NetApp’s CEO Unveils New Strategy

Posted: Wednesday, Nov 05

KBI.Media
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NetApp’s CEO Unveils New Strategy

Karissa Breen, more commonly known as KB, is crowned a LinkedIn ‘Top Voice in Technology’, and widely recognised across the global cybersecurity industry. A serial entrepreneur, she is the co-founder of the TMFE Group, a portfolio of cybersecurity-focused businesses spanning an industry-leading media platform, a specialist marketing agency, a content production studio, and the executive headhunting firm, MercSec. Now based in the United States, KB oversees US editorial operations and leads the expansion of the group’s media footprint across North America, while maintaining a strong presence in Australia, and the broader global market. She is the former Producer and Host of the streaming show 2Fa.tv, and currently sits at the helm of journalism for the group’s flagship arm, KBI.Media, the independent cybersecurity media company. As a cybersecurity investigative journalist, KB hosts her globally-renowned podcast, KBKast, where she interviews leading cybersecurity practitioners, CISOs, government officials including heads-of-state, and industry pioneers from around the world. The podcast has been downloaded in over 65 countries with more than 400,000 global downloads, influencing billions of dollars in cybersecurity budgets. KB is known for asking the hard questions and extracting real, commercially relevant insights. Her approach provides an uncoloured, strategic lens on the evolving cybersecurity landscape, demystifying complex security issues and translating them into practical intelligence for executives navigating risk, regulation, and rapid technological change.

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NetApp’s CEO Unveils New Strategy

From Karissa Breen

Data is the cornerstone of business transformation, driving intelligence around cybersecurity, as well as informing AI models. George Kurian, CEO of NetApp, recently unveiled at their annual conference, NetApp Insight in Las Vegas, that data is king.

“Data is the foundation for transforming a business,” Kurian explained.

Having the data and the right strategy is what will be the key differentiator that keeps businesses ahead of their competition.

During a recent media briefing, Kurian traced NetApp’s journey from the early days of network file storage that split the lineage of storage and computer to the AFX system. Fast-forward to today’s trajectory, which is secure and process-ready data environments.

NetApp’s approach is not another data infrastructure product. The plan is now moved towards integration and continuity.

“Unlike many other technology vendors who ask you to replace one system for another, we are building on top of ONTAP,” Adds Kurian.

The ability to keep current automation frameworks and security models can be the deciding factor for security leaders regarding undergoing upgrades or experiencing a major disruption.

“NetApp offers the most secure storage operating system on the planet, the only one compliant with all six types of the NIST stages of the NIST lifecycle.”

Legacy tools still exist, but ultimately limit capability. Kurian cited NetApp’s European clients he observed, who are running up against solutions built for structured data, small data volumes, predefined schemas. Whilst the industry wraps their head around what is ‘unstructured data and AI’. For NetApp, the next phase rides on the platform’s ability to accelerate data pipelines and AI adoption.