While storing data was a grim necessity in the past, now companies use data to build their business, and storage itself is just a side-effect. For storage vendors, selling boxes is no longer a viable model. The data industry has moved beyond that toward services that help companies manage and process data wherever it might live, according to Joel Reich (pictured), executive vice president of products and operations at NetApp Inc.

“We’ve really focused on the fact that the world is going to be hybrid cloud and that it’s going to be multicloud. And the high-class problem to solve is how to allow people to manage their data in that world,” Reich said.

Reich spoke with Lisa Martin (@LisaDaliMartin) and Dave Vellante (@dvellante), co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the VMworld 2017 conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. They discussed NetApp’s goals, the need for hybrid cloud and trends in storage services. (* Disclosure below.)

A multicloud world needs multicloud data management

Businesses live in a multicloud world, and NetApp, a cloud software provider, is positioning itself for a strong position in that world. The problem facing companies is a question of how to manage their data across clouds. Any solutions to that problem must take into account the nature of hybrid cloud and multicloud networks, Reich said.

Companies still want to own their data, of course, keeping it inside the walls. Many applications require that sort of arrangement. However, it’s becoming increasingly important to connect in-house data to services and information in the cloud. NetApp products help make this possible, Reich explained.

“We do take a services perspective on what we’re building. There’s a consumption continuum that people actually want to buy those services in different shapes or forms,” Reich said. That means creating one product that is built to be used in different ways. This approach follows NetApp’s plan to make data services available no matter where the data happens to be.

Working with data services also means working with VMware Inc. NetApp and VMware share an interesting relationship. Although they compete on certain overlapping products, the two companies also work together in building out the infrastructure that drives the cloud market.

“I came to the show and asked, how many combined customers do we have with VMware? And it’s 50,000 combined customers over the years we’ve been doing this,” Reich concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of VMworld 2017. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for VMworld 2017. Neither VMware Inc. nor NetApp Inc. have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE