When NetApp released the world’s leading storage operating system (NetApp® Data ONTAP®) in 1992, it was cutting-edge. Today, NetApp is a leading cloud storage partner in the global Google Cloud marketplace, and we continue to release revolutionary technologies in the cloud storage and data management space. How have we maintained our stamina for 30 glorious years?
It comes down to innovation momentum. We see the challenges that enterprise customers like you face as your workloads, applications, and environments become more complex. And our solutions—from file services to cyber resilience—are built to multiply the value of your data through simplification.
Our secret is not so much about staying on the cutting edge. It’s more about defining what cutting edge means in Google Cloud for customers of the world’s biggest cloud.
In this blog post—part one in a two-part series—we talk to Mark Klaudtky, head of NetApp Google Cloud Sales, EMEA. We get Mark’s take on some of the most important developments in storage and data management today and his view of our long and strong partnership with Google Cloud. Mark also explains how to get your workloads to work for you in Google Cloud with NetApp technology. (Hint: It’s pretty easy.)
Some of the most important developments in data management can be found in the proliferation of three seemingly unremarkable words that ultimately have become urgent demands:
Seeing this trio so often signals a major shift. Data used to function as a means to an end. Now it is an end in itself; it’s the single most important aspect that propels businesses.
As a result, data protection, data management, data expertise—they are no longer peripheral concerns for IT professionals. They’re top of mind in the boardroom as well. In this respect, NetApp’s role in this space is to do what we have always done: help customers lead with their data.
And now that leading with data is no longer optional, we feel a special pride in getting companies to see that the rise in data management’s prominence is an opportunity. They can unlock the promise of the cloud, in which flexibility, agility, and scalability are only the beginning.
NetApp’s partnership with Google Cloud began in 2018. Our focus on delivering differentiated customer experiences was (and remains) a mutual source of inspiration. The innovative results of our strategic partnership can be captured in what we jointly deliver. We provide the ultimate toolkit of integrated services to help customers manage their data and rapidly migrate the most complex workloads and applications to the cloud.
Those tightly integrated services and solutions speak directly to the unique value of our partnership. Together, we have created a foundation that makes it easier for our joint customers to truly use Google Cloud to their advantage, making full use of its capabilities to elevate their operations.
Thomas Kurian said it best: “Google Cloud and NetApp together offer the performance our customers need to move, deploy, and manage business-critical data and applications in the cloud with minimal changes, fewer resources, and the lowest risk.”
George Kurian also sums up nicely how our strengths align to deliver superior value to our joint customers: “We are able to combine the data-rich analytical capabilities of Google Cloud and the awesome scale and capabilities of your [the customer’s] infrastructure, together with the data management and data services that NetApp has.”
In both cases, it’s clear why we’re “better together and born that way.” Google Cloud’s robust infrastructure and NetApp’s analyst-acclaimed storage expertise give our joint customers the confidence that only enterprise-grade performance and security can deliver.
To quote a customer, “We’ve got all the same challenges we have always had, but now they are an order of magnitude bigger.”
That statement is true of migrating and running business-critical workloads. Whether it’s migrating millions of files to the cloud or managing SMB workloads, companies are struggling to get business-critical applications safely to the cloud and to keep them up and running without affecting performance (or productivity).
Seeing how NetApp and Google Cloud help companies overcome these challenges means taking a closer look at the current obstacles that joint customers face:
Together these challenges represent an urgent need: enterprise-grade cloud storage that brings data center–class management and automation to Google Cloud.
NetApp and Google Cloud partner-led the solution to meet that need. is a fully managed, cloud-native data storage service that provides enterprise-grade data management capabilities and highly scalable performance.
We have made it simple to migrate complex workloads by eliminating the barriers of entry to the cloud. Thanks to a common data management plane between on premises and cloud, customers do not have to redesign code, relearn processes, recalibrate workflows, or restructure their teams. The experience becomes optimized for speed, scale, and cost. Taken together, making it easier to migrate complex workloads—SAP, VMware, and other enterprise workloads—and to move SMB and NFS to a common platform are why NetApp solutions are so tightly integrated with Google Cloud.
Customers can extend their NetApp ONTAP® on-premises environments to the cloud with NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP. They can achieve ultrahigh file services performance with NetApp Cloud Volumes Service for Google Cloud. And they can regain control over their distributed networks in the cloud with NetApp Global File Cache.
Tune in next time for more straight talk about the benefits of using NetApp
Mark Klaudtky leads NetApp EMEA sales for Google Cloud.