Introduction
As the sun rose over the desert landscape at MGM Grand, Las Vegas, NV, tech enthusiasts and industry leaders gathered for the much-anticipated NetApp Insight 2024.
George Kurian opened the event with a warm welcome to attendees, appreciating their hard work and travel effort; “We are super excited to share the progress we’ve made on our technology portfolio over the last year,” he opened, setting the tone for the days ahead.
George Kurian, NetApp CEO
The CEO articulated the importance of collaborations and co-innovations with industry leaders, a core tenet of NetApp’s strategy. Over the next few days, attendees were treated to a series of keynotes and presentations from both NetApp and its partner companies, showcasing product innovations and technology roadmaps.
Kurian described the intersection of data intelligence as, “…a junction of the era of data and intelligence.”
A New Frontier
He traced the human quest for understanding behaviour and data, from recorded censuses in Babylonia to modern mathematical tools developed in the 18th and 19th centuries;
“We talk about we are at the junction of the era of data and intelligence” Kurian added, as well as mentioning how computational advancements have made these tools more powerful.
The Tech Exec elaborated on the modern data revolution, identifying three phases:
- Digitising data
- Building longitudinal histories
- Unifying wide scopes of data for comprehensive analysis
Kurian discussed the crucial need for businesses to merge all their data, from transactional records to customer call centre logs, to gain a holistic view of their operations,
“The organisations that are further ahead are the ones that have unified their data, that have cataloged it well, that have a good understanding of security and controls for sensitive data…”
A solid data strategy, deep domain knowledge, the ability to quickly adapt, and a strong data ecosystem are essential for success in this new era.
The Journey Is Not Without Challenges
Organisations face significant data management hurdles when transitioning from siloed data systems to unified ones. Kurian pointed out that AI systems often lack seamless access to data, existing in silos without proper integration;
“Without data, the systems are useless,” Kurian warned.
NetApp is addressing these issues by building a “data fabric” that unifies on-premises and cloud environments, making it easier for clients to operate in multi-cloud settings.
Three key innovations to bridge the gap between AI and data systems, which include:
- Bringing intelligence to data infrastructure
- Enabling AI capabilities across all data
- Maintaining security and privacy throughout the data lifecycle.
“We are innovating in the intelligence part of the intelligent data infrastructure by bringing intelligence to the infrastructure and intelligence to the data that sits on the infrastructure,” the Tech Visionary noted.
Partnerships with major cloud providers, with the combined value they bring in the AI journey. “We have done very well in the last several quarters,” Kurian said.
New Opportunities
Outlining the four opportunities NetApp is pursuing:
- Artificial intelligence
- Flash storage
- Block storage
- Natively integrated cloud storage
Mr Kurian concluded with a nod to the practitioners and partners who are essential to NetApp’s success; “Perhaps the most rewarding and relevant part of our conference are the idea of practitioners, teaching practitioners,” added Kurian, encouraging attendees to engage with the sessions to see their technologies in action.
