NetApp has bought a North Carolina VDI company called CloudJumper for an undisclosed sum. The storage giant will use CloudJumper’s technology to underpin the new NetApp Virtual Desktop Service, which provides virtual desktop infrastructure from the public cloud to work-from-home office staff.
With the surge in pandemic-induced work-from-home arrangements, this acquisition is a timely move to gain customers for NetApp storage in the cloud.
Anthony Lye, GM of NetApp’s cloud data services business unit, said in the press announcement: “The ability to provide a consistent virtual desktop experience at scale while keeping data available and secure without sacrificing performance has always been important and is especially critical in today’s unprecedented environment.
“NetApp and CloudJumper provides a simplified management platform for delivering virtual desktop infrastructure, storage and data management across Microsoft Azure, AWS and Google Cloud with best in class virtual desktop management combined with best in class storage and data services.”
NetApp VDS is available immediately on NetApp Central and is integrated with Azure NetApp Files and Cloud Volumes. The company said it will invest in the Cloudjumper channel.
The customer message is that CloudJumper VDI gets backed up by NetApp’s enterprise-class storage and management facilities.
CloudJumper history
Established in 2016, the privately funded CloudJumper has developed what it calls a workspace-as-a-service (WaaS). The company’s Cloud Workspace Management Suite (CWMS) cloud-native software provides Windows virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) services through the Azure cloud. Versions of CWMS are also available running in AWS, Google and regional public cloud suppliers.
CWMS is used by thousands of business customers and competes with other virtual desktop interface (VDI) suppliers such as Citrix. The coronavirus pandemic has led to it onboarding thousands of new Windows Virtual Desktop users as desktop workspaces are needed for remote work-from-home office staff.
CloudJumper bought a small company called IndependenceIT in February 2018, and uses the technology acquired to deliver workspaces, applications and desktops-as-a-service.
