Nutanix and NetApp deepen virtualisation integration to ease hybrid IT modernisation
Targets faster VM migration, disaggregated compute‑storage scaling, and ransomware‑ready operations.
Nutanix and NetApp have partnered to integrate NetApp’s enterprise storage and data infrastructure with the Nutanix Cloud Platform (NCP), to simplify virtualisation and data management across on-premises and cloud environments.
The integration, expected to be available later this year, will bring NetApp ONTAP data management capabilities into Nutanix environments running on the AHV hypervisor.
The move comes as organisations look to modernise legacy virtualisation environments while maintaining flexibility across hybrid and multi-cloud setups.
Nutanix and NetApp said the integration will give customers control over how they manage virtualised workloads, data, and infrastructure, while reducing operational complexity.
The joint solution avoids the need to overhaul entire infrastructure stacks.
By combining NCP with NetApp’s Intelligent Data Infrastructure, enterprises can optimise existing environments while preparing containerised and cloud-native workloads.
A key focus area for integration is simplifying virtual machine (VM) migration.
The companies are enabling NFS-based integration between Nutanix and NetApp ONTAP, to support faster data-in-place conversions.
Using NetApp Shift and Nutanix Move, enterprises can migrate VMs to Nutanix environments.
Allows compute and storage to scale independently
The joint architecture also allows compute and storage to scale independently, with data management handled by NetApp ONTAP and compute and virtualisation managed by Nutanix.
This separation can reduce operational overhead and give IT teams flexibility in managing performance and capacity.
Enterprises will also be able to manage both platforms through a unified operational model, simplifying administration and troubleshooting across environments.
The integration introduces VM-level control, allowing organisations to manage performance, storage capacity, and recovery policies at the individual workload level.
Security is another key component of the offering.
The integration will include NetApp’s Autonomous Ransomware Protection with AI and ransomware resilience capabilities to detect threats and potential data exfiltration in real time.
This will help enterprises protect workloads across hybrid environments without deploying separate security layers.
Data and infrastructure integration
The integration brings together NetApp’s ONTAP data management platform with Nutanix Cloud Platform to create a combined architecture for managing both data and virtualised workloads.
Data management functions are offloaded to ONTAP, allowing organisations to scale storage independently while maintaining consistent performance and data mobility across environments.
This enables a flexible infrastructure model compared to traditional hyperconverged setups, where compute and storage are tightly coupled.
The unified approach can simplify how enterprises manage hybrid environments, while supporting both existing virtualised workloads and emerging container-based applications.
Extending to AI and ecosystem partnerships
Nutanix and NetApp plan to extend the integration to support AI-driven workloads by integrating ONTAP into Nutanix’s Agentic AI stack.
This is to enable organisations manage and access volumes of data efficiently for AI use cases.
The partnership also extends to Cisco, which will support Nutanix Cloud Platform within its FlexPod architecture.
This will allow enterprises to combine Cisco compute and networking with NetApp storage and Nutanix software in a single environment.
The integrated solution will be available later this year, with support for NetApp AFF all-flash A-series and select FAS hybrid-flash systems.
As enterprises continue to reassess their infrastructure strategies, the partnership is expected to provide a flexible approach to managing virtualisation, data, and cloud environments within a unified platform.