As businesses grapple with the complexities of hybrid cloud management, a growing focus has emerged on optimizing data infrastructure for greater visibility and efficiency.

Companies are increasingly adopting intelligent data services that integrate multicloud solutions, enhance ransomware protection and streamline infrastructure management. These innovations are reshaping IT environments, pushing enterprises toward scalable, resilient infrastructures that maximize data value while maintaining security and control. The key to success in this evolving landscape is harnessing intelligence to create a unified, adaptable approach to both cloud and on-premises operations, according to Haiyan Song (pictured), executive vice president of intelligent services at NetApp Inc.

NetApp’s Haiyan Song talks about hybrid cloud management.

“The intelligence services play a key role to bring intelligence to the operations of the infrastructure, a key role to get the best value out of the data,” she said, underscoring the significance of this evolution in infrastructure management.

Song spoke with theCUBE Research’s Rob Strechay and Rebecca Knight at NetApp Insight, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed the growing focus on optimizing hybrid cloud management, emphasizing the importance of intelligent data services that integrate multicloud solutions and improve infrastructure visibility. (* Disclosure below.)

Hybrid cloud management: Optimizing infrastructure for modern workloads

NetApp’s recent innovations reflect the industry’s demand for intelligent data infrastructure that adapts to dynamic workloads. These advancements are helping customers understand and optimize their deployments, according to Song.

“That’s driving our roadmap priorities for Instaclustr and for data infrastructure insight,” she said. “We already built in some of the Kubernetes support because some of our big customers of OCI … that trend certainly is driving the focus. On the other hand, we want to continue to support our unified data storage, wherever they need to be.”

NetApp’s broader optimization efforts across its portfolio highlight the critical role of observability. Having comprehensive visibility into infrastructure, costs and workloads is essential for delivering effective solutions and driving operational efficiency, according to  Song.

“In order to optimize, you [have] got to understand that having observability, whether it’s for the infrastructure, for the cost of the infrastructure, for the nature of the workload and coming with open source as well … we really try to add our infrastructure and workload services portfolio to bring that visibility, bring that intelligence so we can optimize the right infrastructure adapted for the workloads, because nothing is static,” she said.

The power of partnerships in cloud intelligence

A key aspect of NetApp’s success lies in its strong ecosystem, particularly with cloud partners. These relationships have allowed NetApp to integrate its ONTAP technology into cloud environments seamlessly. This unique partnership approach provides customers with flexibility and familiarity, enabling them to use the same technology they trust, even within cloud-native platforms, Song stressed.

“Our partnership with the hyperscalers is so unique that we were able to build those power of ONTAP into the cloud, but not as a third party only,” she said. This tight integration simplifies operations for customers and brings added value by delivering the power of NetApp’s technology within environments they already know.

Looking forward, Song is looking forward to new capabilities aimed at supporting customers through their cloud journeys. For example, NetApp’s work with Azure VMware for rapid migrations and data infrastructure insight tools underscores its commitment to helping businesses optimize their hybrid cloud setups.

“We’re bringing a slew of solution together … or data infrastructure insight for telemetry or a spot eco for reservation management and really teaming up to help customers on that journey,” she said.

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE Research’s coverage of NetApp Insight:

(* Disclosure: NetApp Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither NetApp nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE