NetApp Acquires US AI Data Infrastructure Company DataPelago

en.Wedoany.com Reported - NetApp has acquired AI data infrastructure provider DataPelago. The California-based company will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of NetApp, with financial details of the acquisition not disclosed.

DataPelago's Nucleus universal data processing engine processes data directly where it resides, without the need to transfer it to an external computing cluster. NetApp stated that this technology can reduce infrastructure costs by up to 80%, while minimizing the need for customers to copy data from operational systems to AI systems, thereby addressing common challenges in enterprise deployments.

Syam Nair, Chief Product Officer at NetApp, noted: "DataPelago's Nucleus engine brings software-defined acceleration directly into the storage layer, processing data across CPUs (Central Processing Units) and GPUs (Graphics Processing Units), enabling enterprises to prepare, govern, and activate data for AI without moving it. NetApp manages more enterprise data across multi-environments than any other company in the industry. The next phase of AI will be won by enterprises that can make data work at its source, and the DataPelago team has the technical depth and speed to accelerate this goal."

Founded in 2021 by former Fungible CTO Rajan Goyal, DataPelago focuses on leveraging "data processing limitations" to help enterprises benefit from the "tsunami" of unstructured data, competing with Nvidia's cuDF framework. While Nvidia's products use GPU acceleration, DataPelago positions itself as a heterogeneous hardware alternative.

According to Crunchbase data, DataPelago has raised $55 million to date. Its investors include Qualcomm Ventures, Silicon Valley Bank, and Nautilus Venture Partners, among others.

Goyal stated in a press release: "Joining NetApp allows us to combine breakthrough processing technology with the industry's best portfolio of data infrastructure products. Enterprises have invested billions in GPUs and AI models, but their data remains fragmented, leaving valuable computing resources idle instead of making those investments work. Together, we will help customers simplify and accelerate large-scale AI deployments."

George Kurian, CEO of NetApp, added: "With DataPelago, we expand our ability to help customers understand and process data with agility, thereby unlocking competitive advantages."