NetApp and Equinix Metal this week introduced a new Bare-Metal-as-a-Service (BMaaS) storage solution, integrating NetApp Storage with Equinix Metal to operate as an as-a-service model through NetApp Keystone.
New: NetApp Storage on Equinix Metal
NetApp Storage on Equinix Metal offers customers a comprehensive compute, network and storage infrastructure stack, offering low-latency connections to major public clouds. The offering supports single-tenant and dedicated configurations, ensuring adherence to stringent performance requirements. This is packaged, priced, billed, and supported under a unified agreement.
A key advantage of NetApp Storage on Equinix Metal includes its full integration with Equinix Metal’s infrastructure, creating a seamless experience for storage, compute, and networking services in a single subscription. It enables customers to construct their hybrid multi-cloud environments while maintaining control of their data in a high-performance, low latency setting across all major public clouds.
The new solution excels in high-performance scenarios, especially when combined with Equinix Metal’s dedicated bare metal servers, offering fast data access and minimal latency for demanding workloads. Customers can scale storage resources on demand to accommodate evolving business needs.
NetApp places a strong emphasis on data security, with its storage solutions featuring industry-leading encryption, ransomware protection, and security functionalities. It also leverages Equinix International Business Exchange (IBX) data centers to provide top-tier physical and environmental security for customer data.
NetApp’s proactive ransomware detection allows the system to identify potential threats and automatically create immutable backups when necessary. Furthermore, Equinix’s expansive global presence offers users access to NetApp Storage on Equinix Metal across Equinix IBX data centers worldwide.
The simplified management experience is ensured through NetApp’s unified control plane for storage and data services, offering comprehensive control and visibility over data, irrespective of location. Additionally, Equinix Metal’s automated provisioning platform simplifies deployment and management processes.
Analysis
Enterprises are increasingly looking to as-a-service offerings to enjoy cloud-like flexibility while operating with the performance and latency efficiencies usually only found on-prem. Delivering bare-metal storage-as-a-service brings the substantial benefits of NetApp’s dedicated storage products to Equinix Metal.
This isn’t Equinix Metal’s first bare-metal storage offering. The company has offered a similar solution with Pure Storage since 2021. Bringing NetApp into the fold is an excellent addition for Equinix, giving its customers increased choice.
The new NetApp Stogae on Equinix Metal is also a strong solution for NetApp, representing a strategic expansion of NetApp’s cloud strategy, delivering a true hybrid multi-cloud experience with optimized connections to major public clouds through local, high-speed connectivity via Equinix Metal’s dedicated bare metal equipment. This is a nice offering that will make many of NetApp’s customers very happy.
