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Thinking of Cloud Computing Efficiency? It’s All About Transportation

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January 26, 2017

Topics: Cloud Volumes ONTAP Storage Efficiencies2 minute read

Let’s suppose, just for a moment, that your company is doing a bit of self-reflection on how to best utilize its assets.And suppose this line of inquiry extends through the IT department and into capital and operating expenditures needed to support the business.The odds are high that you’re looking at any reasonable tactic or technique that will lower costs but still allow you to perform your core functions. This is likely where operating in the cloud becomes interesting to you.

After all, it seems to offer some real benefits to the bottom line, such as a shift from capital purchase / depreciation cycles to a more flexible operating cost structure.

And there are obviously some very mature SaaS vendors out there who can take non-core functions off your hands (like email or file services). So, shifting a particular silo or two might make a lot of sense for cloud computing efficiency.

But here’s where the cloud gets interesting, and where companies may start to ask a few really great leading questions about cloud computing efficiency. Moving a silo to the cloud, which is basically just shifting a function out of corporate IT and into a service provider for operation, doesn’t necessarily save you a ton of cost, time, effort or risk. In fact, it might increase one or all of those in the short term.

Do it twice or three times and you might get very good at the interfaces to outsourcing or the process itself, but the cost savings? You might still be scratching your head over those.


Customized Enterprise Class Storage Solutions for You

NetApp has a different path for you and how you can achieve cloud computing efficiency. We don’t want to sell you “our cloud”.

In fact, we don’t even have one to sell at all – we simply provide technology to service providers so that they can create solutions for their customers. We provide multiple types of delivery options, including:

  • Engineered systems like the AFF and SolidFire scalable storage
  • Converged systems like the award-winning FlexPod designs
  • Software-defined options like Cloud Volumes ONTAP Select and Cloud Volumes ONTAP, now operating in hyperscalers such as Azure and AWS for hourly rental. 


We even provide data synchronization services to the cloud, if you simply want to start there. You see, this new economy isn’t so much about providing sheet-metal-wrapped disk drives (though that’s a part of it) as it is about providing the means to move data around—where you want it and need it, as quickly and as simply as possible.

Do you need to move your data back and forth between your dev/test environment located in the cloud and your centralized data center? Literally, you can set that up in five minutes with NetApp hardware and/or software-defined endpoints.

Transport, manage, and control your data anywhere—that’s the vision of NetApp’s Data Fabric. Welcome to the new economy, where moving data efficiently is just as important as where it’s stored.

Want to get started? Try out Cloud Volumes ONTAP today with a 30-day free trial.
Matthew Scott

Deputy CTO – Americas South Region

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