Companies are sifting through a barrel full of choices about infrastructure, development, operations and overall information technology modernization nowadays. Keeping the logistics and analytics requirements of data top of mind might help them pick the right cloud, hybrid cloud, multicloud, private cloud, what-have-you.

Customers are coming up with all kinds of different plans for modernizing their data centers or moving to cloud, according to RJ Bibby (pictured), SAP global alliance chief of staff at NetApp Inc. “But it still just comes down to: ‘Oh my god, data runs my business. I’m really scared about it — from protection, there’s too much of it, how do I monetize, what are the analytics behind it?” he said. “And that’s what NetApp is really on the forefront of doing.”

Bibby spoke with Lisa Martin (@LuccaZara), co-host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, and guest host Keith Townsend (@CTOAdvisor), principal at The CTO Advisor, during the SAP Sapphire Now event in Orlando, Florida. They discussed end-to-end hybrid-cloud data management and NetApp and SAP’s co-innovation. (* Disclosure below.)

‘NetApp on SAP on NetApp’

The legacy storage company has shifted its focus to data management for hybrid cloud in the past couple of years. It is approaching customers from a consultative angle and leveraging partnerships with the likes of SAP SE to lead them through the maze, Bibby explained.

The complexity of data management in hybrid cloud is pretty massive, which is why NetApp turned the corner into this growing domain. “There’s an art and a science to it. And it’s in our transformation. And SAP — from the tools perspective — is at the core of that,” Bibby stated.

Bibby described the NetApp-SAP partnership as “NetApp on SAP on NetApp.” Several SAP cloud products including Hybris, Aruba and SuccessFactors are built on NetApp.

NetApp’s own OnTap data-management software allows customers to deploy SAP much more quickly than they would via other means, according to Bibby. “You can get 45 percent project timeline savings with our deployment of SAP,” he said, adding that the replication and snapshot tools speed up the process.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the SAP Sapphire Now event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for SAP Sapphire Now. Neither NetApp Inc., the event sponsor, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE