With NetApp storage solutions, the Korean managed cloud service provider offers a lean, intelligent architecture, powered by automation and an Infrastructure-as-Code approach.

HOSTWAY IDC has expanded its 14-year partnership with NetApp to deliver enhanced cloud offerings powered by NetApp’s enterprise storage solutions. 

As Korean enterprises accelerate AI adoption and digital transformation initiatives, they need to build an agile, intelligent data architecture that can enable them to balance performance, scalability, and resource optimization in an increasingly complex technology landscape. HOSTWAY, a leading managed cloud service provider in South Korea, offers comprehensive colocation, hosting, and cloud services for diverse enterprise clients across manufacturing, education, and e-commerce sectors. 

Through FlexCloud public cloud and Proxmox-based private cloud solutions, it offers a robust infrastructure that is capable of handling both legacy systems and modern AI workloads. 

Prior to deepening its integration with NetApp, HOSTWAY was addressing IT challenges that could help the organization scale performance and ensure data protection during high-demand periods. After tapping into NetApp’s comprehensive storage solutions, in collaboration with IT service specialist KL Information & Communication (KLiC), HOSTWAY overcame these challenges with significant efficiencies and improvements: 

  • Enhanced reliability from real-time data protection: Powered by NetApp ONTAP, high availability (HA) architecture and data protection features like Snapshot and SnapMirror allowed HOSTWAY to respond to and protect its data from threats and disruptions. The automation of disaster recovery setups also helped HOSTWAY to recover quickly from failures, without service downtime. 
  • Powerful storage that drives efficiency: By utilizing the NetApp AFF C-Series storage system, a capacity-optimized all-flash array, HOSTWAY achieved a 73% increase in operational efficiency in its private cloud deployment. The reduction of manual intervention through automated and optimized infrastructure management allowed the company to scale and improve its operational agility. 
  • Balancing performance and costs: Built-in data deduplication and compression capabilities within the AFF C-Series storage system also helped the company greatly reduce its storage costs by 30%. Furthermore, through NetApp Cloud Volumes ONTAP, HOSTWAY can now manage its workloads across on-prem and public cloud environments – more efficiently, within a single unified platform. 
  • Improved performance during periods of high workload: With NetApp AIQ Unified Manager, HOSTWAY was able to streamline resource allocation. This prevented performance bottlenecks during high-workload periods, with enhanced visibility and control for faster incident response and improved customer satisfaction.

“NetApp has fundamentally shifted our business model from reactive infrastructure management to proactive service innovation,” said Dongwon Lee, Head of IDC Center at HOSTWAY. “We’ve moved beyond simply maintaining systems to actively driving client transformation. The automation and intelligence built into NetApp’s solutions, combined with the outstanding end-to-end support from KLiC and NetApp, allow us to focus our expertise on strategic initiatives rather than operational firefighting. This has, in turn, translated to faster time-to-value for our enterprise clients.” 

“Businesses today are increasingly relying on hybrid cloud environments for AI and digital transformation initiatives. This is why the ability to build an intelligent data infrastructure is critical in helping them manage any data, for any applications and anywhere, in a way that is optimized and secured”, said Jaesung Yoo, Managing Director, NetApp Korea. “Through this partnership, NetApp is enabling Korean enterprises to focus more on the business outcomes and growth, rather than worrying about infrastructure issues. We believe that strengthening the data foundation will be key to powering South Korea into a competitive, data-driven economy.” 

“A digital ecosystem built on strategic collaborations is core to unlocking innovations. As HOSTWAY expands its footprint to meet growing industry demands for cloud solutions, we are pleased to become the trusted partner of HOSTWAY and NetApp to deliver a robust and intelligent IT solution,” said Yohan Park, Manager, KL Information & Communication. 

 Building on an established relationship that began in 2011 with HOSTWAY’s FlexCloud implementation, the companies are now jointly developing advanced solutions for emerging market demands. Current collaborative projects include VDI deployments for e-commerce clients and specialized private cloud configurations for manufacturing and educational institutions