Many organizations are finding that traditional SAN and legacy block storage are holding back critical initiatives. Research from Enterprise Strategy Group (now Omdia) shows that 60% of organizations say their IT environment has become more complex in the last two years, and 68% report that this complexity slows operations and digital initiatives.

Common pain points with legacy block storage include:

• Fragmented infrastructure – SANs often operate as isolated islands that are hard to integrate with broader IT management and automation tools. This drives up costs and requires specialist skills.
• Performance bottlenecks – Storage can slow down mission-critical databases, real-time analytics, AI workloads, and virtualized environments. Performance is no longer just about IOPS; it’s also about how quickly you can replicate, restore, and protect data.
• Security and ransomware risk – Omdia research shows that 99% of organizations hit by ransomware lost data, and 45% recovered half or less of their data. That’s pushing teams to build resilience directly into the storage layer.

Modernizing block storage with a platform like NetApp’s portfolio helps you:

• Reduce complexity by consolidating multiple systems and protocols (block, file, object) under a consistent operating model.
• Improve performance and resilience for transactional systems, analytics, AI, and virtualized workloads.
• Strengthen cyber resilience with capabilities such as immutable snapshots, AI-driven anomaly detection, and integrated ransomware protection.

In short, modernization is less about replacing hardware and more about rethinking how storage supports your broader cloud, AI, and application strategies.

NetApp has spent 30 years in enterprise storage and has reshaped its portfolio to address today’s mix of on-premises, hybrid, and cloud workloads. A few aspects stand out:

1. A unified data platform, not just point products

• All-flash SAN (ASA) for mission-critical block workloads that need ultra-low latency and high IOPS.
• Unified platforms (AFF and FAS) that support block, file, and object on the same system, helping reduce infrastructure silos.
• Cloud block services available across major hyperscalers, so you can extend the same data services into the cloud.

All of these are powered by the ONTAP operating system, which gives you consistent data services, performance, and management across deployment models.

2. Built-in security and resilience

• Immutable snapshots and integrated ransomware protection to support rapid recovery.
• AI-driven anomaly detection to spot unusual behavior early.
• Zero-trust architecture and end-to-end encryption to protect data on premises, in the cloud, or in hybrid environments.

Given that 99% of ransomware victims lose data and nearly half recover only half or less, embedding this level of resilience in the storage layer is becoming a core requirement.

3. Consistent data management and observability

• Application-consistent recovery and broad support for key databases such as Oracle, Microsoft SQL Server, and SAP.
• Data Infrastructure Insights for observability across SAN infrastructure, helping you optimize performance and troubleshoot faster.
• Integrated data services for protection, recovery, business continuity, and intelligent data management.

NetApp’s approach is to reimagine block storage as part of an intelligent data infrastructure, so you can support everything from high-performance workloads to cost-optimized capacity tiers with a single, coherent strategy.

NetApp combines technology and commercial flexibility to help you manage both operational complexity and budget predictability.

1. Flexible deployment options

• Run block workloads on a dedicated SAN, in a unified multiprotocol environment, or in the public cloud.
• Use the same ONTAP-based tools and processes across these environments, which reduces training needs and simplifies day-to-day operations.

2. NetApp Keystone Storage-as-a-Service (STaaS)

• Keystone lets you shift storage from a capital expense to a predictable operating expense with pay-as-you-go pricing.
• You gain on-demand scalability and cloud-like agility without taking on the full complexity of traditional ownership.
• It helps simplify hybrid cloud management and reduce IT overhead by aligning capacity and cost more closely with actual usage.

3. Operational efficiency through integration and automation

• ONTAP and NetApp’s data services integrate with broader IT management and automation platforms, addressing one of the top system-related challenges identified in Omdia research: integration with IT management and automation tools.
• By consolidating block, file, and object workloads on fewer platforms, you can reduce the number of systems to manage and cut down on low-ROI administrative tasks.

Together, these capabilities help you rethink how you fund, deploy, and operate block storage, so it becomes a more agile and predictable part of your overall IT strategy.