NetApp and Oracle Unveil Native Integration to Streamline Enterprise Cloud Migration and AI Workloads

LAS VEGAS — In a move designed to bridge the gap between traditional on-premises storage and modern cloud environments, NetApp and Oracle have announced a new, fully managed storage service that integrates NetApp’s flagship data management software directly into Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). The announcement, made during the NetApp Insight 2026 conference, represents a significant milestone in the long-standing partnership between the two technology giants and completes NetApp’s strategic objective of achieving native integration across all major hyperscale cloud providers.

The new offering, officially named the Oracle Cloud Infrastructure NetApp Storage Service, will see NetApp’s Ontap storage operating system made available as a first-party, native service within the OCI ecosystem. This integration is intended to provide enterprises with a seamless path to the cloud, particularly for those managing complex, data-heavy workloads and those looking to accelerate their adoption of artificial intelligence.

According to NetApp, the primary goal of this collaboration is to simplify the migration and management of critical AI and enterprise workloads. By bringing Ontap to OCI, the companies are addressing a persistent pain point for IT departments: the technical friction and operational risk associated with moving massive datasets and legacy applications from local data centers to a public cloud environment.

A Native Approach to Cloud Storage

The technical core of the announcement lies in the "native" nature of the service. Unlike traditional "cloud-adjacent" storage or software-only deployments where a customer might run storage management on top of cloud virtual machines, the OCI NetApp Storage Service is built into the fabric of Oracle’s cloud.

Moving forward, the service will operate as a fully managed native offering. This means that customers will be able to provision, scale, and manage their storage assets directly through the OCI Console, utilize Oracle’s standard Software Development Kits (SDKs), and interact with the service via the OCI Command Line Interface. For those already deeply invested in NetApp’s ecosystem, the service also maintains compatibility with standard ONTAP APIs, allowing for a consistent management experience across hybrid cloud environments.

The duo confirmed that while the service is currently in the hands of select early-access participants, it is expected to reach general availability within the next 12 months. This timeline provides enterprise customers with a window to begin planning their infrastructure roadmaps for the coming year, aligning their storage strategies with Oracle’s expanding cloud footprint.

The integration with OCI marks the final piece of a nearly decade-long "hyperscaler" strategy for NetApp. The company has methodically established similar native ties with the world’s largest cloud platforms to ensure its customers have a consistent data experience regardless of their choice of provider. NetApp’s journey into native hyperscaler services began in 2017 with the launch of Microsoft Azure NetApp Files, a move that was considered groundbreaking at the time for a storage hardware company. This was followed by a partnership with Amazon Web Services (AWS) in 2021 and a similar integration with Google Cloud in 2023. By adding Oracle to this list, NetApp has successfully positioned its Ontap software as a universal data layer across the "big four" cloud providers.

Simplified Cloud Shifting

The value proposition for the OCI NetApp Storage Service centers on the concept of "simplified cloud shifting." For many organizations, the prospect of moving to the cloud is often hampered by the need to refactor or completely redesign applications to suit cloud-native storage protocols. This process can be both time-consuming and prohibitively expensive.