NetApp has announced a new integration with Amazon Web Services (AWS) that directly addresses a major challenge for many companies: how to leverage their massive existing data volumes for artificial intelligence projects, advanced analytics, and machine learning without duplicating the data or redesigning their entire infrastructure.
The company, which describes itself as a provider of “smart data infrastructure,” now incorporates Amazon S3 Access Points for Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP. This capability exposes data stored in ONTAP as if it were S3 buckets, ready to be consumed by native AWS services focused on AI, analytics, and serverless compute.
ONTAP Data, S3 Access, and No Data Movement
Until now, many organizations wanting to use AI and analytics services on AWS faced a common reality: their critical data remained in enterprise file systems (NFS/SMB) both in the cloud and on-premises. This created the need to:
- Replicate data to S3 buckets
- Maintain data transfer and synchronization pipelines
- Bear extra storage and traffic costs
- Deal with governance issues, inconsistent backups, and latency
With the new integration, FSx for NetApp ONTAP can be accessed via the S3 API, allowing services and applications that already work with S3 (including third-party tools) to directly consume that data without removing it from the file system while maintaining simultaneous access through traditional file protocols.
Practically, companies can:
- Continue using ONTAP as the primary storage for their applications
- Replicate data between on-premises and AWS using native ONTAP features
- Expose the same data to AI, ML, analytics, and serverless services via S3 Access Points
All this without redesigning their data architecture from scratch.
Over 100 Exabytes of “Unlocked” Data for AI
NetApp emphasizes the potential of this integration by highlighting that, among its customers, more than 100 exabytes of enterprise data are managed on ONTAP systems globally. The goal is to transform this vast installed base into a ready resource for projects such as:
- Generative AI and advanced models
- Business analytics and big data
- Automation and data-driven applications in the AWS cloud
The key is not just access but also operational simplification: teams can create multiple S3 Access Points with custom names and permissions for each application or use case, controlling who accesses which data and with what privileges—without duplicating data or creating parallel environments.
Without Sacrificing ONTAP’s Cyber Resilience
An important aspect of this announcement is that integrating with S3 does not force a compromise on the cyber resilience that NetApp has built into ONTAP over the years. Data remains protected by:
- Built-in snapshots for quick recovery
- Real-time ransomware detection
- Advanced data protection and governance policies
By avoiding data movement to other repositories for AI or analytics consumption, organizations can maintain their security policies, backups, and compliance standards on the same system, reducing the risk of “dark zones” of poorly protected data scattered across S3 environments.
Furthering the NetApp–AWS Partnership
Today, NetApp is the only enterprise storage provider offering a native, first-party data service integrated directly within AWS via Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP. This new S3 Access Points capability strengthens that position and aligns with their message of a “unified data platform” for:
- Connecting data across multi-cloud, on-premises, and edge environments
- Optimizing workloads on AWS (including VMware on AWS)
- Providing flexibility for companies to run any workload where it makes the most economic and operational sense
For AWS, this integration also has strategic importance: it makes it easier for more corporate data to seamlessly flow into its ecosystem of AI and analytics services, with less friction for the customer, a key factor in the ongoing race to attract generative AI workloads and data analytics projects.
Reducing Friction to Bring Your Data into AI
In summary, the collaboration between NetApp and AWS with Amazon S3 Access Points for FSx for NetApp ONTAP aims to solve one of the biggest bottlenecks in enterprise AI adoption: how to leverage data where it already resides, without duplicates, endless migration projects, or breaking existing security and governance frameworks.
For many CIOs, data officers, and infrastructure teams, the message is clear:
if they already have ONTAP in their data centers or on AWS, they can now connect that data much more directly with Amazon’s AI and analytics ecosystem, accelerating projects and reducing complexity along the way.