NetApp Insight 2023: how does hybrid cloud support generative AI?

Features
By Rory Bathgate
published

Many firms are looking to bridge the gap between public and private AI

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(Image credit: Future / Unsplash - Alina Grubnyak)

Getting data in order can have a huge effect on whether businesses can harness the power of AI. Where your data is stored, in what form, as well as where and how it is processed, really can make the difference between successful and unsuccessful implementations of the technology.

At NetApp Insight, these challenges were placed front and center, with a strong focus on the concerns of customers regarding data in the cloud and how it can be best harnessed by firms to power and provide context to their generative AI models.

In this episode, Jane and Rory are joined by Ross Kelly, ITPro News Editor, to hear about NetApp’s strategy on AI and hybrid cloud, and what he learned from his 1:1 with the company’s CEO, George Kurian.

Highlights

“I think what's evidently clear from NetApp’s perspective in terms of their messaging at the Insight conference is that they view this almost confluence of hybrid or multi-cloud and the rise of generative AI, this boom period, as being perfectly placed in parallel to one another. There seems to be a common recurring theme from NetApp, that you need to get the basics done right from the get-go, and that starts with storage, it starts with your data architecture.”

“NetApp itself seems to be really focused on enabling partners, enabling clients and customers, to unlock the value of their data. In the opening keynote, again, we heard about the fact that one of the key hurdles now for a lot of companies exploring the use of AI are these disparate datasets, they're not actually able to unlock a lot of value from the data that hold, vast quantities of it. Only a certain percentage of it are they actually able to derive any value from at all. ”

“What's really interesting in terms of NetApp’s position in the broader space is their integration with the three large hyperscalers. So AWS, Azure, Google Cloud… they have deep, deep ties with all three of those. It's quite a unique a unique relationship that they have with them. No other storage provider has that level of integration with these hyperscalers.”

Footnotes

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Rory Bathgate
Rory Bathgate
Features and Multimedia Editor

Rory Bathgate is Features and Multimedia Editor at ITPro, overseeing all in-depth content and case studies. He can also be found co-hosting the ITPro Podcast with Jane McCallion, swapping a keyboard for a microphone to discuss the latest learnings with thought leaders from across the tech sector.

In his free time, Rory enjoys photography, video editing, and good science fiction. After graduating from the University of Kent with a BA in English and American Literature, Rory undertook an MA in Eighteenth-Century Studies at King’s College London. He joined ITPro in 2022 as a graduate, following four years in student journalism. You can contact Rory at rory.bathgate@futurenet.com or on LinkedIn.