To enable data use for GenAI and hybrid cloud workloads, NetApp has extended its partnership with Google Cloud.

NetApp and Google Cloud are proud to announce the launch of the highly anticipated Flex service level for Google Cloud NetApp Volumes. This service allows for storage volumes of various sizes. NetApp has recently released a sample reference architecture of their extraordinary GenAI toolkit. This architecture is designed for retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) operations using the Google Cloud Vertex AI platform.

NetApp and Google Cloud are launching Flex, a new service level for NetApp volumes. Flex gives users greater control over performance and storage adjustments to better meet the needs of their cloud workloads.

NetApp Volumes customers can now use a fully managed file service based on NetApp ONTAPTM and run by Google Cloud. They can choose from four service levels, including the new Flex option. These levels include:

• Standard: reliable storage with fast performance and advanced data management features; suitable for file shares, virtual machines (VMs), and DevTest environments.
• Premium: highly available, high-performance storage that is ideal for file shares, virtual machines, and databases. It has advanced data management features and can transfer 64 MB/sec per TB of data.
• Extreme: 128 MiB/sec per TiB of performance, low latency, high throughput, and highly available storage with advanced data management capabilities; ideal for low latency Online Transaction Processing (OLTP) databases.
• Flex: Depending on the size of the underlying storage pool, highly accessible storage volumes with scalability from one GiB to 100 TiB and up to one GiB/s of performance. Many use cases, including AI, can be supported by this flexible service level.

By the second quarter of 2024, the Flex service level will be widely accessible in 15 Google Cloud regions; by the end of the same year, it will be available in all Google Cloud regions.