NetApp has announced the augmentation of its capabilities meant to optimise the potential of generative artificial intelligence (Gen AI) projects and offer its users a competitive edge. This development will enable customers to boost their AI projects by fusing NetApp's intelligent data infrastructure with high-performance compute, networking and software from NVIDIA.

Arunkumar Gururajan, Vice President of Data Science & Research at NetApp, explained, "Our unique approach to AI enables customers complete access and control over their data throughout the data pipeline, moving smoothly between their public cloud and on-premises environments. Our customers can optimise both performance and costs exactly where they need them by tiering object storage for each phase of the AI process." This integrated methodology offers the performance, productivity, and protection necessary for customers to innovate swiftly with AI.

These new capabilities come in response to the increasingly widespread use of Gen AI in businesses worldwide, with nearly three in four companies utilising this technology to automate tasks and unearth new insights, according to the NetApp 2023 Data Complexity Report. With its vast experience in supporting AI, NetApp offers solutions that provide management simplicity wherever data is stored and furnish reliable, secure data necessary to drive responsible AI.

New updates to NetApp's intelligent data infrastructure include NetApp AIPod, AI-optimised converged infrastructure for organisations’ most critical AI projects, including training and inferencing. Additional offerings to be released are new FlexPod for AI reference architectures and validation for NVIDIA OVX systems. These updates aim to reduce deployment time frames, eliminate design complexity and simplify ongoing operations to efficiently support customers' AI applications.

"We are aiding organisations to navigate the complex IT environment today by offering an intelligent data infrastructure that fosters agility, breaks down silos, and customises optimisation for AI applications," stated Masahiro Waki, AI Business Lead for NetApp Asia Pacific. "Our crucial partnerships with AI trailblazers, including NVIDIA, allow us to establish sophisticated data pipelines for enterprises on their innovative AI journeys," Waki added.

In a related development, NetApp is launching new cyber-resilience capabilities, which include a revolutionary use of AI/ML in storage to combat ransomware. The new Autonomous Ransomware Protection with AI (ARP/AI) will offer increased accuracy and performance required to identify and mitigate the latest cyber threats.

Archana Venkatraman, the Research Director for Cloud Data Management at IDC, opined, "GenAI has mammoth potential to aid organisations in harnessing their data to reveal business insights and enhance operational efficiency. NetApp’s continuous evolution to provide the services and solutions customers require to effectively manage their data pipelines demonstrate its willingness to evolve and bring innovations to customers to unlock the full potential of AI."

As the company continues to enhance its AI solutions, NetApp's unified approach aims to offer its customers increased performance, improved data protection, and faster results for their AI projects with an infrastructure that eliminates data silos.