NetApp: Building Next Generation Agile Storage

"Next generation storage" used to refer to scale-out storage systems. Now that we're seeing a broad transition to such systems, it begs the question: what's the next, next generation storage system? What types of systems will be required to enable widespread server virtualization and always-on availability to support cloud services? These systems will need a robust feature/function set that includes functions such as snapshot and remote replication as well as shared services support features like secure multi-tenancy, all done at massive scale and across all protocols. These systems will have intelligent hardware, but need to be tightly governed and policy-driven by a robust software layer. This is no small task, but NetApp is marching down a path to do just that.