NetApp Launches Enterprise-Grade Data Platform to Power AI Innovation

NetApp, Inc. NTAP has unveiled a visionary suite of new products designed to strengthen its enterprise-grade data platform and power the next era of artificial intelligence (AI) innovation. As AI adoption moves from experimental pilots to mission-critical, agentic applications, NetApp’s latest advancements enable enterprises to make their data AI-ready on a modern, secure and scalable infrastructure.The highlight of the launch is NetApp AFX, a next-generation, disaggregated all-flash storage system built for demanding AI workloads. Running on the trusted NetApp ONTAP architecture, AFX decouples performance and capacity to deliver linear scaling of up to 128 nodes, offering terabytes per second of bandwidth and exabyte-scale capacity. It supports NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD certification and provides robust data management, built-in cyber resilience and seamless integration across on-premises and cloud environments. Optional DX50 data compute nodes introduce a global metadata engine, offering a real-time catalog of enterprise data accelerated by NVIDIA computing.NetApp, Inc. Price and Consensus NetApp, Inc. price-consensus-chart | NetApp, Inc. QuoteComplementing AFX is the NetApp AI Data Engine (AIDE), a unified, AI-native data service designed to simplify, secure and accelerate the entire AI data lifecycle. Integrated with the NVIDIA AI Data Platform reference design, AIDE enables organizations to connect their entire data estate across hybrid multicloud environments. It automates data synchronization, ensures up-to-date visibility and embeds security guardrails throughout the AI workflow. By running natively within the AFX cluster and leveraging NVIDIA AI Enterprise software and NIM microservices, AIDE powers advanced features like vectorization, semantic discovery and secure, policy-driven operations—offering enterprises clarity, governance and efficiency for confident AI adoption.Customers can access the new NetApp AFX and AIDE offerings through direct purchase or via a NetApp Keystone STaaS subscription. Together, these solutions mark a major leap in enabling enterprises to securely and efficiently harness the power of AI across hybrid and multicloud environments.NetApp also introduced an Object REST API for Azure NetApp Files (ANF), available in public preview, which allows customers to directly access their NFS and SMB datasets through Azure Data & AI services such as Microsoft Fabric, Azure OpenAI and Azure Databricks, without data movement or duplication. This makes it possible to analyze, train and build AI applications on existing ANF datasets while maintaining enterprise-grade performance and reliability.Further enhancing hybrid cloud flexibility, NetApp unveiled an Enhanced Unified Global Namespace in Microsoft Azure, powered by new FlexCache capabilities in ANF. This innovation allows enterprises to seamlessly unify their data across on-premises and cloud environments, enabling instant visibility and writable access to ONTAP-based data wherever it resides. Paired with SnapMirror, it also supports hybrid use cases like continuous backup, disaster recovery and automated workload balancing.The increasing demand for NetApp’s cloud storage and AI solutions bodes well. In the fiscal first quarter, the company secured more than 125 AI and data lake modernization deals. NTAP expanded its AI ecosystem and launched a new AIPod Mini with Intel. This solution tackles the cost and complexity challenges of implementing AI at the department and team levels. It also completed the NetApp reference architecture for NVIDIA Cloud Partners. The launch of AI reference architectures with NVIDIA (AIDP), Intel (AIPod Mini), Cisco (FlexPod) and Lenovo (AIPod), and certification for NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD, indicates NetApp is deeply embedded in the evolving AI stack. NetApp expects fiscal 2026 to be a pivotal year for enterprise AI storage.NTAP’s Zacks Rank & Stock Price PerformanceNetApp currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). Shares of the company have gained 48.2% in the past six months compared with the Zacks Computer- Storage Devices industry’s growth of 100.6%. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here.Image Source: Zacks Investment ResearchKey Picks From the Computer and Technology SpaceSome better-ranked stocks from the broader technology space are Western Digital Corporation WDC, Freshworks Inc. FRSH and Workday, Inc. WDAY. WDC, FRSH and WDAY sport a Zacks Rank #1.Western Digital’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, with the average surprise being 6.77%. In the last reported quarter, Western Digital delivered an earnings surprise of 12.16%. Its shares have surged 217.6% in the past year.Freshworks’ earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, with the average surprise being 41.49%. In the last reported quarter, FRSH delivered an earnings surprise of 50%. Its shares have decreased 1.7% in the past year.Workday’s earnings beat the Zacks Consensus Estimate in each of the trailing four quarters, with the average surprise being 9.35%. In the last reported quarter, WDAY delivered an earnings surprise of 5.74%. Its shares have increased 4.1% in the past six months.Zacks' Research Chief Names "Stock Most Likely to Double"Our team of experts has just released the 5 stocks with the greatest probability of gaining +100% or more in the coming months. Of those 5, Director of Research Sheraz Mian highlights the one stock set to climb highest.This top pick is a little-known satellite-based communications firm. Space is projected to become a trillion dollar industry, and this company's customer base is growing fast. Analysts have forecasted a major revenue breakout in 2025. Of course, all our elite picks aren't winners but this one could far surpass earlier Zacks' Stocks Set to Double like Hims & Hers Health, which shot up +209%.Free: See Our Top Stock And 4 Runners UpWant the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report NetApp, Inc. (NTAP): Free Stock Analysis Report Western Digital Corporation (WDC): Free Stock Analysis Report Workday, Inc. (WDAY): Free Stock Analysis Report Freshworks Inc. (FRSH): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).Zacks Investment ResearchWeiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei Zacks