Cloud computing infrastructure is at the heart of a sweeping transformation in IT, as organizations pivot to meet the demands of modern enterprise environments. This shift is fueled by the integration of advanced technologies, such as artificial intelligence and distributed computing, which are pushing companies to rethink the very foundations of data centers.

Far from being just incremental updates, these changes represent a complete overhaul of storage, computing and networking systems, paving the way for more scalable, flexible and cost-effective solutions. As the industry evolves, leading technology providers are racing to optimize platforms, ensuring support for the next generation of IT infrastructure while addressing the growing complexities of multicloud environments.

NetApp’s Jonsi Stefansson and Keith Norbie talk about cloud computing infrastructure.

“When you think about what VMware’s trying to do with optimizing the environments with cloud foundation and cloud being tied in, you have to figure out how you redeploy in ways that you can prepare for the adoption of AI in whatever situation you’re looking for, like you mentioned, inferencing being the big next wave of the AI models,” said Keith Norbie (pictured, right), head of worldwide partner solutions and sales acceleration at NetApp Inc.

Norbie was joined by Jonsi Stefansson (left), senior vice president and chief technology officer of NetApp, as they spoke with theCUBE Research’s John Furrier at VMware Explore, during an exclusive broadcast on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. They discussed how the evolving landscape of IT infrastructure, driven by advances in AI, distributed computing and multicloud environments, is leading to a complete reimagining of data centers to enhance scalability, efficiency and cost-effectiveness. (* Disclosure below.)

Shaping cloud computing infrastructure for the future

The evolving role of VMware Cloud Foundation and the associated strategic adjustments are redefining storage and computing in enterprise environments and are shaping the future of IT infrastructure. The removal of the vSAN requirement from VCF stands out as a game-changer, opening the door for a variety of storage solutions that offer enhanced scalability and cost efficiency, according to Stefansson.

“One of the issues of vSAN and VMFS, which is their file system, is the scalability. It sort of flattens out after 120 nodes, where we can scale to thousands,” he explained. “We are actually engineering and leading as an engineering design partner of VMware, creating vVol’s version two that actually allows for that scalability, and that also allows for the automatic tiering that we have brought to the hyperscalers. We can now bring that to our on-premises customers.”

NetApp, a key player in the cloud computing infrastructure space, has introduced enhancements that not only support larger-scale deployments, but also offer a unified approach to managing different storage protocols, such as object storage, file and high-performance block storage. These capabilities are crucial for enterprises looking to modernize IT infrastructure while minimizing costs.

“In VCF, VMware Cloud Foundation, they’re removing the vSAN requirement, and we’re optimizing our SnapMirror to be able to help folks take VCF forward further,” Norbie said. “That’s really what NetApp has been about, is really getting a platform that can help you reduce costs and redeploy that investment into VCF and the places that VMware wants you to go.”

As more companies embrace multicloud and hybrid cloud strategies, the need for distributed computing capabilities becomes increasingly clear. These capabilities allow for the horizontal scaling of data and workloads, ensuring that businesses can adapt to changing demands without compromising performance or security. The introduction of new platforms optimized for VMware environments, such as NetApp’s ASA platform, reflects this trend, offering targeted solutions that enhance both scalability and cost-effectiveness, according to Norbie.

“One of the reasons why we’re focusing on our ASA platform, our all-SAN array platform for block, is that’s highly optimized. It’s a lower-cost platform than the multi-protocol for really targeted VMware environments, especially as you mentioned vVol 2.0, its policy-driven storage,” Norbie said. “The partners are the one that kind of bring that to life.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE Research’s coverage of VMware Explore:

(* Disclosure: NetApp Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither NetApp nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE