NetApp, an Intelligent Data Infrastructure company, has announced it has acquired DataPelago, a California-based AI data infrastructure company recognised for its innovative approach to eliminating data processing bottlenecks for AI and analytics workloads. The acquisition marks a foundational expansion of NetApp’s portfolio, enabling GPU-accelerated data processing aligned directly with the storage layer. With this acquisition, NetApp establishes itself as the company that makes zero-copy activation of enterprise data for AI real.
AI is the defining platform shift of our era, but enterprises are discovering that their greatest bottleneck is preparing, governing and activating their data fast enough to put AI into production. The key to accomplishing this objective is to enable accelerated computing where the data is created and stored. DataPelago solves this challenge by fundamentally reimagining where accelerated compute happens: at the data layer, not above it.
“As AI models and the chips that power them get ever more effective, enterprises need data infrastructure that is just as intelligent and powerful to harness the potential of their data,” said George Kurian, Chief Executive Officer at NetApp. “NetApp is leading the industry in helping customers drive innovation and generate business value by giving them full command of their most important asset: their data. With DataPelago, we are extending our ability to help customers understand and process their data with the agility required to unleash competitive advantage.”
DataPelago’s core technology, Nucleus, is a universal data processing engine that uses heterogeneous accelerated computing across CPUs and GPUs to process data where it lives. By processing data at the storage layer rather than moving it to external compute clusters, Nucleus reduces infrastructure costs by up to 80% and delivers performance up to 10 times faster than conventional approaches. In addition, by not requiring customers to copy their data from their operational systems to AI systems, DataPelago eliminates the single biggest bottleneck in enterprise AI deployment. DataPelago’s technology is delivering value at large enterprises across multiple industries, accelerating demanding workloads while improving infrastructure efficiency at scale.
“DataPelago is on a mission to eliminate the data processing bottlenecks that prevent AI innovation from reaching its full potential,” said Rajan Goyal, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of DataPelago. “Joining NetApp gives us the opportunity to combine our breakthrough processing technology with the industry’s best data infrastructure portfolio. Enterprises have invested billions in GPUs and AI models, but their data remains fragmented, leaving valuable computing resources to sit idle rather than putting these investments to work. Together, we’re positioned to help customers simplify and accelerate AI deployment at scale.”
Following the acquisition, DataPelago will operate as a wholly owned subsidiary of NetApp. This news signals a continued growth trajectory for NetApp, following recent industry-leading partnerships with Cisco, Google Cloud, Red Hat and SK Telecom, among others.
