Data infrastructure company NetApp has expanded its partnership with Google Cloud to make it easier for organisations to leverage data for generative AI (GenAI) and other hybrid cloud workloads.

Under this partnership, NetApp and Google Cloud are launching a new Flex service level for companies to have more flexibility and control to run existing infrastructure across Google Cloud with similar enterprise data management capabilities, the company said.

The company is also releasing a preview of its GenAI toolkit reference architecture for retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) operations using Google Cloud Vertex AI platform.

“Increasing demand for data-intensive applications and insights has reinforced the need for a new approach to unified data storage that gives organisations the agility to move and store data wherever it is needed at any point in time,” said Pravjit Tiwana, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Cloud Storage at NetApp.

“By extending our collaboration with Google Cloud, we’re delivering a flexible form factor that can be run on existing infrastructure across Google Cloud system without any tradeoffs to enterprise data management capabilities,” he added.

The company has announced that it is releasing a preview of its GenAI toolkit with support for NetApp Volumes. To be sure, NetApp Volumes, introduced first in August 2023, is a fully managed file storage service for running applications on Google Cloud. With the NetApp GenAI toolkit, companies will be able to speed up retrieval augmented generation (RAG) operations. It will allow greater ability to generate high-quality and unique insights and automation.

“Google Cloud NetApp Volumes remains a critical component of every enterprise’s digital transformation strategy,” said Sameet Agarwal, GM/VP, Google Cloud Storage at Google Cloud.

“Utilising Google Cloud technologies, NetApp Volumes will power new capabilities that can improve how businesses operate and create real-world value for their organisations,” he added.

The Flex service level will be generally available by Q2 2024 across 15 Google Cloud regions, expanding to the other Google Cloud regions by the end of 2024.

“As the intelligent data infrastructure company, we have unmatched capabilities to support data classification, tagging, mobility, and cloning for data wherever it lives so our customers can run efficient and secure AI data pipelines,” said Tiwana.

“Building on our partnership with Google Cloud to streamline RAG enables customers to tap into market-leading AI services and models to generate a unique competitive advantage,” he added.

The GenAI toolkit will be available as a public preview within the second half of 2024.

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