrid cloud architectures, unlocking agility and workload portability across private and public clouds. Snapshot copies provide further comprehensive data protection, enabling rapid recovery, ransomware defense, and compliance with industry regulations.

By adopting Google Cloud NetApp Volumes, enterprises can achieve flexibility, scalability, and operational efficiency. The platform’s ability to deliver enterprise-class shared block functionality—combined with simplified operations, integrated data mobility, and advanced security—makes it the strategic choice for organizations seeking to modernize and future-proof their most critical workloads in today’s fast-evolving digital landscape.

Enterprise AI is built on data. We’re thrilled to announce the preview of NetApp Volumes integration as a first-class data source for Google Cloud’s Vertex AI platform. This unlocks new possibilities for retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) and large-scale AI workloads, supporting grounded search and insights through secure, factual, enterprise-grade data.

What does this mean for your organization?

• Custom AI agents. You can now build your agents or use Google Agentspace built-in agents with your enterprise data on NetApp Volumes.
• Factually accurate AI. By anchoring AI search to your own trusted enterprise data, NetApp enables your AI-generated insights and responses to be relevant and reliable.
• Data security and compliance. Sensitive business data remains securely governed, so AI-driven insights respect your security and compliance requirements.
• Scalable, smooth AI workflows. Your data in NetApp Volumes is instantly available for inference workflows, without the need for complex extract, transform, load (ETL) operations or manual integrations.

Google Cloud NetApp Volumes now offers replication between on-premises environments and Google Cloud through NetApp SnapMirror^® technology, and supports cache volumes with NetApp FlexCache^® software, delivering greater flexibility, efficiency, and resilience for hybrid cloud data management.

• SnapMirror replication. SnapMirror provides low RPO and near-zero RTO for seamless migration of applications between the premises and cloud, and delivers business continuity. Bidirectional replication allows applications to fail back to the source while keeping the data synchronized, and accelerates workload transfers. Application-consistent, point-in-time copies enable reliable data integrity throughout failover and failback.
• FlexCache. Cache volumes enhance global collaboration and compute-intensive operations by providing high-performance, local read caches of remote volumes. This accelerated access to data in Google Cloud enables compute bursting and supports workloads that require immediate, low-latency data access for demand changes or advanced analytics. Distributed teams can streamline global collaboration by rapidly accessing shared datasets as if they were local. Furthermore, flexible data placement optimizes resources and helps organizations meet data sovereignty requirements by providing control over data location and movement.

Google Cloud NetApp Volumes now enables enterprises to improve hybrid workflows for dependable performance and create agile hybrid cloud environments. Organizations can modernize legacy systems, secure data, maintain data availability, and accelerate distributed workflows by leveraging external replication and cache volumes.

The semiconductor industry requires both elastic compute power and very high-performance, scalable storage. NetApp Volumes is built to handle the demanding I/O and throughput needs of electronic design automation (EDA) toolchains and version-controlled design repositories. It maintains consistent low latency and robust throughput for collaborative, multiuser environments.

NetApp SnapMirror and FlexCache technologies further enhance hybrid and burst workflow capabilities. These technologies enable data-consistent, zero-data-loss operations for cloud bursting and secure, global data sharing across distributed teams. NetApp Volumes offers large-capacity volumes, optimized for EDA, that scale seamlessly from 15TiB to 3PiB. Multiple storage endpoints deliver over 21GiBps of pure EDA throughput per volume, making it easier to manage complex chip design and simulation projects without requiring architectural changes.

We’re excited that NetApp and Google Cloud continue to deepen their collaboration, integrating NetApp Volumes and FlexCache, specifically optimized for EDA, with Google Cloud’s powerful cloud computing infrastructure. This partnership provides a streamlined and highly efficient EDA experience in Google Cloud. A key benefit is the native integration of NetApp Volumes with Google Cloud's high-performance computing Cluster Toolkit, which enables:

• Rapid deployment. Quickly and efficiently deploy validated blueprints for EDA workloads.
• Flexible workflows. Supports both "run-in-cloud" and "burst-to-cloud" workflows, providing agility to manage fluctuating demands.
• Optimized performance. Benefit from storage specifically designed for EDA, enabling optimal application performance.
• Simplified operations. Easier deployment of EDA applications in Google Cloud, reducing complexity and accelerating design cycles.

This collaboration aims to simplify and accelerate your EDA journey in the cloud, allowing you to focus on innovation and bringing your designs to life faster. Learn more about how this partnership simplifies EDA application deployment in Google Cloud.

Storage requirements frequently vary, and associated costs should reflect this dynamic. Google Cloud NetApp Volumes offers built-in auto-tiering of data, which efficiently optimizes data placement by dynamically moving infrequently accessed (“cold”) data to lower-cost storage, and maintaining high performance for actively used (“hot”) data.

This capability delivers cost-effectiveness, operational simplicity, and consistent performance. Cold data is systematically transitioned to lower-priced storage, while hot data resides on higher-performance tiers. The auto-tiering mechanism eliminates the need for manual intervention or complex policy configurations, so data placement and cost management remain optimal. Unlike traditional cloud storage solutions, NetApp Volumes enables organizations to achieve both speed and cost savings simultaneously.

Normally, migrating to the cloud requires organizations to balance performance with cost considerations. Google Cloud NetApp Volumes addresses this challenge by offering pricing from $0.03/GiB/month, auto-tiering, and a fully managed service model. These features enable enterprises to streamline operations, optimize resource usage, and safeguard their data.

Storage management is handled by NetApp and Google Cloud, reducing complexity and associated costs. Organizations benefit from paying only for the storage they need while maintaining enterprise-level performance and functionality. Integrated data protection, compliance measures, and rapid restore options minimize risks and support business continuity.

With the launch of shared block storage for Google Cloud NetApp Volumes, organizations no longer need to compromise on performance, management, or cost as they modernize and expand to the cloud. Whether you’re running high-throughput EDA workloads, powering your enterprise AI with Vertex AI integration, or looking to seamlessly migrate and protect your enterprise NAS and SAN data, Google Cloud NetApp Volumes delivers.

Explore the future of cloud storage for your enterprise—learn more and get started today with our documentation.

This blog was co-authored by Asad Khan, Senior Director of Product Management at Google Cloud.