Azure NetApp Files Available to Government Agencies in Microsoft Azure

NetApp, Inc. announced the availability of Azure NetApp Files in the government region data centers on Azure.

This expansion of Azure NetApp Files, one of the only Azure native file storage services, offers the TCO, performance, management, and confidence demanded by critical applications for federal, department of defense, and state and local agencies that have strict government security and regulatory compliance requirements.

It’s a public cloud file storage solution for the public sector, securely architected into government virtual networks and integrated into Azure, making it a solution to meet cloud-first mandates. And with Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program (FedRAMP) High Baseline level authorization, the service meets the stringent security requirements for high-impact unclassified data in the cloud. The result is a flexible cloud service that supports multi-protocol workloads that can be tailored to fit customers’ hybrid data environments while scaling storage and service levels based on required speed.

“Combining nearly three decades of NetApp’s extensive experience in data management and storage with Microsoft’s forward-looking capabilities of Microsoft Azure gives government customers the ability to fulfill the government’s cloud-first mandate simply, reliably, and securely,” said Anthony Lye, SVP and GM, NetApp cloud data services business unit. “Azure NetApp Files is a significant Azure differentiator, and a game changer for all organizations that want to fully harness the value of cloud.“

“By combining the scale and reach of Microsoft Azure with NetApp’s Cloud Volumes technology coupled, customers can achieve new value with Azure NetApp Files,” said Lily Kim, GM, Azure global, Microsoft Corp. “With deployment into our government data center regions, government customers can have another great option to migrate and run applications in the cloud with powerful data management capabilities.“

Deployment of Azure NetApp Files to government data center regions started in Virginia, followed by Arizona and Texas deployments.

Benefits of Azure NetApp Files include: 

• Migrate and run: Agencies can move and deploy their most demanding enterprise file applications without code changes.
• No separate contracts or term agreements: It is delivered as an Azure first-party service, which allows customers to provision workloads through their existing Azure agreement. No additional NetApp ONTAP licensing is required. Pay for only what you use. The service has no back-end read or write or other back-end fees.
• Multiple performance tiers: It offers 3 levels of performance to allow optimized performance according to needs without sacrificing performance, reliability, or security.
• FedRAMP certification: 50% of the $80 billion per year that the US Government spends on IT is data categorized as high impact level. With FedRAMP high impact level certification, agencies with rigorous security requirements can take advantage of the smooth migration of their most intensive workloads by using Azure NetApp Files.
• Simplifies migration to the cloud: It eliminates a common cloud-first barrier by creating the right infrastructure environment for agencies resources, budget, and skillsets.