NetApp Takes Cloud To The MSP Business
Ask almost anyone who NetApp is, and the answer will likely be along the lines of, “It’s a storage company.” And whoever answered that way would mostly be correct. NetApp is the largest independent storage vendor, a pioneer in file-based storage but also in making on-premises storage operate seamlessly in the cloud and in breaking the tie between data stored using NetApp technology and its own hardware.
But that is now only half the story. Today’s NetApp is also moving quickly to acquire and integrate technology that helps businesses build cloud infrastructures, including cloud compute optimization via its Spot acquisition, end-to-end cloud management via its CloudCheckr acquisition, and virtual desktop infrastructure integration via its CloudJumper acquisition.
Hidden under all that has been a move by NetApp to play a bigger role in managed services, an area that it has not been known for in the past. Jeff Treuhaft, general manager for Spot PC, who joined Spot in November, told CRN in an exclusive interview that NetApp has been taking a cloud-first approach to its business for some time by tying its cloud infrastructure technologies to Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud Platform. And that approach, Treuhaft said, fits the needs of around 300 MSPs who have already engaged with Spot and CloudJumper technologies.
[Related: NetApp CEO George Kurian: Pure Storage Boss’ Comments Inaccurate]
NetApp has bundled its technology with things like Azure Virtual Desktop, Microsoft Defender for Cloud and Azure Log Analytics into a managed services offering that takes on the risk of providing such services at a fixed price per seat, per month, he said.
“Gone are the days where you are acquiring all this infrastructure to run these desktops and then the price changes every month based on who used what, where and when. … One of the problems on the MSP side is they’re having that challenge of how to get predictable margins and then how to get a predictable business that they can scale. And so we simplify all that for them,” he said.
NetApp is making significant moves to expand its cloud-first focus to MSPs. Here is what Treuhaft had to say in his interview with CRN.
LEARN MORE: Cloud Storage | Storage Services | Desktop-Clients | NetApp
Joseph F. Kovar is a senior editor and reporter for the storage and the non-tech-focused channel beats for CRN. He keeps readers abreast of the latest issues related to such areas as data life-cycle, business continuity and disaster recovery, and data centers, along with related services and software, while highlighting some of the key trends that impact the IT channel overall. He can be reached at [email protected].
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