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.

With the launch of the new service, NetApp stated that customers will be able to move existing Ontap-based workloads to the cloud more efficiently than previously possible. The native integration is designed to minimize application redesign and storage management changes, effectively allowing for a "lift and shift" approach that retains the enterprise-grade data management features—such as snapshots, cloning, and replication—that users have relied on in their own data centers.

Speaking to members of the press ahead of the NetApp Insight conference, Pravjit Tiwana, Senior Vice President and General Manager for Cloud Storage and Service at NetApp, emphasized the practical benefits this brings to the enterprise sector. He noted that the feedback from early-access customers has already been overwhelmingly positive, particularly regarding the ease of transition.

"We are integrated into the Oracle stack from a data plane and control plane perspective," Tiwana explained. "We already have customers who are using it for a wide number of use cases, be it about the lift and shift of their applications."

Tiwana further elaborated that for organizations that have spent years building and tuning applications on-premises using Ontap, the new OCI service offers a "plug-and-play" experience. He noted that these organizations can "just take it to the cloud" and "don’t have to amend your applications in any shape or form." This level of compatibility is particularly vital for industries with strict compliance and performance requirements, where even minor changes to an application’s data layer can necessitate months of re-validation.

Strengthening the Oracle Ecosystem

The synergy between NetApp and Oracle is not a new phenomenon. The two companies have shared a massive overlapping customer base for decades, particularly in the realm of high-performance database management. NetApp noted that it already maintains a "large footprint" of customers who utilize Oracle database services on-premises. For these users, the integration into OCI is a natural and long-awaited evolution.

Oracle databases are often the backbone of mission-critical enterprise systems, including ERP, CRM, and financial management tools. These workloads require high IOPS (Input/Output Operations Per Second) and low latency, which are hallmarks of the Ontap system. By providing a native Ontap service on OCI, Oracle is offering its database customers a high-performance storage option that feels familiar and integrates seamlessly with existing Oracle tools.

In a formal statement regarding the partnership, Konstantinos Papamiltiadis, Senior Vice President of Partnerships at OCI, highlighted how the deal aims to reduce the operational strain on IT teams. He argued that the complexities of infrastructure should not be a barrier to business innovation.

"Enterprises shouldn’t have to rebuild their data infrastructure to move to the cloud," Papamiltiadis said. "OCI NetApp Storage Service gives customers a trusted, familiar path to OCI, so they can focus on what the data does, not how it’s managed."

The Role of AI and Modern Workloads

Beyond traditional database management and application hosting, the OCI NetApp Storage Service is being positioned as a foundational tool for the next generation of AI-driven enterprise initiatives. As companies move from experimental AI models to full-scale production, the need for robust, scalable, and secure data storage becomes paramount.

AI workloads, particularly those involving large language models (LLMs) and deep learning, require massive amounts of data to be processed at high speeds. NetApp and Oracle believe that the combination of OCI’s high-performance compute capabilities—often powered by NVIDIA GPUs—and Ontap’s sophisticated data management will provide a compelling platform for AI development.

The integration allows organizations to use their existing enterprise data to train and fine-tune AI models within OCI without the need to create redundant copies of data or navigate complex data silos. This "data-centric" approach to AI is intended to help organizations maintain better governance and security over their information while accelerating the time-to-value for their AI investments.

The announcement at NetApp Insight 2026 also touched upon the broader industry trends of security and investment priorities. As part of the event’s proceedings, attendees were encouraged to look toward the "Future Focus 2026" report, a resource aimed at IT decision-makers that highlights the evolving landscape of AI, cybersecurity, and cloud investment. The report underscores a growing consensus that the future of enterprise IT lies in hybrid and multi-cloud strategies where data can move fluidly between different environments.

Looking Ahead

As the OCI NetApp Storage Service moves toward its general availability over the next year, the industry will be watching to see how quickly Oracle’s enterprise base adopts the new offering. For NetApp, this completes a major chapter in its transition from a hardware-centric company to a software-led data authority. For Oracle, the partnership strengthens OCI’s reputation as a cloud platform built specifically for the rigors of enterprise-scale computing.

The collaboration reflects a broader shift in the technology industry where former rivals and hardware-focused vendors are finding common ground in the cloud. By prioritizing interoperability and ease of use, NetApp and Oracle are signaling that the next phase of cloud growth will be defined not by who owns the hardware, but by who can most effectively manage the data that lives upon it.

With the ability to manage storage through the OCI Console and SDKs, and the promise of no application redesign, the message to enterprises is clear: the path to the cloud is no longer a matter of "if" or "how hard," but a matter of when. For the thousands of organizations currently running their operations on the combination of Oracle and NetApp, that "when" appears to be closer than ever.