NetApp announces major new product portfolio
NetApp (NASDAQ:NTAP) has forgone its usual drip-feed announcements to deliver a major update to its product portfolio which it claims will align itself closer to the needs of Shared IT Infrastructure. The new launch is based on enhancements to its ONTAP 8 operating systems which will support NFS, CIFS, FC, FCoE, and iSCSI all over 10 Gigabit Ethernet. The OS has also been updated with data compression technology as standard although de-duplication will remain an optional extra.
In terms of hardware, NetApp has added a new 6200 series consisting of three models aimed at higher performance customers with a claimed doubling of performance over its old 6000 series. The new 3200 family also sports three models which the firm is pitching as the one of the industry’s most “cost-effective platforms” to date. The new hardware is complemented by optional solid state disks to boost performance and a third generation SAS disk shelf offering double the performance density and up to 50 percent better power efficiency per rack unit.
NetApp is also launching a new storage management suite called OnCommand which will automate many storage housekeeping tasks and include an open API that integrates with a variety of third-party management products and hypervisors.
“This is the biggest launch in our history,” claims Pete Rawden, partner sales director for UK & Ireland at NetApp, “but it’s more of an evolution –the message to our channel partners is there is innovation here to offer a more competitive solution, but it’s not a massive change for the channel model, it’s more of a gear change to strengthen our story.”
Rawden points out that the firm has now standardised on one architecture: “The investment [partners] have made is retained, they don’t need to go on new training courses or learn new skills, it builds on the investment – it takes it on to the next step”
NetApp has also announced it will introduce a simpler software pricing structure to make it easier for partners to do business with. The strategy, it claims, will offer more value-added software for no additional cost as part of the base package although details of these changes have not been released.
