Many IT organizations are seeking a new approach to the data management challenges presented when using multiple clouds. In particular, they want an approach that allows them to leverage public cloud economics while maintaining control of their data.
NetApp offers a new approach to hybrid IT by using dedicated, secure, private storage with low-latency access to public cloud compute services. Called NetApp Private Storage (NPS) for Cloud, this solution is possible by locating the storage “next to” rather than placing it “into” the cloud. In this way, companies have the freedom to connect to hyperscale clouds such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft Azure. Although this capability is still relatively new, cloud innovators are already deploying this type of solution today to optimize costs, seize opportunities, and mitigate risks.
NetApp Private Storage for Amazon Web Services and NetApp Private Storage for Microsoft Azure use secure, dedicated, high-speed network connections between a customer’s NetApp storage in select Equinix data centers and compute resources from industry leading clouds adjacent to those co-location data centers. In this way, companies can take advantage of the cost and elasticity benefits of public cloud compute while leveraging the performance, availability, and control of their data on privately owned NetApp storage.
The hybrid IT model enabled by an NPS approach solves many of the issues that arise when using a pure public cloud. Even more value can be realized if this hybrid model can be extended to embrace multiple public clouds.
Enter hybrid IT AND multi-cloud
In many cases, companies can benefit from using cloud services from multiple providers. Each cloud has a unique set of features with different costs. For example, a company might choose different hyperscale providers such as AWS for dev/test, Microsoft Azure for collaborative applications, and yet another for running analytics or modeling applications. In such a scenario with the NetApp solution, the data could reside on a single private storage array and be directly connected to the compute resources of each provider.
While building discrete links to multiple services in order to retain control over data would be arduous and complex. There is a solution that supports this hybrid multi-cloud model in a type of hub and spoke architecture where the data used by any application running on any public cloud service is retained in one place. An example of what can be done is a scenario that couples NPS with the Equinix Cloud Exchange.
Equinix offers broad interconnection options to multiple major networks and public clouds.. Their Cloud Exchange switching technology can connect a single strategically placed storage device to multiple clouds almost instantly. These connections are more secure and reliable and have lower latency than public Internet connections. A company hosting its data on NetApp in an Equinix center can place it in close proximity to multiple cloud services allowing the user to leverage multiple clouds or switch clouds without lock in and time consuming data migrations.
NetApp Private Storage for Cloud solutions used with public cloud compute services and the Equinix Cloud Exchange provide control over data, while affording maximum cloud flexibility. A company using this approach can take advantage of the best cloud solution for every application, prevent cloud provider lock-in, and be certain their data is safe and managed to meet regulations and legal requirements.
Discover more from NetApp on how new hybrid cloud architectures enable you to take advantage of public cloud resources in this paper:
http://www.enterprisetech.com/control-cloud-data/
http://www.netapp.com/us/campaigns/unboundcloud/