US-based hybrid cloud data storage company NetApp has announced its intention to acquire PEAK:AIO, a UK-based developer of software-defined storage for AI applications.
The proposed acquisition is expected to reinforce NetApp’s position in the AI infrastructure sector by integrating PEAK:AIO’s metadata and high-performance parallel file system technology into its own offerings. The acquisition remains subject to regulatory and customary closing conditions.
The transaction is anticipated to accelerate the development of NetApp’s AI infrastructure architecture.
The company stated that PEAK:AIO’s approach to metadata and parallel namespace innovation aims to help scale shared storage solutions alongside the rising use of large GPU clusters in AI environments.
This architecture focuses on separating metadata from data, allowing the scalability of metadata services independently of data storage, with the goal of supporting deployments spanning trillions of files and exabyte-scale capacities.
NetApp CEO George Kurian said: “AI clouds need high-performance shared storage that can scale alongside growing GPU clusters while maintaining the resilience, security, and operational simplicity organisations depend on.
“With PEAK:AIO, we are delivering on our vision for a new generation of AI infrastructure that combines scalable metadata services with the proven foundation of ONTAP to help customers maximise infrastructure efficiency and support AI at hyperscale cloud.”
PEAK:AIO’s technology was initially developed through collaborations with research institutions such as Carnegie Mellon University and Los Alamos National Laboratory.
Its platform delivers high-performance AI storage ranging from a single server to exabyte-scale systems, and is designed for compatibility with standard hardware.
PEAK:AIO chief technology officer (CTO) and founder Mark Klarzynski said: “NetApp and PEAK:AIO connected through the shared belief that the AI era demands a fundamentally new approach to data infrastructure.
“What excites us most about joining NetApp is the opportunity to pair our culture of innovation with the reach, scale, and customer trust of a global leader. Together with NetApp, we have an opportunity to help shape that future and deliver technologies that make managing data at a massive scale both practical and accessible.”
NetApp intends to combine PEAK:AIO’s advances in metadata scale, global namespace, and parallel NFS-based access with its ONTAP software.
The company aims to deliver a storage architecture designed to meet the demands of increasingly large-scale AI workloads.
