Keystone, NetApp’s hybrid storage, can be effectively tried out on-premise by customers before they make a definitive investment. This was stated by George Kurian, CEO of the company, in an interview.
Kurian stated that Keystone’s pricing model would be more expensive than the purchase of capital goods, so Keystone would best suit customers who “want to try NetApp before making a larger commitment”.
Keystone provides service and management in the NetApp Data Fabric hybrid cloud and multicloud storage. Data Fabric enables customers to use NetApp storage on-premise as well as through the three major public clouds, and to consistently use data management services between the two.
The payment arrangement means that customers can pay for NetApp hardware on-premise through a subscription model, paying only for the storage capacity they actually use. Kurian told TechTarget that customers who chose to do this would receive the hardware within “a few weeks” and then have a minimum commitment of one year, for which they would be billed quarterly or monthly.
Subscription as a try-out
The subscription rate for on-premise or in the cloud would be “about the same”, Kurian said, depending on the level of performance and capacity, although he also added that it would be cheaper to just invest in NetApp hardware.
“What we would say to customers is that if you want to use NetApp on a short-term basis, it is available in the cloud. But those that want to try out NetApp on-premise before making a larger commitment can do so by paying on subscription. If an industry is not regulated then you can do things in the public cloud. If it is regulated you’ll need to run on-premise,” Kurian said.
4 hours ago
