Better cloud interoperability – a not-so-lofty goal for NetApp in its audacious push to establish Data ONTAP as a common fabric for private, hybrid and public cloud environments. NetApp is introducing a new solution for migrating data between on- and off-premise infrastructure with today’s launch of a Universal Data Platform, a potential game-changer in the software-defined world that connects disparate clouds and rethinks the physical positioning of storage closer to the compute.  With this, NetApp is making things more streamlined for data access, management and especially automation.  NetApp is promising “more consistent data management” for today’s software-defined infrastructure, recognizing that clouds need more interconnectivity to promote the kind of automation standards required for the future success of efficient IT systems.

• Hyperscale support across borders

The company’s soon-to-be-unveiled portability technology performs on-the-fly “hypervisor translations” to greatly simplify workload migration between disparate ONTAP deployments. The offering is designed to complement NetApp’s existing SnapMirror tool, which will be enhanced to better support replication between private and public clouds.  The big perk here is the added support for hyperscale clouds, particularly those powered by Amazon AWS and Azure, with big expectations for the establishment of Google’s hyperscale offerings as well.

“One big promise of the cloud is what we’re seeing from Amazon and Google to enable more IaaS and make it more affordable,” says Phil Brotherton, VP, Cloud Solutions Group at NetApp.  The adoption of these hyperscale cloud services is driving development for more compatable management tools from legacy companies and disruptors alike, while also presenting an opportunity for NetApp to get in front of the curve.

• Virtualization is key

Virtualization is key to NetApp’s Universal Data Platform, envisioning a future where software-only delivery will be a truly viable and expected option, putting the app front-and-center.  NetApp presents ING (now Capital One 360) as a case study, demonstrating a “Bank-in-a-Box” solution with a fully virtualized app landscape that combines compute, memory and storage.

“You want it to be virtualized so it can be automated,” Brotherton starts, going on to explain the key benefit of this approach to the cloud as speedier production cycles.  “The next step with ING is clear — extend this to Azure because the connections to Microsoft are strong.  We provide things like more DR, and access to data through Azure.  It’s where hybrid IT comes in.”

Open source makes the difference

SnapMirror and the upcoming hypervisor translation technology constitute a central pillar of NetApp’s plan to deliver a “universal data platform” atop its flagship storage operating system. The success of this plan hinges on the cloud ecosystem, which the company is targeting with expanded API support for OpenStack and other emerging platforms.

The integrations are expected to roll out over the coming months along with “more robust quality-of-service capabilities,” contributions to OpenStack and CloudStack, and new solutions for large scale environments. In particular, NetApp and Cisco will release a set of FlexPod reference architectures for large cloud provider and multi-tenant enterprise environments.

Jay Kidd, the chief technology officer at NetApp, commented, “Regardless of the ultimate computing destination, the CIO will maintain ownership of the organization’s data. The introduction of new multicloud architectures makes data governance more complex because data is distributed, and not under direct control. Our vision is to create an enterprise data management solution, with the clustered Data ONTAP operating system at its core, which will span the customers’ data storage landscape, irrespective of data type or location.”

NetApp is opening up to the ecosystem in a bid to remove the control challenges of managing cloud resources. According to a NetApp spokesperson, “NetApp has contributed OpenStack drivers so users can leverage an open-source cloud management layer to build private and public clouds that delivers high-performing, efficient, and scalable cloud services. NetApp believes in providing customers with choice in cloud management, including open-source options that provide lower cost, faster innovation, no vendor lock-in, flexibility, and the promotion of standards.”

The company had previously submitted a proposal code for an OpenStack file share service that would add support for file-based storage systems.