A major highlight of the recent NetApp Insight event was the introduction of BlueXP – NetApp’s new hybrid cloud management solution. BlueXP is a re-branding, as well as an expansion of NetApp’s previous Cloud Manager solution, and looks to be strong solution for management of NetApp ONTAP solutions, both on premises and in the cloud.
NetApp has stated that BlueXP is built around 4 pillars: Storage, Mobility, Protection, and Analysis and Control. Across these pillars, BlueXP offers functionality for storage discovery and deployment, data tiering, backup and recovery, ransomware protection, system monitoring, and more. Much of this functionality was brought in from Cloud Manager and the other NetApp cloud solutions that it integrated with. Similar to Cloud Manager, basic utilization of BlueXP is free for NetApp customers, with some functionality adding additional licensing.
While there are a number of features available in BlueXP, the key idea behind it is that it provides a common management interface for all NetApp ONTAP storage. This includes AFF systems deployed on premises as well as NetApp’s multiple cloud offerings across all major clouds. This ability to manage all data and systems, across all clouds and on-premises through a unified platform is a crucial tool for implementing a multi-cloud or hybrid cloud strategy. While many organizations commonly utilize multiple clouds for different applications, without common management of many of the features BlueXP provides, this can become increasingly complex. BlueXP’s ability to deploy, manage, migrate, and protect data across multiple clouds all within a common platform is a win for organizations who heavily leverage NetApp ONTAP solutions across multiple cloud environments.
NetApp’s introduction of BlueXP at NetApp Insight further establishes its commitment to a hybrid cloud strategy and bolsters its management offering. The solution is also well aligned with Evaluator Group’s categorization of Multi-Cloud Data Management. While the clear downside to the solution is that it is limited to supporting only NetApp solutions, BlueXP builds upon NetApp’s Cloud Manager solution to provide multi-cloud data management for organizations heavily utilizing NetApp ONTAP solutions.
