[NETAPP] I have been talking about unified data storage for years, years, and years, but other people start saying it, and suddenly it's like they invented it.

[ENTERPRISE] Sounds like my kids.

[NETAPP] Right? Have your other dates mentioned it?

[ENTERPRISE] Oh.

[HUGE PORTFOLIO] Have you heard about unified data? You gotta have unified data.

[FLASH-ONLY] You need unified data.

[AI NEWCOMER] Personally, I think unified data is overrated. If you wanna do AI, you really only need to run file workloads.

[ENTERPRISE] A little bit. But then I asked them, is it truly unified?  Can you store any data type and power any workload across any storage protocol? 

[FLASH-ONLY] No.

[AI NEWCOMER] Well, we do a little bit of block and object storage on the side.

[HUGE PORTFOLIO] Seriously, dude? We got about eight ways to help you, each one special in its own way.

[ENTERPRISE] I might be paraphrasing that last part just a little bit.

[NETAPP] Too funny.

[ENTERPRISE] So how would you answer?

[NETAPP] Oh, I'd say yes.

[ENTERPRISE] Yes?

[NETAPP] Yes. I can consolidate all types and protocols of data using my ONTAP storage OS.  This means you can manage data officially in

any environment and in any cloud, and I give you unified control across your entire data estate to keep things simple 'cause I'm a unified data OG, see, ooh.  I probably wouldn't say that last part.

[ENTERPRISE] Yeah, you probably shouldn't. But everything else was amazing.

[NETAPP] So what else do you wanna know?

[ENTERPRISE] Can you really eliminate data silos?

[HUGE PORTFOLIO] Nope.

[AI NEWCOMER] Well, it depends.

[FLASH-ONLY] Yeah, no.

[NETAPP] Absolutely, yes, and I can even tell you how well your storage is utilized.

[ENTERPRISE] That would be huge because right now with data silos, I'm only utilizing about 40% of my total storage.

[NETAPP] Well, if your data is unified, you should be able to move your data wherever you need it and utilize the storage you've already got.  Otherwise, it's not really unified, is it?

[ENTERPRISE] You make it sound so easy.

[NETAPP] What can I say? I just naturally keep my storage simple and my data unified.

[ENTERPRISE] And it only took 'years and years' to get there.

[NETAPP] Touché.