Unlock Growth With Next-Level SAN Storage

Storage is the backbone of modern business, and as data demands continue to grow, SAN has become essential for staying competitive. NetApp’s SAN solutions help partners boost performance, strengthen security and simplify management.

CRNtv host Sydney Neely speaks with Mike Hommer, partner field CTO at NetApp, about why SAN matters more than ever—and how partners can take full advantage of NetApp’s next-level approach.

Sydney: SAN storage has been around for a while, but what makes NetApp’s approach to SAN stand out in today’s market?

Mike: We certainly have had SAN protocols as part of our product line almost since our inception. But what makes us different today is that we’ve taken that 30-year history of understanding how data moves around and packed that into a device that is dedicated to meet today’s SAN requirements.

Sydney: The ASA products seem like a big step forward. How do they help partners stand out and deliver more value to customers?

Mike: Building upon that history allows partners to leverage the rich data management services that are built in as part of ONTAP, as well as leverage newer technologies such as our security and ransomware detection to help customers meet their requirements for SAN, as well as make sure they’re taking advantage of the latest technology to protect their environment.

Sydney: Security is a growing concern for businesses. How does NetApp’s ransomware protection and data security give partners an edge?

Mike: Classically, these are things that are not thought of as part of the storage infrastructure. Partners were usually helping customers align a series of products around that infrastructure to help provide that protection. Now, NetApp is not a security company, but we understand that we are the target of the attack. So, by putting those features and functions in the storage operating itself, partners can now help customers build a true end-to-end security practice, allowing them to really help and consult with their customers on how they’re protecting one of their company’s most critical assets—the data.

Sydney: With hybrid and multicloud environments becoming the norm, how does NetApp make it easier for partners to manage and scale SAN storage?

Mike: Again, this is where that 30-year history comes in huge. The aspect of our operating system running on multiple different types of physical platforms, as well as that exact same code being leveraged by all the major hyperscalers, means that customers don’t have to learn multiple runbooks in order to operate their business requirements. This means that as they grow, they can use the more traditional sense of adding additional arrays to scale up and scale out a cluster on-prem, as well as leveraging what we do in the cloud without having to relearn how they manage their environment.

NetApp makes SAN storage easier to manage and more secure, helping partners deliver better results for their customers. For more information, visit NetApp.com/data-storage/all-flash-san-storage-array.