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Agility with NetApp and FlexPod solutions is a key differentiation for me when talking storage and DC solutions with my clients. Agility is a requirement today and not just a nice to have.

Agreed @ajbergh -- Innovation is about using the right tool in the right way at the right time to solve a problem. And that will usually involve IT. You can’t say IT is just about keeping the lights on!

@ajbergh @NetAppGeek Lets not forget to mention agility's close cousin, flexibility. The ability for a solution to check multiple boxes is also key.

customers, more than ever, are asking for validated and tested cloud infrastructure configurations to help them easily and reliably deploy cloud solutions.

@KailasJawadekar agreed. time to delivery is key for customers

With this goal in mind, we have worked with Netapp and Cisco to developCisco Validated Design (CVD) based on Citrix CloudPlatform running a FlexPod infrastructure

It's mostly legacy applications that stop growth, not storage. The ability for NetApp to grow storage infrastructure without downtime is huge, and surveys show that NetApp and our partners are the best at being helpful with transitions.

http://www.cisco.com...

NetApps Virtual Storage Console integrates with @Citrix #CloudPlatform for deep storage integration

NetApp's storage solutions provide great flexibility and agility such as nondisruptive scalability, capability to connect to hybrid cloud, and flash technology that can be either hybrid or all-flash.

With NetApp CDoT I have the ultimate agility: Complete non-disruptive operations, near unlimited scalability, and all protocols at my disposal. I call it "no compromises" storage.

https://communities....

@ajbergh too many all-flash solutions don't have all-protocols; have to have both performance and flexibility

Agility is key for end users and working with NetApp Storage Solutions we know that NetApp will always be working with best in class tech to achieve this agile approach

@MichaelCade1 Agile is key but having a relevant solution is IT's goal..classic cost of ownership argument comes into play here. Shark fin or ice berg pick your meme; total cost of ownership matters

@MichaelCade1 @furrier and TCO is not just CapEx and OpEx but also personellEx—is that a word?

@netapp provides customers consistency across time, too, decreasing TCO

@dancbarber recruiting a #devops staff who can take agile and architect storage to be very strong for "up the stack" apps

For many customers, I think, using software to define storage policies for internal and external SLAs, whether formal or informal

I think without a doubt cloud's integration with hardware vendors. For example Netapp's deals with Amazon, Azure, VMware etc to be able run have OnTap at your cloud provider. This is a major shift away from "White-Box" cloud providers.

Flash has to be the biggest leap this year so far.... its a huge game changer, NetApp have really got their A Game out as well on that front. Especially with the new FAS8080EX

Many of our customers start with IaaS however are looking more to move to a IT-as-a-Service model where they can deliver a broad array of internal and external services from a single self-service portal.

NetApp Clustered ONTAP is the choice for all the above....built in SDS platform,accelerated by flash and deep integration for cloud!

I am also seeing a lot of Hybrid Cloud adoption, it makes sense to shift some infrastructure out of the HQ and into a secure managed cloud offering.

I do think Flash is bigger than cloud—seems like there is more Flash adoption than cloud adoption at least at this point...agree disagree?

All-Flash FAS leveraging clustered Data ONTAP is a huge Win for #NetApp. Flash in general is going to enable many things, and it's an area we're certainly leading in.

@MichaelCade1 mostly using colo providers?

#NetApp SHIFT is also a pretty game-changing piece of tech as well. The ability to "shift" your workloads between hypervisors is going to be a big play, removing lockin from any one hypervisor vendor.

@datacenterdude agreed; as Flash industry matures, flexibility will be key to meet different customer requirements, and @netapp has that!

@dancbarber I would think cloud is a bit further along. at least private cloud is.

@MichaelCade1 There's definitely been an increase in hybrid cloud adoption, extending one's data centre into the cloud has some great application.

@dancbarber Agreed but is that because IT has been overwhelmed by the term cloud and they are only just coming round.

Agreed @MichaelCade1 I think it will make a lot of leaps soon; but Flash is the low-hanging fruit

@dancbarber of course...

@ChrisMaki Agree. Virtualization -> Private Cloud -> Hybrid Cloud seems to be the journey most enterprises are taking; with analysts saying eventually most enterprises would have some form of hybrid cloud.

@dancbarber agreed i think the overwhelming aspect is disappearing and the clouds are white and fluffy

@MichaelCade1 agreed

Flash. More and more vendors came to the all-flash or hybrid market taking advantage of the latest semiconductor technology that enables cheaper SSDs.

@lingwang01 and as Flash $/TB come down and spindle size grows, it will take hold even more...

@vStewed brought this up last year's #VMWorld: CNAs, converged, all that has created a business problem yet to be solved

As the silos break down technicall, who owns them organizationally?

From what I've seen, the "larger" orgs are starting to eliminate the silo and are starting to embrace sharing in both infrastructure and skill sets. I believe this trend will continue as orgs become more lean and efficient.

We specialize in the "converged infrastructure," however, this is more that just a hardware approach, it's an organizational one as well. Storage/Network/Server teams converge as well when moving to this new approach.

I believe IT will consist of Monitoring & Automation, Infrastructure, Applications - every vendor will slot into those pods, but then over time they will expand again to more silo orientated.

@ajbergh exactly; so the storage admin used to own the fiber switch, the netadmin the copper switch — who owns everything on a converged switch?

IT will become more of a service broker instead of service provider given the choices today in delivering IT service such as private cloud, hybrid cloud and public cloud.

Are businesses ready for organizational change or do the organizational silos prevent technical silos from breaking down?

@ajbergh I see challenges to converged more on the political side vs technology side. It might be challenging to break the silos.

IT would evolve to be able to service the IT requests from departments in their org. faster more automated way

@dancbarber the infrastructure pod....

@valdim98 exactly; and this was @vStewed's point: businesses need to evolve as much technically as they do organizationally to see wide-spread adoption at an enterprise level

@lingwang01 I do see IT moving to more of a service broker model where they can deliver a broad array of services from a self-service portal.

Moving away from silos to shared infra..NetApp provides the best Unified ScaleOut offering with clustered ONTAP the best storage operating system.

@Sab

@sarbjits that's right!

"Tier-1" as a concept is dead. Flash taking hold is definitely game-changing, but why trust your mission-critical data to one thats only existed for a year, has only shipped a few hundred units, and entire org is less than we have in support?

Storage, Network, Compute will be managed by an infrastructure team.

@valdim98 @KailasJawadekar to do that you have to abstract and automate, separate the hardware from the functional layer; @netapp perfect for that, and so is #FlexPod

OS, Applications will be managed by an Apps team

I like that @MichaelCade1

Monitoring and automation by another team.

@sarbjits Turnkey infrastructure. No longer have to architect build and manage compute, storage, networking separately. Awesome!

i think you can easily see the segradation between IT teams already people cross training over the closest vendors to their Specialised skill

@dancbarber and with @citrixcloud they can orchestrate the apps and monitor the infrastructure

Curious.. whats the expected growth rate on converged infrastructure in enteprises?

use NetApp OnCommand Insight to control and analyze the heterogenous storage,Compute,fabric infrastructure.Great analytics,detailed dashboards,performance and capacity trends...making life simple for the IT guy.

@KailasJawadekar in terms of adoption of CI?

@dancbarber yes. I had read somewhere that by <a certain year> 1/3 of all infrastructure will be delivered as CI.

@KailasJawadekar it really makes sense; less hard costs, more flexibility to define by software and policies