NetApp updates its cloud offerings

NetApp has today announced it is updating its storage platform to improve its cloud infrastructure for enterprise customers.

Data ONTAP 8 will provide better scalability for businesses using the NetApp cloud, combining the previous ONTAP generation - Data ONTAP 7G - along with Data ONTAP GX into a single code base.

John Rollason, part of NetApp's Solutions Marketing in Europe, said in an interview with IT PRO: "There are two approaches to scalability, to scale up or to scale out. We had the ability to scale up but ONTAP 8 brings scaling out into the core of this system and brings the two together."

"This is really important for cloud which needs extreme scalability. These combined gives us the ability to keep expanding almost infinitely."

In addition to this, ONTAP 8 also includes secure multi-tenancy, allowing companies to share the infrastructure across their different groups, service automation and integrated data protection.

Another key new feature to this upgrade is NetApp's Data Motion software.

Rollason said: "With large multi-tenant technology like this, one of the hardest things you will probably come across is scheduling any downtime as you can't get all the users to agree."

"Data Motion moves data non-disruptively to be stored elsewhere, allowing changes to be made without affecting access to your data."

The company also claimed better storage efficiency, using its cloud to reduce costs for power, cooling and data centre space as well as an improved return of interest on purchasing raw storage.