NetApp announced NetApp ONTAP 9.6, the new midrange, end-to-end NVMe AFF A320 storage system and an expanded portfolio of services to help businesses maximize the value of their data.

NetApp's cloud-connected flash solutions, an element of a Data Fabric strategy, provide the simplicity, operational efficiency and protection needed to support innovation, add unprecedented performance and power the most demanding data sets and technologies, such as artificial intelligence or 5G networks. Only NetApp delivers everything that companies need to build their own unique Data Fabric that spans public cloud, private cloud and on-premises environments. With NetApp solutions, this Data Fabric can deliver applications that engage users and can provide analytics that turn insights into a competitive advantage.

"As enterprises evolve to new, more data-centric business models where data is a key strategic resource, data availability requirements are on the rise," said Eric Burgener, research vice president, Infrastructure Systems, Platforms and Technologies Group, IDC. "NetApp's cloud-connected flash solutions, coupled with their Data Fabric strategy, provides the performance, availability, agility and simplicity enterprises undergoing digital transformation need in their hybrid cloud infrastructure to create and leverage innovative business opportunities."

"In advances that are coming our way, like 5G networks, we can see that a company's ability to generate, gather and disseminate a massive volume of data will be enabled like never before and companies that aren't ready are going to be overwhelmed," said Joel Reich, executive vice president, Storage Systems and Software, NetApp. "With NetApp ONTAP, organizations can overcome the challenges introduced by these data-intensive technologies and cutting-edge innovations with a smart, powerful, and trusted solution that maximizes the value that organizations can derive from data."

Maximizing Value in the Hybrid Cloud

By accelerating applications painlessly and by delivering simplicity and security for a future-proof infrastructure, ONTAP 9.6 data management software allows organizations of all sizes to maximize the value of data and take on new data-driven initiatives. ONTAP 9.6 includes the following enhancements:

• Expanded NVMe over Fibre Channel (NVMe/FC) ecosystem now includes VMware ESXi, Microsoft Windows, and Oracle Linux hosts, in addition to Red Hat and SUSE Linux, with storage path resiliency. Organizations can experience NVMe/FC performance for most workloads.
• FabricPool now supports Google Cloud Platform and Alibaba Cloud, in addition to Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services (AWS), and IBM Cloud Storage. Organizations can lower the cost of primary storage by automatically tiering cold data to any major public cloud or to a NetApp StorageGRID® private cloud.
• NetApp FlexCache® software now supports NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP, allowing organizations to experience the benefits of FlexCache in hybrid cloud deployments.
• Over-the-wire encryption for NetApp SnapMirror® technology and FlexCache increases security for data replication and remote caching.
• NetApp MetroCluster^TM IP support for entry-level NetApp AFF and FAS systems now makes business continuity a cost-effective option for organizations, taking advantage of existing customer IP networks between sites.

New Midrange End-to-End NVMe System

Last year NetApp introduced the AFF A800, the industry's first end-to-end NVMe system with industry-leading performance and unmatched data services that are backed by the industry's most effective Efficiency Guarantee. With this announcement, NetApp has extended these benefits to the midrange market. The AFF A320 system enables customers to:

• Accelerate traditional and emerging enterprise applications such as artificial intelligence and deep learning, analytics, and databases with extremely low latency.
• Reduce data center costs by consolidating applications with a powerful system.
• Future-proof their environment with NVMe technology, 100GbE Ethernet, and cloud integration.

Expanded Services Portfolio to Meet Broader Customer Needs

Customers can rely on NetApp standards-based best practices and expert engineers to improve efficiency and performance and to protect against business disruption and data loss. NetApp's expanded services portfolio now includes:

• SupportEdge Prestige offers a high-touch, concierge level of technical support that resolves issues faster through priority call routing. Customers are assigned a designated team of NetApp experts and receive specialized reporting, tools, and storage environment health assessments.
• Tiered Deployment Service accelerates time to value for new NetApp technology and reduces the risk of improper installation or misconfiguration. Three new high-quality options include Basic, Standard and Advanced Deployment, each aligned to customer business objectives.
• Managed Upgrade Service is a remotely delivered service that reduces security risks by ensuring NetApp software is always up to date with all security patches and firmware upgrades.