[Advertorial] The new gold, the new oil… There is no shortage of metaphors to describe the importance of data in society. What was already a trend twenty years ago when NetApp and Simac first joined forces has now become part of everyday life everywhere. Many organizations stand or fall with the availability of data. Fortunately, NetApp and Simac customers can always look forward to future-proof solutions.

Simac has been operating as a strategic ICT integrator for half a century. The company operates in various industries and meets the needs of organizations with a well-thought-out selection of solutions and technologies in which it has built up extensive expertise and experience. Thanks to its strong local presence in Belgium, the company is always close to its customers. Just as Simac likes to build long-term relationships with its customers, partnerships often go back a long way. For example, the company has been working with NetApp, a provider specializing in intelligent data infrastructure, for more than two decades. NetApp itself also has a long history with thirty years of experience in a world that never stands still for a second.

“We always approach our customers with an open mind. We listen to their challenges and look for a solution. We often end up with NetApp,” says Kristof Versluys, Cross Domain Architect at Simac. “What makes NetApp interesting for us as an integrator is the fact that they offer a lot of freedom to develop a creative solution. Some parties put pressure on them to deliver a package, while with NetApp it is perfectly possible to place another server next to their storage platform, for example. In addition, it is more than a box for users. There is even a real community among NetApp customers.”

Stability and innovation

This freedom, together with open and honest communication, forms the basis of the long-term relationship between Simac and NetApp. “We let partners choose which solution domains they want to specialize in,” says Manu Van de Vliet, Partner & Distribution Manager Belgium and Luxembourg at NetApp. “Thanks to the knowledge that Simac has in-house, we know that they position NetApp correctly in the market, but also that they provide excellent support to customers both in implementation and in monitoring the entire lifecycle of a product.”

In the IT environment, where new developments take place every month, stability is undoubtedly one of the most important values ​​that NetApp has to offer. “The last thing you want as a customer is to have to install a new infrastructure for every development. In our view, this is not only the responsibility of an integration partner such as Simac, but it is also our job as a supplier to integrate technological developments into our current products. This focus on innovation has been in our genes for thirty years,” says Manu Van de Vliet.

“The majority of companies that became NetApp and Simac customers two decades ago are still customers today,” adds Kristof Versluys. “Some customers have even been using the same operating system for their storage for twenty years, while alternative systems are already on their fourth or fifth update. Each update requires new knowledge. NetApp’s strength lies in the company’s ability to innovate within an existing platform.”

Simplified infrastructure

In these twenty years of collaboration, Simac and NetApp have seen many trends. The common thread in history is the strong focus on simplifying customer infrastructure. NetApp has recognized the importance Unified storagecombining SAN and NAS protocols. Since then, simplification has remained a driving force. “Once we had a platform for the enterprise on-premises environment, the rise of the cloud entered a second phase of fragmentation,” says Marc Gilles, Client Executive at NetApp.

Management and control between the on-prem and cloud environments is very important, among other things to prevent the formation of silos. “Thanks to Data Fabric, we have connected both worlds through a homogeneous data layer that can realize control and mobility. Not only between on-prem and cloud, but also between Microsoft, AWS and Google. We are still the only provider to offer a first-party service with each of the three hyperscalers,” said Gilles.

Security and Compliance

Another reason why Simac often chooses NetApp has to do with cybersecurity. As an integrator, Simac works according to the principle multi-layered securitywith NetApp as a subset within a larger whole that protects customers’ data and systems. “Storage is an essential part of a security strategy,” says Steven De Prins, Cross Domain Architect at Simac. “How do you make storage secure? How do you make sure data storage remains efficient? And how do you recover compromised data? We use NetApp to enable this layered security.”

If the cloud was once a milestone in the collaboration between Simac and NetApp, cybersecurity has also been a milestone for several years. Not only are companies asking more and more questions, but regulations are not lagging behind with frameworks such as NIS2 and DORA. “To ensure compliance, we see that many providers have to develop complex solutions and add them to existing products. “With NetApp, we guarantee that our customers are compliant without having to move at breakneck speeds,” explains De Prins. “We find that companies in particular need more end-to-end insight into the data. Other providers also provide good technology for this, but do not have the necessary functionalities that NetApp has out of the box. The basics of DORA, NIS2 and other security laws are automatically anchored in NetApp’s DNA.”

Artificial intelligence

After cloud and security, artificial intelligence (AI) will undoubtedly follow. “At NetApp, we ensure that end customers can fully exploit the possibilities of AI. And of course, we also integrate the technology into our own products. For example, AI helps with security and legislation, which we integrate into our platform,” says Manu Van de Vliet. “AI is also valuable in ransomware detection. Detection based on machine learning algorithms offers a very dynamic concept that keeps pace with cyber attackers.”

Finally, Simac and NetApp are also ready to respond to the demand for sustainability. “NetApp offers many insights into sustainability through dashboards. For example, what does moving an application mean for a company’s carbon footprint? This is also a question that more and more of our customers have to answer,” concludes Kristof Versluys.

One thing is certain: Even after twenty successful years, the partnership between Simac and NetApp remains the perfect combination to prepare customers for the future. A future in which data is available anytime, anywhere – flexible, simple, secure and without silos.

This article was created with the help of Arrow.

This is a commercial contribution from Netapp. The publishers are not responsible for the content.