NetApp Hybrid Cloud Portfolio

NetApp's hybrid cloud portfolio delivers a unified data fabric spanning on-premises infrastructure, AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. Built on ONTAP — the world's most deployed enterprise storage operating system — every product in the portfolio shares common data services, management APIs, and data protection capabilities. NetApp is the only data platform available as a first-party, natively embedded service in all three major clouds — not a third-party appliance running next to them.

Whether you are managing a traditional data center, adopting a pay-as-you-grow storage subscription, repatriating workloads from public cloud, moving a VMware estate between environments, or building AI-powered analytics pipelines, NetApp provides the consistent foundation your data deserves everywhere it lives.

A note on naming: BlueXP is now NetApp Console. This page refers to the unified management platform by its current name throughout, and to the data services once branded BlueXP — Backup and Recovery, Disaster Recovery, Data Classification, Copy & Sync, and Workload Factory — by their current NetApp names.

Your Data Deserves a Fabric, Not a Silo

Enterprises are managing data across more environments than ever. NetApp connects on-premises systems, multiple public clouds, and edge locations with a single data fabric that delivers consistent performance, protection, and governance. 

Unified Data Fabric 

ONTAP runs on-prem and natively in AWS, Azure, and GCP — same OS, same APIs, same data management everywhere. No competing storage platform is embedded in all three.

CapEx to OpEx 

Keystone STaaS and cloud services shift from upfront capital to pay-as-you-grow consumption. 

Performance Everywhere 

FlexCache caches hot data close to workloads; FabricPool tiers cold data — performance where needed, savings where possible. 

Integrated Protection 

Backup, DR, ransomware protection, and immutable snapshots built into the same platform managing your data. 

Full Observability 

DII provides end-to-end visibility across storage, compute, cloud, and networking in one AIOps platform. 

AI-Driven Operations 

Workload Factory and NetApp Console automation reduce manual work — AI-assisted optimization and right-sizing built in. 

Five Hybrid Cloud Conversations - And What Changes

Hybrid cloud is not a destination, it is an operating model. These are the five conversations enterprises are actually having right now, what the NetApp data fabric changes about each one, and the business outcome on the other side.

After a decade of cloud-first mandates, enterprises are moving specific workloads back on-premises — steady high-volume systems whose cloud run rate stopped making sense, latency-sensitive applications, and data with sovereignty or residency obligations. The obstacle is rarely appetite. It is the cost and risk of re-architecting an application that has already been rebuilt once.

Because ONTAP is the same data platform in the cloud and in the data center, repatriation is a SnapMirror relationship running in the other direction — not a migration program. No data format conversion, no application refactoring, no third-party migration tooling. And with Keystone, coming home does not mean returning to a CapEx cycle.

* Business outcome: regain predictable, controllable cost on the workloads that never belonged in public cloud — in weeks rather than quarters, and without rewriting the application. Reversibility is preserved: if the economics change again, the data moves back the same way it came.

* Enabling technologies: ONTAP · SnapMirror · Keystone STaaS · FabricPool · NetApp Console · Copy & Sync

Licensing changes have put every VMware estate under review. Customers need the freedom to place VMware workloads where they make sense — on-premises today, a hyperscaler's VMware service tomorrow, or split across both — without redesigning storage each time they move.

FlexPod is NetApp's flagship VMware hybrid cloud platform: Cisco UCS compute and Nexus networking with NetApp ONTAP storage, delivered as a pre-validated converged system with published Cisco Validated Designs for VMware disaster recovery and backup. WWT is the largest FlexPod integrator in the country — FlexPod reference architectures are built, tested, and rebuilt in our Advanced Technology Center before they ever reach a customer floor.

In the cloud, NetApp is the storage layer for VMware in all three hyperscalers: Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP for VMware Cloud on AWS, Azure NetApp Files for Azure VMware Solution, and Google Cloud NetApp Volumes for Google Cloud VMware Engine. One SnapMirror relationship moves a VM's data between any two of those environments.

* Business outcome: decouple storage capacity from host count, so VMware storage scales without buying hosts — or the licenses attached to them. Move workloads between on-premises and any major cloud without conversion, and shrink the DR footprint by failing over to a cloud datastore instead of maintaining a second data center.

* Enabling technologies: FlexPod · FSx for NetApp ONTAP · Azure NetApp Files · Google Cloud NetApp Volumes · SnapMirror · NetApp Disaster Recovery · Trident CSI

DR programs are being rewritten around two facts: a second data center is hard to justify, and the disaster most likely to happen is ransomware. Traditional DR assumes the secondary copy is clean. Modern DR cannot.

SnapMirror replication delivers RPO as low as five minutes to an on-premises site or a cloud target, with automated failover and failback for VMware workloads and non-disruptive DR testing against pre-built recovery plans. Autonomous Ransomware Protection and SnapLock immutable snapshots mean the recovery point survives the attack, and recovery points are verified clean before anything is restored.

* Business outcome: retire the standby data center and its refresh cycle, and replace an untested runbook with a recovery you can demonstrate on demand — to an auditor, a regulator, or a board — without taking production down to prove it.

* Enabling technologies: SnapMirror · NetApp Disaster Recovery · Backup and Recovery · Autonomous Ransomware Protection · SnapLock immutable snapshots · FlexPod validated DR designs

Most enterprises are paying flash prices to store data nobody has opened in a year, while their cloud storage bill grows faster than the data inside it. The problem is placement, not capacity.

FabricPool tiers cold blocks to object storage automatically and transparently to applications, cutting flash requirements by 20–70% on many workloads. FlexCache puts hot data next to the workload instead of moving the workload to the data. Keystone lets you commit to a capacity tier and burst past it without a purchase cycle. Data Infrastructure Insights shows which business unit is actually consuming what.

* Business outcome: buy performance only where performance is being consumed. Convert a lumpy storage refresh into a predictable subscription line, and hand finance chargeback data it can defend.

* Enabling technologies: FabricPool · FlexCache · Keystone STaaS · Data Infrastructure Insights · StorageGRID · NetApp Console

AI programs stall on data access, not on GPUs. Training and retrieval pipelines need the enterprise's unstructured data — which sits on-premises, in three clouds, and at the edge, under different permissions in each.

The fabric that serves production workloads is the fabric that feeds the AI pipeline. FlexCache caches on-premises datasets in the cloud region where the GPUs live. Data Classification runs against the same data before it is ever vectorized, so governance is established up front rather than retrofitted after a compliance review.

* Business outcome: feed AI from the data estate you already own instead of building and securing a second copy of it — shorter time to first model, and a governance posture that is already in place when the review happens.

* Enabling technologies: ONTAP · FlexCache · Cloud Volumes ONTAP · Data Classification · NetApp AFX and AIDE (see NetApp AI Solutions)

Data sovereignty runs through all five. Because policy, protection, and access control are ONTAP functions rather than per-environment configurations, data can be pinned to a country or a cage while the operating model stays identical across the estate.

The Data Fabric That Connects Everything

ONTAP is NetApp's flagship storage operating system. It runs on-premises AFF/FAS/AFX systems and powers every cloud storage service in the NetApp portfolio — providing consistent data services, protocols, and management APIs whether your data lives in your data center or a public cloud. Supporting NFS, SMB/CIFS, iSCSI, FC, NVMe/FC, and S3 in a single system, ONTAP is the universal foundation of the NetApp data fabric. 

Key Capabilities

  • Supports NFS, SMB/CIFS, iSCSI, FC, NVMe/FC, and S3 — full multiprotocol in one system
  • SnapMirror, SnapVault, FlexClone, and FlexCache built in for replication, backup, dev/test, and caching
  • Autonomous Ransomware Protection (ARP), multi-tenancy, RBAC, and encryption at rest and in flight
  • Same ONTAP OS and CLI across on-premises, Cloud Volumes ONTAP, FSx for NetApp ONTAP, Azure NetApp Files, and Google Cloud NetApp Volumes — one skill set everywhere

At A Glance

  • On-premises AFF/FAS
  • ASA/ASA r2
  • AFX (Disaggregated)
  • Cloud ONTAP

FlexPod combines Cisco UCS compute, Cisco Nexus networking, and NetApp ONTAP storage into a single pre-validated converged system, backed by joint Cisco and NetApp engineering, published Cisco Validated Designs, and a shared support model. It is NetApp's flagship platform for VMware environments, with reference designs already validated for VMware disaster recovery, backup, and hybrid cloud extension — so the architecture work is done before the first rack lands.

Key Capabilities

  • Cisco Validated Designs for VMware vSphere, disaster recovery, and backup — deployment risk retired before procurement
  • One support relationship across compute, network, and storage — no cross-vendor triage during an outage
  • SnapMirror extension to FSx for NetApp ONTAP, Azure NetApp Files, and Google Cloud NetApp Volumes for cloud DR and workload mobility
  • Storage scales independently of host count — add capacity without adding hypervisor licenses
  • Tiered configurations from edge to enterprise, including FlexPod AI for inferencing and RAG workloads
  • WWT is the largest FlexPod integrator in the country — every design is built and validated in the Advanced Technology Center, and customers can run their own workloads on it before they buy

At A Glance

  • VMware vSphere
  • Hybrid cloud DR
  • Workload mobility
  • FlexPod AI
  • Edge

Keystone is NetApp's subscription-based Storage-as-a-Service offering — delivering enterprise ONTAP capabilities on a consumption-based model that eliminates upfront CapEx. Choose your committed capacity tier and burst beyond it seamlessly, billed only for what you actually use. Available on-premises (NetApp-managed hardware) or in colocation facilities, Keystone aligns storage cost directly to actual utilization. 

Key Capabilities

  • Committed capacity subscription with burst capability — true pay-as-you-grow OpEx model
  • Available on-premises (NetApp-managed hardware) or in colocation facilities
  • Includes Data Infrastructure Insights (DII) as an add-on for full operational visibility
  • Integrates with NetApp Console for unified management across Keystone and cloud services
  • Makes repatriation viable as an OpEx decision — workloads returning from public cloud land on a subscription, not a capital purchase

At A Glance

  • OpEx model
  • On-prem STaaS
  • No refresh cycles
  • Flexible tiers

ONTAP — Native in Every Major Cloud

NetApp has built first-party, fully managed ONTAP storage services into each of the three major hyperscalers. These are native cloud services co-engineered and co-sold by NetApp and the cloud provider — not third-party workarounds. No other storage vendor has done this. Competing platforms reach the cloud as marketplace appliances that you deploy, license, and support yourself. ONTAP sits in the provider's own service catalog, on the provider's invoice, under joint support. That distinction is what makes a single hybrid data fabric possible — and it is why a VMware datastore or an AI dataset can change environments without changing form.

CVO deploys full-featured ONTAP as a software-defined storage instance in your cloud account — giving you the complete ONTAP feature set (snapshots, replication, tiering, multi-protocol) with full control over your deployment. Managed through NetApp Console. Storage capacity up to 512 TiB per system across AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud. 

Key Capabilities

  • Full ONTAP feature set including SnapMirror, FlexClone, FabricPool tiering, and ARP in the cloud
  • Available in single-node and HA configurations — supports NFS, SMB, iSCSI, and NVMe/TCP
  • Scale storage capacity up to 512 TiB per system in AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud
  • Bring-your-own-license (BYOL) or pay-as-you-go via cloud marketplace subscriptions

AtA Glance

  • AWS
  • Azure
  • Google Cloud
  • HA pairs
  • NetApp Console managed

FSxN is a fully managed AWS-native storage service that delivers the complete NetApp ONTAP feature set under AWS management. It eliminates the operational overhead of self-managing CVO while retaining all ONTAP capabilities — including ARP, SnapMirror, and NFS/SMB multi-protocol. Available in Single-AZ and Multi-AZ configurations. 

Key Capabilities

  • AWS-managed infrastructure with full ONTAP feature parity — no patching or lifecycle management
  • Integrates with AWS services: EKS, ECS, EC2, VMware Cloud on AWS, AppStream, and WorkSpaces
  • Supplemental datastore for VMware Cloud on AWS — expand VMware storage capacity without adding hosts, and receive SnapMirror replicas from on-premises FlexPod or ONTAP
  • Supports ARP, immutable snapshots, SnapMirror replication, and FabricPool tiering natively
  • Available in Single-AZ and Multi-AZ configurations for production resilience

At A Glance

  • AWS native
  • Full ONTAP
  • Multi-AZ HA
  • EKS/ECS

ANF is Microsoft Azure's first-party, enterprise-grade NFS and SMB storage service, powered by NetApp's ONTAP technology. Deeply integrated into the Azure fabric — deployed from the Azure portal, billed on your Azure invoice, and supported jointly by Microsoft and NetApp. In 2026, ANF added support for Red Hat OpenShift on Azure (ARO) via Trident CSI for VMs and containers. 

Key Capabilities

  • Azure-native deployment through Azure Portal, ARM templates, and Terraform 
  • Certified datastore for Azure VMware Solution (AVS) — run VMware workloads on Azure with storage scaling independently of AVS host count
  • 2026: Supports Red Hat OpenShift on Azure (ARO) via Trident CSI for VMs and containers
  • ANF cache volumes (powered by FlexCache) accelerate hot data access across distributed Azure regions
  • Ideal for SAP HANA, Azure Virtual Desktop, HPC, and enterprise file workloads on Azure

At A Glance

  • Azure native
  • SAP HANA
  • Azure VMware Solution
  • OpenShift

GCNV is Google Cloud's first-party NetApp-powered storage service — ONTAP multiprotocol storage natively integrated with Google Cloud services including Cloud IAM, managed Active Directory, Google Cloud APIs, and data encryption. Google sells, manages, and supports the service. In 2026, the GCNV MCP server reached general availability, enabling AI/LLM applications to manage storage resources directly. 

Key Capabilities

  • Native Google Cloud integration: Cloud IAM, Managed AD, Cloud KMS encryption, and Google APIs 
  • Supported datastore for Google Cloud VMware Engine — the same VMware mobility and DR pattern available on AWS and Azure
  • 2026: GCNV MCP server is generally available — manage volumes, snapshots, and backup vaults from AI/LLM applications
  • Supports NFS v3/v4.1, SMB, and dual-protocol for broad workload compatibility
  • Ideal for Google Kubernetes Engine (GKE), VMware Engine on GCP, and data analytics workloads

At A Glance

  • GCP native
  • GKE
  • VMware Engine
  • MCP server

Move Data Intelligently Across Your Hybrid Estate

FlexCache and FabricPool are ONTAP's built-in data placement intelligence — automatically keeping hot data where performance demands it and cold data where cost allows it, without manual intervention. 

FlexCache creates read-write caching volumes at edge locations, remote sites, or cloud regions — serving data locally from cache on first read and invalidating stale cache entries automatically. Dramatically reduces latency for distributed workloads and accelerates cloud migration by caching on-premises data in the cloud. 

Key Capabilities

  • Local caching across WAN, cloud regions, and remote sites — eliminates round-trip latency
  • Accelerates AI/ML, EDA, media production, and geographically distributed applications
  • Azure NetApp Files cache volumes use FlexCache to accelerate EDA workloads across Azure regions
  • Supports hybrid cloud migration in either direction: cache on-premises data in the cloud during a migration out, or cloud data on-premises during a repatriation

At A Glance

  • Latency reduction
  • AI/ML
  • EDA
  • Migration and repatriation

FabricPool automatically tiers cold (infrequently accessed) data from expensive flash storage to low-cost object storage — either on-premises StorageGRID or cloud object stores (S3, Azure Blob, GCS). Tiering happens at the block level and is fully transparent to applications — no changes needed to access tiered data. Reduces flash storage requirements by 20–70% on many workloads. 

Key Capabilities

  • Automatic tiering based on access frequency — moves cold blocks to object tier within hours
  • Supports AWS S3, Azure Blob, Google Cloud Storage, and on-premises StorageGRID
  • Completely transparent to applications — data retrieved on-demand without manual recall
  • Reduces flash storage requirements by 20–70% on many workloads — significant CapEx savings

At A Glance

  • Cloud tiering
  • S3/Azure blob
  • StorageGRID
  • 20-70% flash reduction

Operate Your Entire Hybrid Estate From One Place

NetApp's management and operations portfolio gives you centralized control, deep observability, AI-driven optimization, and automated data movement across your entire hybrid and multi-cloud environment. 

NetApp Console is the centralized management platform for your entire NetApp data estate — spanning on-premises ONTAP, all cloud storage services, Keystone subscriptions, and data protection services. Single login, unified API, consistent policy enforcement everywhere. 

Key Capabilities

  • Unified dashboard for ONTAP on-prem, CVO, FSxN, ANF, GCNV, and Keystone subscriptions
  • Centralized policy management for backup, replication, tiering, and ransomware protection
  • Built-in connectors for cloud discovery, SnapMirror orchestration, and compliance scanning
  • Access to all NetApp data services including Backup and Recovery, Disaster Recovery, Data Classification, and Copy & Sync

At A Glance

  • On-prem + Cloud
  • Single pane
  • Policy engine
  • REST API

DII is NetApp's infrastructure monitoring and AIOps platform — providing end-to-end visibility across storage, compute, networking, VMs, containers, and cloud services. An ML engine automatically maps relationships between infrastructure components to identify performance bottlenecks and capacity risks before they impact users. 

Key Capabilities

  • Multi-vendor visibility: NetApp, EMC, HPE, Pure, VMware, Kubernetes, and major cloud providers
  • ML-powered anomaly detection maps infrastructure change to performance impact automatically
  • 13-month immutable audit trail for compliance, forensics, and chargeback reporting
  • Available as a Keystone add-on for full STaaS operational visibility

At A Glance

  • Multi-vendor
  • AIOps
  • Capacity planning
  • Chargeback

Workload Factory is NetApp's AI-driven automation platform for managing FSx for ONTAP on AWS. It optimizes workload deployments, right-sizes storage configurations, manages databases (Oracle, SQL Server), and integrates with Amazon Q for AI-assisted infrastructure management using MCP. 

Key Capabilities

  • AI assistant with MCP integration — query your storage environment using natural language
  • Analyzes EBS performance and recommends the most cost-efficient FSx for ONTAP configuration
  • Database management for Oracle and SQL Server — CPU, latency, IOPS, and throughput dashboards
  • Amazon Q integration for AI-native knowledge base and GenAI workload support on FSxN

At A Glance

  • FSx optimization
  • Amazon Q
  • Oracle/SQL
  • AI-assisted

Copy & Sync is NetApp's cloud-based data synchronization service that moves and synchronizes data between any source and target — NFS, SMB, S3, Azure Blob, Google Cloud Storage, SFTP, and more. Used for migrations, ongoing synchronization, and building hybrid data pipelines between on-premises and cloud. 

Key Capabilities

  • Supports 25+ source/target combinations including NFS, SMB, S3, Azure Blob, GCS, and SFTP
  • Continuous sync mode keeps source and target in alignment — ideal for hybrid data pipelines
  • Moves data in both directions — cloud-to-on-premises repatriation as readily as on-premises-to-cloud migration
  • Encrypted data transfer with no data touching the NetApp control plane — customer-controlled data path
  • Managed from NetApp Console with relationship monitoring and scheduling

At A Glance

  • Migration
  • Repatriation
  • S3/NFS/SMB
  • 25+ protocols

Protect, Recover, and Govern Across Every Cloud

NetApp's protection portfolio delivers cloud-integrated backup, disaster recovery, AI-driven governance, and data classification — all managed from the NetApp Console and covering your entire hybrid data estate. 

NetApp Backup and Recovery provides policy-driven, cloud-integrated backup for ONTAP volumes, virtual machines, databases, and SaaS applications — storing backup copies in low-cost cloud object storage (S3, Azure Blob, GCS) with immutable, air-gapped protection.

Key Capabilities

  • Policy-based backup to AWS S3, Azure Blob, Google Cloud Storage, and StorageGRID
  • Covers ONTAP volumes, VMs (VMware), Oracle, SQL Server, and SAP HANA databases
  • Immutable backup copies using S3 Object Lock and Azure Blob WORM — ransomware-resilient
  • Browse-and-restore granularity: restore individual files, folders, databases, or full volumes

At A Glance

  • ONTAP Volumes
  • VMware
  • Databases
  • Immutable

NetApp Disaster Recovery delivers automated failover and failback for VMware workloads, with SnapMirror-powered replication to on-premises secondary sites or cloud targets. Pre-tested recovery plans, automated runbooks, and RPO/RTO dashboards keep your DR posture audit-ready.

Key Capabilities

  • SnapMirror-powered replication: RPO as low as 5 minutes, RTO in minutes not hours
  • Automated failover and failback for VMware vSphere workloads — no manual VMDK reconfiguration
  • Cloud-based DR targets: fail over to FSxN on AWS, ANF on Azure, or GCNV on GCP
  • Validated against FlexPod reference designs for VMware DR and backup — the same architectures WWT builds and tests in the Advanced Technology Center
  • Pre-defined and customizable recovery plans — non-disruptive DR testing without impacting production

At A Glance

  • VMware DR
  • SnapMirror
  • Cloud Failover
  • Non-disruptive test

NetApp Data Classification uses AI-driven technology to discover, classify, and govern data across your entire hybrid estate — on-premises NAS, cloud object storage, databases, and SaaS. It identifies personal data (PII), sensitive files, stale data, compliance violations, and cost-savings opportunities automatically.

Key Capabilities

  • Discovers and classifies PII, financial data, health records, and sensitive content across all sources
  • Identifies data subject access requests (DSAR) for GDPR, CCPA, and HIPAA compliance
  • Surfaces stale data, duplicate files, and oversized directories to reclaim storage capacity
  • Governance dashboard shows permissions exposure, open access risks, and compliance scoring
  • Supports data residency and sovereignty decisions by showing where regulated data actually lives before a workload moves

At A Glance

  • GDPR/CCPA
  • PII discovery
  • Data mapping
  • Cost savings

The NetApp Hybrid Cloud Data Fabric

NetApp's hybrid cloud products are not independent — they are layers of a cohesive data fabric. ONTAP at the core, cloud services at every hyperscaler, optimization and management across the estate, and protection at every layer. 

Management 

NetApp Console   ·   DII / AIOps   ·   Workload Factory   ·   Copy & Sync 

Cloud Services 

CVO (Any Cloud)   ·   FSxN (AWS)   ·   ANF (Azure)   ·   GCNV (GCP) 

Protection 

Backup & Recovery   ·   Disaster Recovery   ·   Data Classification   ·   ARP 

Optimization 

FlexCache (Performance)   ·   FabricPool (Tiering)   ·   SnapMirror Replication 

Foundation 

ONTAP (On-Prem)   ·   Keystone STaaS   ·   AFF / ASA / AFX  ·  FlexPod

Check out our latest NetApp Hybrid Cloud content