NetApp – Digital IT News

Without Intelligent Data Infrastructure Up to 20% of AI Initiatives Fail

Taylor Graham — Wed, 08 May 2024 18:00:38 +0000

NetApp has unveiled findings from its recent study on the changing landscape of AI implementation in businesses. The IDC White Paper, supported by NetApp, titled “Scaling AI Initiatives Responsibly: The Crucial Role of an Intelligent Data Infrastructure,” highlights the hurdles and advantages encountered at different stages of AI development. It offers insights into successful strategies embraced by top-performing organizations to responsibly expand their AI and GenAI workloads. Through actionable recommendations, the paper aims to steer organizations away from common pitfalls, ensuring that their AI initiatives do not fall within the 20% that typically fail. Additionally, it introduces an elaborate AI maturity model crafted to gauge organizational advancement based on their AI approach, ranging from AI Emergents and Pioneers to Leaders and Masters.

Intelligent Data Infrastructure is the Foundation of AI Success

The IDC White Paper found that:

AI Masters optimize their data infrastructure for transformational AI initiatives by facilitating easy access to corporate datasets with minimal preparation and designing a unified, hybrid, multicloud environment that supports various data types and access methods.
AI Masters have more ambitious AI goals and yet experience data-related failures including infrastructure-based data access limitations (21%), compliance limitations (16%), and insufficient data (17%).
AI Emergents note similar challenges but also experience budget constraints (20% Emergents vs 9% AI Masters), insufficient data for model training (26% vs 17%) and business restrictions on data access (28% vs 20%).

According to the findings, organizations need an intelligent data infrastructure in order to scale AI initiatives responsibly. Where a company falls on the AI maturity scale is determined by the level of infrastructure they have in place that will not only drive the long-term success of AI projects, but also of their associated business outcomes. Those organizations that are just beginning or have recently begun their AI journey typically have disparate data architectures or plans for a more unified architecture, while AI Leaders and AI Masters are likely already executing on a unified vision. As a result, organizations with the most AI experience are failing less.

“This IDC White Paper further solidifies that companies need intelligent data infrastructure to scale AI responsibly and boost the rate of AI initiative success,” said Jonsi Stefansson, Senior Vice President and Chief Technology Officer at NetApp. “With intelligent data infrastructure in place, companies have the flexibility to access any data, anywhere with integrated data management to ensure data security, protection, and governance and adaptive operations that can optimize performance, cost and sustainability.”

Data Infrastructure Flexibility is Crucial for Data Access and AI Initiative Success

The IDC White Paper found that:

48% of AI Masters report they have instant availability of their structured data and 43% of their unstructured data, while AI Emergents have only 26% and 20% respectively.
AI Masters (65%) and AI Emergents (35%) reported their current data architectures can seamlessly integrate their organization’s private data with AI Cloud services.

According to the research, AI Masters know that their data architecture and infrastructure for transformational AI initiatives must offer ease of access to corporate data sets without any—or with only minor—preparation or preprocessing.

“Infrastructure decisions made during the design and planning process of AI Initiatives must factor in architecture flexibility,” said Ritu Jyoti Group Vice President, Worldwide Artificial Intelligence and Automation Research Practice, Global AI Research Lead, at IDC. “The dynamic nature of data inputs to AI and GenAI workstreams means easy access to distributed and diverse data—both structured and unstructured data sets with varying characteristics—is critical. This requires a flexible, unified approach to storage, a common control plane, and management tools that make it seamless for data scientists and developers to consume data with MLOps integrations.”

Effective Data Governance and Security Processes Drive AI Success

The IDC White Paper found that:

The inability for AI Emergents to progress is often due to a lack of standardized governance policies and procedures; only 8% of AI Emergents have completed and standardized these across all AI projects, compared to 38% of AI Masters.
While 51% of AI Masters reported they have standardized policies in place that are rigorously enforced by an independent group in their organization, only 3% of AI Emergents claim this.

The study found that effective data governance and security are crucial indicators of organizational maturity in AI initiatives. Managing data responsibly and securely remains a key issue for enterprises, because AI stakeholders often try to shortcut security processes to accelerate development. Feedback from organizations that have become more successful at delivering positive outcomes from their AI initiatives demonstrates that governance and security are not merely cost centers but vital enablers of innovation. By prioritizing security, data sovereignty, and regulatory compliance, organizations can mitigate risk in their AI and GenAI initiatives and ensure that their data engineers and scientists can focus on maximizing efficiency and productivity.

Efficient Use of Resources Important for Scaling AI Responsibly

The IDC White Paper found that:

43% of AI Masters have clearly defined metrics for assessing resource efficiency when developing AI models that were completed and standardized across all AI projects compared to 9% of AI Emergents.
63% of all respondents reported the need for major improvements or a complete overhaul to ensure their storage is optimized for AI and only 14% indicated they needed no improvements.

As AI workflows become increasingly integral to almost every industry, it’s critical to acknowledge the impact on compute and storage infrastructure, data and energy resources, and their associated costs. A key measure of AI maturity is the definition and implementation of metrics to assess the efficiency of resource use in the creation of AI models.

To review the IDC White Paper, “Scaling AI Initiatives Responsibly: The Critical Role of an Intelligent Data Infrastructure,” visit the website here.

CyberSense 8.6 Released, Index Engines’ Latest Alerts Dashboard

Methodology

In December of 2023 and January of 2024, IDC conducted 24 in-depth interviews and 1,220 quantitative interviews by web survey with global decision makers involved in IT operations, data science, data engineering and software development related to AI initiatives. These interviews revealed in-depth information about the state of AI initiatives today including the array of challenges, numerous business benefits, and best practices that leading organizations have taken to achieve success.

In conducting this analysis IDC has developed an AI maturity model where organizations fall into one of four maturity levels based on their current approach to AI in terms of data and storage infrastructure, data policy and governance, resource efficiency focus, and stakeholder enablement and collaboration. These maturity levels are AI Emergents, AI Pioneers, AI Leaders, and AI Masters.

*Source: IDC White Paper sponsored by NetApp, “Scaling AI Initiatives Responsibly: The Critical Role of an Intelligent Data Infrastructure,” Doc #US52048524, April 2024

The post Without Intelligent Data Infrastructure Up to 20% of AI Initiatives Fail appeared first on Digital IT News.

NetApp Leads in Storage and Innovation With Unified Data Storage

Taylor Graham — Fri, 27 Oct 2023 13:00:10 +0000

NetApp® announced several updates to the industry’s only unified data storage solution including new block storage products driving unmatched savings and sustainability, multiple improvements to public cloud storage services, and updates to NetApp Keystone Storage-as-a-Service (STaaS) —all designed to drive simplicity, savings, security, and sustainability for customers.

Over two decades ago, NetApp introduced unified storage to the industry. Today, NetApp extends the definition of unified data storage to an entire architecture that enables file, block, and object workloads. Unified data storage provides a common storage operating system that spans multiple on-premises storage offerings and every major public cloud, unified by a common API set and single control plane. This includes the leading unified all-Flash storage, NetApp AFF, the new block-optimized all-Flash storage, NetApp ASA, and the only first-party, cloud-native storage solutions running on all of the three largest public clouds with Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP, Microsoft Azure NetApp Files, and Google Cloud NetApp Volumes.

“As we unveil updates to our enterprise-grade storage portfolio, we’re setting the stage for a transformative era in data management,” said Harv Bhela, Chief Product Officer at NetApp. “NetApp’s portfolio, spanning on-premises and all major public clouds, reinforces our dedication to customers to deliver unified storage solutions that meet the evolving needs of modern enterprises and provide unmatched simplicity, savings, security, and sustainability.”

Delivering unmatched savings and sustainability for block storage

Earlier this year, NetApp introduced the AFF C-Series system, an industry-leading unified-capacity flash storage offering, and it has become the fastest ramping product introduction in company history.

Over 20,000 customers trust NetApp for block workloads running on its mission-critical SAN infrastructure. To better serve these customers and the overall block storage market, NetApp introduced the NetApp All-Flash SAN Array (ASA) earlier this year. The NetApp ASA provides enterprise-grade block storage with guaranteed availability and efficiency.

“NetApp’s all-flash SAN storage made a big difference in our critical infrastructure environment, including VMware and S/4 HANA,” said Tristan Roberts. Digital Infrastructure Leader at TasNetworks. “It greatly simplified our data management with integrated data protection and disaster recovery and enabled us to achieve simplified business continuity with MetroCluster. We are always interested in enhancements to the product set, including the greater outcomes for cost-efficiency and sustainability with ASA C-series.”

Driving capacity flash and block storage innovation even further, NetApp announced the new NetApp ASA C-Series family today at NetApp INSIGHT 2023. The ASA C-Series uses capacity flash for the best balance of performance and cost savings in the industry, with leading sustainability. Delivering the speed of flash at close to disk prices, the NetApp ASA provides a 4:1 storage efficiency guarantee and a Six Nines (99.9999%) data availability guarantee*. With industry-leading cyber-resilience, the ASA C-Series is also eligible for the NetApp Ransomware Recovery Guarantee*, and is cloud connected to allow for disaster recovery, backup, and tiering to cloud, allowing organizations to modernize their environments, optimizing data storage for VMware vSphere, and accelerating SAP, Oracle, and Microsoft SQL database workloads, with integrated application-aware backup.

“NetApp ASA storage provides customers with a tailored solution to deliver high-performance and guaranteed high availability (99.9999%) storage for critical applications, databases, and VMware infrastructure, without creating bespoke infrastructure silos,” said Sandeep Singh, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Enterprise Storage at NetApp. “Our ASA C-Series now redefines block storage, combining these unmatched ASA storage capabilities and capacity flash, making enterprise-grade block storage more affordable and sustainable than ever.”

To help customers make a no-regrets move to a NetApp block storage solution, a variety of services are now available at no additional cost. This includes up-front solution design assessment that includes the evaluation of any existing architecture, free data migration, software license and services, or three months of complimentary NetApp storage support during the migration period and free training workshops.*

Ongoing enhancements to the only first-party, cloud-native storage across the three largest public clouds

NetApp first introduced its enterprise storage into the public cloud nearly a decade ago, in 2014. Today, NetApp has the only first-party, cloud-native storage offered on all three of the largest public clouds.

Google Cloud NetApp Volumes was just introduced in August 2023, and already is being enhanced with a new Standard service layer, driving an over 30% reduction in cost/GB, while still supplying the same multi-protocol files services with integrated data protection, available across 14 Google Cloud regions.

Meanwhile, Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP will lower overall TCO by taking advantage of VPC Peering to connect to VMware Cloud on AWS. The addition of unified file and object access via the ONTAP S3 API simplifies data access for cloud native applications developed to utilize object storage. Microsoft Azure NetApp Files now has enhanced capacity scaling, enhanced performance for Oracle databases and support for transparent automated tiering of data to the Azure Cool Blob tier for improved cost savings.

Delivering new Storage-as-a-Service options and improved assurance with NetApp Keystone.

NetApp continues to drive new options for customers to consume the strongest enterprise storage portfolio. Earlier this month, Equinix and NetApp announced NetApp Storage on Equinix Metal, powered by NetApp Keystone, lets organizations power business-critical workloads with a full stack solution, through a single monthly invoice

Today, NetApp enhanced its Keystone Storage-as-a-Service, delivering the most comprehensive set of guarantees for a STaaS offering. Customers can now take advantage of integrated performance and availability guarantees*. The previously announced Keystone sustainability service-level agreement (SLA) helps companies reduce their carbon footprints with automated data tiering, sustainability monitoring, and cancellation of overprovisioning, on premises and in the cloud. NetApp is also previewing a goal to offer a ransomware recovery guarantee for Keystone in the next 90 days.*

“NetApp continues to drive innovation across the enterprise and the public cloud with its unified data storage portfolio,” said Ashish Nadkarni, Group Vice President and General Manager, Infrastructure Systems, Platforms and Technologies and BuyerView Research at IDC. “Customer demand continues to grow for simplified storage at a lower cost and less environmental impact, and the new NetApp ASA C-Series will be a formidable option for these customers. NetApp’s Keystone program continues to grow, offering customers the guarantee they need.”

To learn more about NetApp, visit the website HERE.

Arcserve Launches UDP and Cloud Storage Bundle with Wasabi via Climb Distribution

*Specific terms and conditions will apply to each guarantee and offer. Previews are subject to change.

The post NetApp Leads in Storage and Innovation With Unified Data Storage appeared first on Digital IT News.

Agreement with Kyndryl and NetApp Supports Future for BMW Group

Taylor Graham — Tue, 07 Dec 2021 22:21:13 +0000

Kyndryl, the world’s largest IT infrastructure provider, and NetApp announced an agreement with BMW Group, a deal that builds on a strong strategic partnership and the deep experience of both companies in the automotive sector. The agreement combines Kyndryl’s digital infrastructure services with NetApp’s cloud-led, data-centric software technology.

Kyndryl will serve as the lead integrator, applying its expertise and global reach to manage the enterprise storage infrastructure that is critical to the automaker’s production process. NetApp provides the hybrid cloud data infrastructure foundation for all of the BMW Group data center needs, delivering best-in-industry network-attached (NAS) and scale-out storage infrastructure. The deal covers 17 countries on five continents with Germany, the US, and China as key markets.

“We’re proud that BMW Group has selected Kyndryl for this strategic program. The technology and services that we provide, will be advancing innovation for the entire organization while ensuring operational stability,” said Markus Koerner, President of Kyndryl Germany.

With Kyndryl’s leadership in building, transforming, and managing hybrid infrastructures, BMW will gain operational stability for its most critical systems. Ranked #1 by Gartner in IT Managed Services and with nearly 90,000 infrastructure and cloud experts, Kyndryl offers.

BMW the global reach and scalability to support all their markets. Kyndryl’s deep industry expertise in the automotive sector – serving 8 out of 10 of the largest global automotive companies – is a key differentiator. Kyndryl’s managed infrastructure-as-a-service model helps deliver greater availability and uptime while reducing the expense and headaches of self-managed infrastructure.

The resilient platform for BMW Group’s future data fabric is based on NetApp solutions and services, a combination that ensures continuous data availability, uninterrupted service delivery, and easy data mobility. This allows BMW Group to use data where it is needed to accelerate innovation and gain new insights, whether in the data center or in the cloud.

Image licensed by pixabay.com

CPowered Performance Solutions for Data Centers

The post Agreement with Kyndryl and NetApp Supports Future for BMW Group appeared first on Digital IT News.