Well known for its data storage hardware solutions, NetApp Inc. is conveying a strong message around being the authority in hybrid-cloud computing by leveraging decades of experience with on-premises infrastructure. Its ONTAP storage operating system was a first step toward bridging its hardware data storage solutions into cloud environments.

“You use all the same tools, all the same mechanisms that you would use on-premises, but you’re now running in the cloud, so that makes it really easy to lift and shift applications that are using NFS [Network File Systems] or CIFS [Common Internet File System] or iSCSI [Internet Small Computer Systems Interface] protocols straight into the cloud,” said Ingo Fuchs (pictured, right), senior manager of hybrid cloud solutions at NetApp.

Fuchs and Jennifer Meyer (pictured, left), senior director of cloud product marketing, spoke with host John Furrier (@furrier) and guest host Keith Townsend (@CTOAdvisor) on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the NetApp Insights event in Las Vegas, Nevada. They discussed NetApp’s transition from data storage hardware to hybrid-cloud, as well as cloud-native solutions.  (* Disclosure below.)

From hybrid to native

In addition to expanded hybrid cloud offerings, NetApp is beginning its push into native-cloud solutions to supplement its on-prem storage solutions. With the latest announcement around its partnership for the enterprise-class NFS service in Microsoft’s Azure, customers can easily manipulate their data to leverage Microsoft’s tools like HDInsight, analytics, and machine learning.

“All of that is now open to people that are cloud-native. … So something like the NFS service in Azure, you don’t have to learn how to do storage; all you do is go to the portal, you provision it, you click on it, it’s running, it’s done,” Fuchs said.

NetApp is also making data management plays up the stack at the application plane with cloud-native solutions. NetApp’s Cloud Control 365, which was launched a few months back, allows companies to manage application-generated datasets and back them up to any data store, in cloud, on-premises or both.

“It takes the Office 365 data and protects it and retains that data so that if something happens … the data is there and it’s protected and it’s secure. So that’s a cloud-native service; you don’t buy any equipment from us,” Fuchs said.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of NetApp Insight US 2017. (* Disclosure: NetApp Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither NetApp nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE