Sydney, Australia – March 19, 2026 – NetApp® (NASDAQ: NTAP), the Intelligent Data Infrastructure company, today introduced its data vision for Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) at INSIGHT Xtra Sydney 2026, a strategy that aims to enable businesses in their endeavour to push the envelope for AI and data innovation.
As enterprises in ANZ scale generative AI and advanced analytics initiatives, many are discovering that legacy and fragmented data environments are limiting their ability to move from pilots to production. Data spread across on-premises systems, multiple clouds, and the edge can make it difficult to ensure performance, security, and AI readiness at scale. NetApp’s latest innovations, including the NetApp AFX systems and the AI Data Engine (AIDE), address these challenges by enabling organisations to unify, secure, and accelerate their AI data pipelines across hybrid and multi-cloud environments.
“For over 25 years, NetApp has consistently empowered enterprises across ANZ as they navigate digital transformation,” said Mark Fioretto, Area Vice President and Managing Director of NetApp in Australia and New Zealand. “As data continues to grow in scale and complexity, organisations need an intelligent, scalable approach to innovation. With NetApp’s enterprise-grade data platform, we can help enterprises transform their data into a strategic asset—securely, sustainably, and with the agility required to stay ahead of competition in an increasingly data-driven future.”
NetApp’s recent innovations are designed to help organisations address data complexities—holistically and securely—as ANZ’s AI and cloud landscape continues to evolve. These include:
1. Power the most performance-intensive workloads at scale: Announced this week, the new NetApp EF-Series storage systems boast exceptional performance and—integrated with Lustre—help meet the demands of GPU-hungry AI workloads seen in neoclouds and AI clouds as well as high-performance computing (HPC) applications.
2. Building a strong data foundation with enterprise-grade disaggregated storage: NetApp AFX storage was designed for demanding enterprise AI workloads and enables organisations to independently scale capacity and performance as needed, leading to cost efficiencies and better resource utilisation. Built on NetApp ONTAP, AFX delivers proven, enterprise-grade data management and security features for enterprise AI.
3. Making data ready for AI, ensuring it is always current: The NetApp AI Data Engine (AIDE) is designed to provide semantic search, data vectorisation, and data guardrails to simplify the entire AI data pipeline by collapsing multiple data preparation and management steps.
4. Protecting data in an AI-powered world: NetApp Ransomware Resilience enables customers to drive a comprehensive ransomware defence for their ONTAP workloads—from proactive protection, through AI-driven detection, real-time response, and clean, fast recovery of mission-critical data.
Enabling Organisations to Solve Real-Time Data Challenges
As the official Intelligent Data Infrastructure Partner of the NFL, NetApp provides the enterprise-grade data platform that powers the digital and physical experiences for football fans.
“The NFL has continued to expand on its global reach with the recent announcement of nine international games in 2026 – the most ever for the NFL – including the first-ever regular season game in Melbourne later this year,” said NFL Australia & New Zealand General Manager Charlotte Offord. “Data fuels our ability to connect with more fans worldwide and maintain high-quality engagement. With NetApp-powered Intelligent Data Infrastructure, we are able to consistently deliver incredible and tailored fan experiences around the world whether you’re tuning in for the Super Bowl in the US, attending a watch party in London, or attending a game at the MCG in Melbourne. NetApp supports our ability to connect with our fans in real time, no matter where they are.”
“The massive streams of data produced through every game and fan interaction create new insights and opportunities for the NFL to Unleash Genius, and deliver a world-class fan experience across the globe. This is similar to how organisations are navigating the massive volume of data they collect, manage and ingest every day,” added Fioretto. “The world runs on data, and an intelligent data infrastructure will become essential in helping organisations power up their operations.”
“Across ANZ, many organisations are balancing the need to modernise their IT environments while continuing to support critical legacy systems,” said Gavin Hoffmann, Sales and Marketing Director, Global Storage. “Fragmented data estates and complex infrastructure often slow progress and limit how effectively data can be used. Through our long‑standing partnership with NetApp, we help customers take a more practical, structured approach to data—simplifying their environments, strengthening cyber resilience, and delivering real business outcomes.”
Last November, NetApp celebrated 25 years of innovation and excellence with its customers and partners across Australia and New Zealand. The company remains steadfast in its commitment to innovation and helping the region boost its digital resilience.
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