Thousands of customers are using NetApp storage with larger and larger computing grid environments, says the company. To meet the growing demand of these data centers, NetApp says it developed the Kilo Client to test the limits of its storage solutions in a controlled environment and developed best practices in rapid provisioning methodologies.

NetApp Kilo helps demonstrate how a SAN boot architecture combined with thin provisioning provides rapid client provisioning and storage consolidation, simplifies the management of large data center architectures and reduces the level of power consumption, helping companies save money.

"The NetApp Kilo Client is a breakthrough architecture that pushes the limits in the testing and development of enterprise grid compute environments," says Patrick Rogers, VP of solutions marketing at NetApp. "This environment was made possible for our customers due to close collaboration with key partners like AMD, Blade Network Technologies, Brocade, Chelsio Communications, Cisco, IBM, Intel, QLogic, Qlusters and VMware."

The Kilo Client is found in a 1,500-node diskless enterprise server farm located at the NetApp RTP facilities. It is compatible with multiple operating systems including Windows, UNIX and Linux. The Kilo Client also supports NAS, FC SAN and IP SAN protocols.

The system uses NetApp FlexClone technology to rapidly generate system images without having to create full physical copies of those images. This process enables near-instantaneous image provisioning, maximum performance and complete flexibility in a footprint of just over 300 square feet.

NetApp announced in January it signed a definitive merger agreement to acquire storage service management provider Onaro.