Preserving choice and freedom for virtualization

At NetApp INSIGHT 2026, Nutanix and NetApp are previewing their strategic integrations announced earlier this year.

The solutions bring together Nutanix Cloud Platform with AHV hypervisor with NetApp's intelligent data infrastructure. Available with Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI) 7.6.0.10 later this year, the joint solutions enable organizations to run Nutanix AHV compute clusters connected to NetApp ONTAP storage arrays using highly optimized NFS connectivity.

Enterprises can modernize their virtualization platform without abandoning existing storage or server investments, operational processes, or in-house expertise.

Modernize without a rip-and-replace

One of the biggest advantages of the Nutanix and NetApp integration is flexibility.

Rather than forcing organizations into a disruptive infrastructure overhaul, the solution allows businesses to continue leveraging existing NetApp AFF and FAS storage arrays while adopting Nutanix AHV as their virtualization platform.

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure for External Storage separates compute software licensing from storage capacity. This gives organizations the freedom to modernize the virtualization layer while continuing to use trusted storage systems for business-critical workloads.

The result is a practical migration path that helps organizations:

• Preserve existing storage investments
• Mitigate migration risks
• Retain established operational processes

By decoupling compute virtualization from storage, customers gain greater control over both their architecture and their spending.

"Organizations shouldn't have to choose between preserving their trusted data infrastructure and taking back control of their virtualization roadmap. By bringing together Nutanix Cloud Platform, our AHV hypervisor, and NetApp ONTAP, we are giving IT leaders true architectural freedom. This isn't just about reducing hypervisor licensing costs today. It's about establishing a flexible, cloud-native foundation that seamlessly supports traditional workloads and enterprise AI. "

Ketan Shah, Vice President, Product Management, Nutanix

Migrate faster with zero-copy data conversion

Data migration is often the most challenging aspect of a virtualization transformation project. Moving large volumes of data can require months of planning, significant network resources, and temporary storage capacity.

Using Nutanix Move, organizations can automate workload migrations at scale, including network mapping and validation, enabling a smooth transition with minimal disruption. Nutanix and NetApp are working together to bring support for the NetApp Shift Toolkit soon, which gives customers greater flexibility to use Nutanix Move or NetApp Shift Toolkit to perform zero-copy migrations without moving the underlying data.

Instead of lengthy migration projects that require duplicate storage and extensive downtime windows, organizations can move workloads more efficiently while maintaining business continuity.

Simplified operations for storage and virtualization teams

After migration, teams benefit from a clear separation of responsibilities.

Virtualization administrators manage virtual machines and applications through Nutanix Prism, benefiting from a simple, cloud-like operating experience. Storage administrators continue using familiar NetApp ONTAP tools and workflows to manage storage performance, snapshots, data protection, and storage efficiency services.

This approach allows both teams to maintain ownership of their respective environments without sacrificing integration or operational efficiency.

See it in action

Virtualization freedom is no longer a future concept. It's ready for a preview today.

Visit NetApp and Nutanix, at NetApp INSIGHT 2026 in Las Vegas, September 29 through October 1, to discuss our joint solution, explore migration architectures, and learn how to accelerate your transition with less risk and disruption.