NetApp refreshes datacentre OS for the cloud

NetApp has released a new version of its Data Ontap operating system, which it is pitching at cloud service providers and at enterprises that want to build their own cloud infrastructure.

Data Ontap 8, which was unveiled on Tuesday, is effectively the Data Ontap 7 enterprise platform and the Data Ontap GX high-performance computing platform fused into a single code base.

According to NetApp, the updated platform will provide improved data-management capabilities, non-disruptive data mobility and 64-bit storage aggregates to support multi-petabyte deployments.

The storage company's general manager for EMEA, Andreas König, said at a pre-launch event in Bonn last week that NetApp has been present in the cloud market for some time, but just "didn't call it cloud".

The combination of NetApp's existing enterprise and clustered computing platforms provides customers with "the platform for the cloud," according to the company's datacentre chief, Jeff O'Neal. "We did not have to introduce a new technology to satisfy cloud requirements," O'Neal said. "This is a case of the market coming to us."

Also on Tuesday, NetApp launched Data Motion, a technology that lets enterprises move data across storage systems with no downtime for applications. As such, it promises to let companies avoid having to plan outages so they can do maintenance on virtualised multi-tenant deployments. The tool comes as a component of the NetApp's Data Ontap 8 product.

In addition, the company introduced the second generation of its Performance Acceleration Module. The flash-based caching module could give an increase in I/O throughput of up to 78 percent and a cut in response time of up to 30 percent, NetApp said.

The fourth NetApp release of the day was the DS4243 SAS/Sata disk subsystem, which can hold 24TB in four units.

Data Ontap 8, PAM II and the DS4243 disk shelf are scheduled for release in September, while Data Motion is expected to go on sale in early 2010.