"Customers will be able to just fire up virtual desktops as needed. "We will manage all the infrastructure in the cloud," he said. Prior to the acquisition, CloudJumper was already being integrated on NetApp on-premises and cloud storage infrastructures, including NetApp's Cloud Volumes and its Azure NetApp Service, and the two companies have a large overlap in channel partners, Bhatia said.įurther integration now that NetApp has acquired CloudJumper will make it easier for partners to build managed services around VDI, Bhatia said. VDI has been a big focus for NetApp because businesses are increasingly using the technology to move to Azure, Google, and AWS, Bhatia told CRN. NetApp has been involved in the VDI business for years, with a lot of customers running their virtual desktops on NetApp storage, both on-premises and in the cloud, said Vikram Bhatia, vice president for go-to-market strategy and partnerships for NetApp cloud services. NetApp Wednesday said it acquired CloudJumper as a way to build a single management platform that combines VDI, and the underpinning storage and data services infrastructure that delivers high-performance, easily-managed virtual desktops across Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud. "NetApp has had the storage infrastructure for VDI (virtual desktop infrastructure), but not the tools to manage it.
"It's interesting to see a storage company like NetApp broaden its portfolio beyond storage," Chris Pyle, president of Champion Solutions Group, a Boca Raton, Fla.-based solution provider and NetApp channel partner, told CRN. NetApp's acquisition of virtual desktop infrastructure management company CloudJumper gives NetApp and its channel partners new ways to build on NetApp storage to further their reach into the cloud.