NetApp Renews Collaboration with Microsoft, Unveils Innovative Cloud Solutions for Enhanced Performance and Optimization

NetApp has officially renewed its partnership with Microsoft, introducing a range of solutions for Microsoft Azure users. This collaboration integrates cloud storage solutions such as Azure NetApp Files (ANF), NetApp BlueXP, Cloud Volumes ONTAP, and CloudOps solutions from Spot by NetApp. ANF, specifically designed for public cloud use, provides high-performance solutions for various enterprise file workloads. Its capabilities include efficient data management and performance, even for the most demanding applications, with low latencies within the secure Azure Virtual Network.

Enhancements in Azure’s software-defined networking for ANF empower customers to incorporate their enterprise security architectures into the public cloud. ANF offers flexibility and scalability in the cloud through real-time provisioning of both performance and capacity, enabling businesses to be agile and cost-effective.

Ronen Schwartz, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Cloud Storage at NetApp, emphasized the unique capabilities offered through collaboration with Microsoft Azure. The partnership extends beyond ANF to include NetApp BlueXP Hybrid data services, Cloud Volumes ONTAP, and Spot, providing optimization for both storage and compute. The focus is on accelerating the migration of general file and enterprise workloads to the cloud, alongside support for cloud-native workloads, Kubernetes, and AI.

NetApp’s investments in the Spot by NetApp portfolio for CloudOps on Azure bring forth new solutions, including integrated support for Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) environments. These solutions leverage AI/ML-driven automation to optimize Azure compute, reducing operational complexity and enhancing efficiency.

Aung Oo, General Manager for Microsoft Azure Storage, highlighted the continuous innovation delivered to customers through the longstanding partnership with NetApp. The collaboration offers an efficient way to optimize Azure infrastructure, ensuring maximum benefits for customers.

Recent innovations resulting from the NetApp and Microsoft partnership include various features for Azure NetApp Files, application volume groups for SAP HANA, smaller capacity pool sizes, support for large volumes (up to 500 TiB), customer-managed keys, and enhanced availability zone volume placement and cross-zone replication. Additionally, new regions have been added, including South Africa North, Sweden Central, Qatar (Central), and Korea South.

Spot by NetApp’s recent portfolio innovations for Azure users encompass support for Azure Savings Plans, Spot Eco, Spot Elastigroup Stateful Node for Azure, Spot Security support for Azure, Spot Ocean for AKS enterprise-grade serverless engine for Azure, Spot Ocean for Apache Spark Azure support, and Instaclustr Managed PostgreSQL on Azure NetApp Files.

Haiyan Song, Executive Vice President and General Manager of CloudOps at NetApp, emphasized the critical role of deploying and operating applications with speed and reliability in the cloud. The expanded Spot by NetApp portfolio on Microsoft Azure aims to provide customers with the tools needed for continuous automation and optimization of application infrastructure, enhancing cloud operational efficiency and cost-effectiveness while delivering the expected digital experience to customers.

Spot by NetApp Cloud Ops solutions are available on Azure Marketplace, through Microsoft Azure channel partners, and NetApp. Azure NetApp Files is accessible through the Microsoft Azure portal as a native Azure service.