New Integrations of NetApp Clustered Data Ontap Software

CIOs are moving from being builders of applications and operators of data centers to being brokers of information services to the business. They’re embracing new technologies and service delivery models that allow them to make IT faster, cheaper and smarter. The software-defined data center (SDDC) is helping CIOs achieve an infrastructure that works without interruption by pooling and abstracting hardware resources and enabling them to be programmatically defined in software.

As part of this evolution in the data center, NetApp, Inc. announced new integrations with VMware, Inc.‘s solutions and NetApp clustered Data ONTAP software to enable nondisruptive migration of data for hundreds of VMs at a time.

This enhancement, together with NetApp integrations for vSphere, VMware Horizon Suite, VMware vCenter Server, VMware vCloud Automation Center, and VMware vCenter Log Insight simplify and accelerate the deployment of software-defined storage (SDS) in SDDC.

These integrations enable organizations to rapidly and cost-effectively deliver new services with maximum application uptime and uninterrupted business operations. SDS powered by NetApp clustered Data ONTAP allows customers to accelerate their business through innovation and enable IT agility spanning the data center to end-user computing.

News Facts From NetApp

• Continues to deliver on the vision for software-defined storage with new solutions that help IT organizations accelerate responsiveness to business challenges.
• Is announcing the Virtual Storage Console 5.0 (VSC 5.0), a new release of its end-to-end storage management software for VMware environments that includes support of and integration with VMware vCenter Server 5.5.
• Is announcing the availability of the Flash Accel 1.2 server cache, delivering integration with vSphere 5.0 and vSphere 5.1 for management of server-level cache.

For more than 10 years, NetApp and VMware have aligned their storage and virtualization technology roadmaps to accelerate customer cloud adoption. NetApp offers integration and new design best practices with the latest versions of VMware solutions, including vCloud Suite 5.5, vCloud Automation Center, and VMware Horizon View.

Clustered Data ONTAP 8.2, Flash Accel 1.2, VSC, and previews of other new technology were on display at VMworld San Francisco, August 25-29.

Technology News in Depth

• Nondisruptive Business Operations with VMware Virtual Environments: NetApp is announcing new integration with vCloud Suite 5.5 and clustered Data ONTAP software to enable nondisruptive migration of data for hundreds of VMs at a time. The storage VM technology in clustered Data ONTAP abstracts data access and data services from hardware, enabling customers to deploy on the storage platform of their choice.
• Real-Time Visibility into Storage Platforms: NetApp is also introducing Virtual Storage Console 5.0 (VSC 5.0), a new release of its end-to-end storage management software for VMware environments. VSC 5.0 adds integration with the vSphere Web Client, policy-based management via vStorage APIs for Storage Awareness (VASA) for clustered Data ONTAP VSC 5.0 adds more intelligence and automation for real-time visibility into the performance and health of the storage environment. VSC 5.0 will have availability in late 2013.  
• Accelerating the Transition to the Cloud: NetApp and VMware are accelerating organizations’ transition to the cloud. Horizon Suite on clustered Data ONTAP can extend the ability to transparently migrate data within a cluster to provide nondisruptive load balancing, hardware maintenance, or technology refreshes and rapidly and cost effectively deliver new services. NetApp integrations with vCenter Orchestrator and vCloud Automation Center enable organizations to automate and orchestrate storage monitoring, provisioning, and data protection.
• Flash-Enabled and -Accelerated Solutions: As part of this news, NetApp also is announcing the availability of Flash Accel 1.2, which speeds application performance by turning server-side flash into a cache for storing hot, frequently accessed data. The software release includes support for vSphere 5.1 and other features such as vSphere vMotion, DRS, and HA support. It helps to improve the efficiency of back-end storage by off-loading reads from storage, enhancing application performance, while providing data coherency.

Brendon Howe, VP, product and solutions marketing, NetApp, said: "The cloud is enabling this new era of IT service delivery to help businesses be more flexible, responsive, and competitive. One movement — software-defined storage – is part of this transformation in IT that helps break down technology barriers, driving increased agility, simplicity, and efficiency. NetApp and VMware will continue to align our development efforts to help organizations and CIOs realize the agility of the cloud and the power of clustered Data ONTAP and its integration to VMware vCloud Suite to focus on IT server delivery versus hardware limits."

Sanjay Katyal, VP, global alliances and OEMs, VMware, said: "VMware and NetApp are executing on a shared vision of empowering organizations to realize the benefits of the software-defined data center. This partnership enables our joint customers to increase the agility of their IT infrastructure, increase operational efficiency and reduce infrastructure costs. Our goal is to transform the way IT is delivered through products and solutions such NetApp’s clustered Data ONTAP with VMware vCloud Suite and VMware Horizon Suite that provides automation, flexibility and efficiency."

More about NetApp’s view on the software-defined data center