NetApp Rolls Out New Enterprise Hardware, Software

Storage technology vendor NetApp (NTAP) released a slew of new products aimed at the enterprise, including a line of unified enterprise storage systems powered by its FlexArray virtualization software and the latest version of its clustered Data ONTAP software.

According to NetApp, the new unified scale-out storage system series, called the FAS8000, will replace the company’s previous midrange and high-end storage platforms for enterprise.

Mark Welke, senior director of Product Marketing at NetApp, noted the system runs on Data ONTAP, NetApp’s universal data platform for hybrid cloud, to leverage third-party storage using the same set of controllers. This will allow the system to extend to other platforms within the data center, leading to increased productivity for the enterprise user, he said.

"What we were able to do is offer these new systems at the same price parity of the outgoing systems, which means that this new architecture is delivering twice the performance and value of the predecessors,” Welke said in an interview with The VAR Guy. “This is a very significant offering for us that really delivers [the vision] that we have called software defined storage.”

NetApp’s newest data storage lineup has been developed to save enterprise users time by eliminating scheduled outages and increasing the amount of storage offered to users. By utilizing Data ONTAP, the system can eliminate planned downtime or uninterrupted service by allowing enterprise users to transfer data to other parts of the cluster while the data is being accessed.

“This is really important to customers who need to run 24 hours a day, 7 days a week,” said Welke. “Reliability has gotten so good that taking down systems for planned activities has become the major cause of downtime, and we eliminate that entirely with this new capability.”

According to NetApp, the new platform offers three times the amount of flash than preceding models, made possible thanks to a new Intel (INTC) chip inside the controllers. Users also can choose how much flash they need for their operation, giving them the ability to reduce the price of their infrastructure.

NetApp is so confident in the ability of its FlexArray software that it is offering additional storage for free if the system does not provide at least a 35 percent improvement in storage within nine months of implementation.

The company hopes its latest lineup of enterprise storage solutions will improve partner profits and develop more opportunities for strategic partnerships within the channel. By focusing on improving relationships with its partners, NetApp wants to be the go-to company for expandable cloud infrastructure within the channel, said Peter Howard, vice president of Global Channel Sales at NetApp.

“Partnering is our strategy,” Howard said. “We recognize that for us to be a viable independent company, it requires us to partner better than anyone in the industry with both the folks who sell our technology … as well as the ecosystem partners that we go to market with. There is a clear focus on go-to-market through partnering at the ecosystem level and the partner level.”