1 – NetApp continues to win awards for outstanding storage solutions for virtualization.  In 2009 it was from Microsoft.  NetApp provides outstanding solutions for customers looking to design or deploy Hyper-V R2.

2 – If you want to see the latest demonstrations of NetApp technologies for virtual environments, check out the Virtualization Channel on NetAppTV.

3 – If you’re planning to upgrade to VMware vSphere, NetApp has co-branded vSphere Reference Architecture Guides for Virtual Infrastructure (TR-3749) and Microsoft Business Applications (TR-3785).  These Guides are applicable for all NetApp storage arrays, across all storage protocols.

4 – NetApp RCU 2.1 has expanded capabilities in many areas: 
Integration as a VMware vCenter plugin
Support for all storage protocols (NFS, iSCSI, FC) and VMware-supported File-Systems (VMFS, NFS)
VDI integration with both VMware View Manager and Citrix XenDesktop
Deduplication-aware cloning directly within the plugin

5 – NetApp SMVI 2.0 has expanded backup capabilities in many areas:
NetApp AutoSupport Integration
Backup Enhancements & GUI Re-design
Snapshot Naming Changes
Custom Scripting
Restore Enhancements
Single File Restore (SFR)
Self-Service Restore
Limited Self-Service Restore
Administrator-Assisted Restore
Restore Agent

6 – NetApp host-level integration for storage has been significantly expanded with the introduction of the NetApp Virtual Storage Console (VSC):
Expansion of the product pervious known as the NetApp Host Utilities Kit (HUK)

VMware vCenter plugin
Inclusion of the NetApp MBR* for Guest OS alignment in virtual environments

7 – NetApp integration with VMware Site Recovery Manager (SRM) has been significantly expanded:
VMware vCenter plugin for complete SRM Fallback (Replication Reversal)
Support for VMware SRM deployments over NFS
Tighter integration with NetApp SMVI for VMware snapshots

8 – Foundational technologies for Cloud Computing such as NetApp DataMotion.  This allows NetApp storage to align the storage virtualization with the server virtualization, especially in Secure Multi-Tenant or Shared-Application environments.

9 – Industry leading price/performance for Virtual Desktop deployments using NetApp FlexClones (or VMware Linked Clones), Deduplication and Intelligent Caching. 

10 – Eliminate tiers of storage and shelves of disks with Deduplication and VM-aware Flash within the NetApp storage arrays.

And since data is always pushing your storage systems to the brink, and occasionally you need that extra little bit, this list goes to 11….

11 – Not only is NetApp virtual storage incredbly efficient, but we continue to guarantee that it will be at least 50% more efficient than legacy storage vendors.  No other vendor is willing to make that guarantee.

The bottom line:

Award-winning, complete management integration with every major virtualization vendor (VMware, Microsoft, Citrix).
Proven solutions for Server and Desktop Virtualization across Cisco Unified Fabric and Cisco Networks.
End-to-end solution consistency across every NetApp platform and every storage protocol.
The most cost-efficient storage platform for Virtualized Data Centers