Strengthened by NetApp Data Management, IBM Cloud Satellite Simplifies Hybrid Cloud Journey

By Kim Stevenson, SVP and GM, foundational data services business unit, NetApp Inc.

Hybrid cloud adoption is often depicted as a journey toward a fixed destination, with statistics marshaled to support this view: 80% of enterprises have a hybrid cloud strategy, 92% plan to utilize multiple clouds – with many already using 8 or more clouds from multiple vendors. What the numbers don’t reveal, however, is that each organization is on its own distinct hybrid path, defined by legacy IT environment, industry-specific needs, and other factors. As announced, NetApp, Inc.’s hybrid cloud portfolio lets organizations take these unique paths by combining the flexibility to choose cloud partners with simplicity of management across on-premises, public, and hybrid cloud environments.

Although each organization’s cloud journey is different, there is a common set of business drivers and objectives compelling them to pursue a hybrid cloud approach. Many companies move enterprise workloads to the cloud, seeking to leverage its abundant benefits without sacrificing the security and dependability of the on-premises environment. Likewise, most enterprises now view hybrid cloud as the path to faster application development and speedier deployment of edge-focused AI applications. The question is, can enterprises operate effectively across on premises, edge, and public cloud? For the majority of enterprises seeking to embrace a hybrid cloud model, the ability to easily manage data among clouds – as well as to and from edge applications – remains a significant concern.

Simplifying hybrid cloud journey
It is precisely this problem that IBM and NetApp set out to solve through IBM Cloud Satellite. In essence, Satellite is a distributed cloud solution that delivers a consistent set of APIs, security controls, compliance, and other cloud services, regardless of location, within the hybrid environment. This means, for example, a team that is developing an application that will ultimately reside at the edge can work seamlessly from edge to public cloud to on premises without having to reconcile multiple sets of tools and services.

Satellite also gives organizations the flexibility to run workloads wherever they need them, whether in a data center, in a public cloud, or at the edge. The latter case is particularly crucial given estimates that there will be a 75% growth in edge computing and processing by 2025 – in other words, a massive increase in the amount of data collected, analyzed, and acted upon at the edge. Examples include industries such as manufacturing and automotive, where use of AI is increasingly prevalent; retail stores, which rely heavily on handheld technology; and financial services, where many customers interact with banks primarily via their mobile devices.

With all of this business-critical data migrating to edge applications, it’s essential for data scientists and other analytics gurus to be able to move tremendous volumes of data seamlessly among edge, public cloud, and on premises in all their myriad permutations. One way that Satellite facilitates these activities is by providing a “single pane of glass” – the ability to work across and manage the hybrid environment from a single interface. Of course, working effectively across multiple environments puts a premium on data management services, which is precisely where NetApp comes into play.

Unified data experience
Specifically, what NetApp data management brings to the table is the ability to build a data fabric – a unified data experience that enables organizations to make the best use of data wherever it resides in the hybrid cloud environment. This ability means that organizations can make better, faster business decisions whether data originates on premises, in the public cloud, or at the edge. Simply put, IBM Cloud Satellite – in conjunction with advanced data management capabilities from NetApp – simplifies management across the hybrid cloud environment. It is an invaluable tool for any number of data-intensive business applications as well as for organizations that are focused on digital transformation. Discover more about NetApp’s partnership with IBM Cloud.