KUALA LUMPUR: NetApp Malaysia Sdn Bhd is deepening its collaboration with domestic technology partners to help organisations accelerate their digital and artificial intelligence (AI) transformation journeys in line with the government’s AI Nation 2030 vision.
Through its Partner Sphere programme, NetApp has tripled the number of partners across Malaysia and the wider Asia-Pacific (APAC) region certified to deliver its AI solutions over the past year.
The programme is designed to strengthen partner capabilities and open new revenue streams across areas such as AI, cloud transformation, cyber resilience and data infrastructure modernisation — all key priorities for Malaysia’s growing digital economy, the company said in a statement.
“Malaysia’s AI Nation 2030 agenda is a shared opportunity to build a trusted regional hub for digital innovation grounded in data governance,” said NetApp area vice president and general manager (Asean, Greater China and South Korea) Henry Kho.
“Together with our partners here, we are enabling Malaysian organisations to propel their AI ambitions with an intelligent data platform that integrates storage and security seamlessly,” he added.
“By combining world-class technology with local expertise, we stand alongside Malaysia in its journey to become an AI-ready, data-driven nation where technology empowers the rakyat and strengthens industries.”
NetApp’s Partner Sphere programme focuses on developing technical and service competencies among its partners.
It offers 16 solution areas covering AI, cloud, and data modernisation, along with access to demo gear, certification tracks and co-branding opportunities.
These resources enable partners to showcase and deliver tailored solutions that help enterprises manage increasingly complex data environments.
Meanwhile, NetApp APAC senior director for channel sales and alliances Ganesan Arumugam said the company’s partners are responding to the demand for robust, modern infrastructure with built-in resilience that takes a unified approach to data storage.
Locally, NetApp works with partners such as CTC Global Sdn Bhd to deliver advanced storage and AI-ready infrastructure to sectors like manufacturing, where automation and data-driven operations are expanding rapidly.
“From headquarters to production lines, AI is transforming every stage of the manufacturing cycle. Through NetApp’s partner programme, our teams are now better equipped to help Malaysian manufacturers handle demanding workloads, boosting both productivity and profitability,” said CTC Global director of systems Kevin Chong Sin Woo.
In October, NetApp introduced a new enterprise-grade data platform for artificial intelligence, designed to help organisations manage and accelerate AI workloads across hybrid and multicloud environments.
The company launched NetApp AFX, a disaggregated all-flash storage system, and the NetApp AI Data Engine (AIDE), which unifies data services for AI pipelines.
Together, they aim to provide exabyte-scale performance, data resilience, and built-in integration with NVIDIA’s accelerated computing platform.
“With the new NetApp AFX systems, customers now have a trusted, proven choice in on-premises enterprise storage built on a comprehensive data platform to propel AI innovation forward rapidly,” said NetApp chief product officer Syam Nair.
“NetApp AI Data Engine enables customers to seamlessly connect their entire data estate across hybrid multicloud environments to build a unified data foundation.
“Enterprises can then dramatically accelerate their AI data pipelines by collapsing multiple data preparation and management steps into the integrated NetApp AI Data Engine, built with NVIDIA accelerated computing and NVIDIA AI Enterprise software, complete with semantic search, data vectorisation and data guardrails,” he said.
NetApp Asia Pacific senior vice president and general manager Andrew Sotiropoulos said enterprises are moving from ‘passive data storage to active data management—extracting, processing, and curating data to unlock insights.’
“This evolution requires them to deploy architectures that break down silos and combine strong data and infrastructure security with fast recovery practices.
“With our latest innovations, NetApp provides a secure, unified, and future-ready environment for your data foundation across the hybrid cloud — supporting those who operationalise AI at scale to drive real business outcomes,” he said.
The platform also features an Object API that enables direct access to Azure services without data duplication, and a global namespace that unifies data estates across on-premises and Microsoft Azure.
