NetApp advances AI capabilities through NVIDIA collaboration

NVIDIA-powered data agents coming to NetApp ONTAP will speed inference.

NetApp has announced advancements in Artificial Intelligence (AI) through collaboration with NVIDIA, integrating the NVIDIA AI Data Platform with its ONTAP system. This integration will enable businesses to leverage their data for AI reasoning tasks more effectively.

As organizations face the challenge of managing rapidly growing data estates, adopting an Intelligent Data Infrastructure framework will empower them to link their data strategies with agile business practices. This framework aims to reduce siloes and enhance the ability to generate actionable insights throughout the AI pipeline.

With the combined capabilities of NetApp ONTAP and the NVIDIA AI Data Platform, businesses will be equipped to build distributed systems that maximize the value of their data. This initiative is founded on NVIDIA's expertise in optimizing AI workflows and creating a customizable reference design that connects accelerated computing and AI software.

NetApp customers will utilize the NVIDIA AI Enterprise software, which includes NVIDIA AI-Q Blueprints for microservices supporting various AI models. The integration aims to provide near-real-time insights through NVIDIA Blackwell GPUs and networking solutions.

Krish Vitaldevara, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Platform at NetApp, emphasized the need for modern architectures that support AI functions, stating, “NVIDIA and NetApp are collaborating to give customers the tools they need to strategically unlock their data.” This partnership looks to enhance security and compliance while aiming to transform enterprises into data-driven organizations.

NetApp supports the NVIDIA AI Data Platform by enhancing capabilities for faster AI pipelines. Key features include a Global Metadata Namespace for secure data management and an Integrated AI Data Pipeline that prepares unstructured data for AI applications. A Disaggregated Storage Architecture will further optimize performance and reduce costs associated with compute-intensive workloads.

The collaboration between NetApp and NVIDIA builds on their historical partnership, following a recent announcement about integrated Generative AI (GenAI) data solutions combining both companies’ technologies.

Kari Briski, Vice President of GenAI Software for Enterprise at NVIDIA, noted the importance of effective data management, indicating the necessity of a continuous data pipeline between enterprise data and AI agents.

For more details about this collaboration, interested parties can visit the NetApp booth at NVIDIA GTC in San Jose from March 17-21, 2025.