Overview

At the recent NetApp Insight event, Harv Bhela, Executive Vice President and Chief Product Officer at NetApp led with the company’s latest strides in technology and strategy. Addressing attendees, Bhela detailed five critical innovation areas and underlying principles that are set to shape the future of data management.

“Our goal is to provide clarity on the themes and principles driving presentations today and throughout the week,” Bhela began.

Unified Data Storage – The Core of NetApp

The foundational pillar of NetApp’s strategy is unified data storage. Bhela explained NetApp’s commitment to building the most comprehensive storage portfolio in the industry;

“In the last 18 months, we’ve expanded from not just file and object storage, but also added block storage. We’ve ensured performance and capacity lines meet varying enterprise needs, all under one architecture for simplicity of management. No one else in the industry offers this.”

Cloud Storage – Flexibility and Integration

NetApp stands alone in offering solutions across all major data locations, from on-premises systems to the major public clouds.

“We’re the only storage vendor with this level of native integration into the major public cloud platforms.” Bhela added.

Anti-Ransomware – Security as a Priority

Ransomware is now a board-level concern for many enterprises. NetApp has invested significantly in anti-ransomware technology embedded within their storage solutions, designed to act as a last line of defence.

“We’ve built AI-based models to detect anomalies and ransomware activities directly within our storage solutions.” Bhela explained.

Scaling AI – Unlocking the Power of Unstructured Data

As enterprises scale AI, leveraging unstructured data becomes critical.

“We’ve added capabilities to make data scientists more productive and to enable responsible AI by gleaning insights needed for regulatory compliance.” Mr Bhela shared.

Consumption Flexibility – Meeting Customer Needs

The final theme centres on offering flexible consumption models. Customers can choose how they want to consume NetApp’s solutions—whether buying upfront, leveraging storage as a service, or purchasing through partners. Keystone, NetApp’s storage-as-a-service product, has seen substantial success and continues to offer extensive flexibility.

Underlying Principles – Unified Architecture and Speed of Innovation

Two principles underpin these themes. First is the unified architecture and platform, which ensures no silos for customers and consistent value addition.

“Our single platform allows us to innovate rapidly while ensuring maximum ROI for our customers.” Bhela continued.

The second principle is the pace of innovation – at lightning speed;

“We are constantly evolving to meet our customers’ needs, converting data into competitive advantages swiftly.” added Bhela.

Bhela reaffirmed NetApp’s commitment to a unified architecture, innovation, and intelligent services that address the most pressing data problems today;

“We are on a roll, and our pace of innovation is helping customers solve their biggest challenges.” concluded Bhela.