Unleashing modern workloads: what's new in Nutanix Unified Storage 5.4 and Data Lens. July 28, 2026 10:30 am | 4 min Today, Nutanix, Inc. is thrilled to announce new enhancements to Nutanix Unified Storage (NUS) 5.4 and Nutanix Data Lens (NDL). Here are the details on how this release delivers critical business value across two major themes. The "living memory" and data engine for Agentic AI. As enterprise AI evolves from simple chatbots to autonomous Agentic AI, it requires far more than just passive capacity - it needs a persistent "living memory". Because modern AI models process massive context windows and long-running workflows, they rapidly exhaust local GPU and system memory. NUS 5.4 solves this by serving as a highly resilient, shared fourth tier of storage that seamlessly offloads this AI inference context. Furthermore, true Agentic AI requires reasoning over fresh enterprise data the moment it is created. NUS delivers a "compute-adjacent" architecture that mixes GPU-enabled compute and dense storage, bringing your AI directly to your data to power continuous, real-time Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) pipelines. To support this advanced data engine, NUS 5.4 continues its mission to remove infrastructure bottlenecks to deliver uncompromised velocity. Here are just some highlights of the many features included in this release: * Cutting the Middleman for Massive Throughput: Nutanix, Inc. has fundamentally optimized its object scalability by bypassing proxy load balancers. Client requests now route directly to worker nodes, avoiding network traffic amplification and freeing up vital CPU and memory resources. The result? Reduced latency and higher throughput for your demanding AI data lakes. * Parallel Parking for Kubernetes: In dense, automated environments like Kubernetes(R), spinning up Persistent Volumes (PVs) used to happen sequentially, causing a traffic jam of API requests. NUS 5.4 redesigns share creation and update workflows to support parallel execution. This dramatically accelerates provisioning times for Container Storage Interface (CSI) requests, making NUS a highly performant backend for dynamic cloud-native applications. Security & compliance. With data now serving as the "living memory" of the AI enterprise, security can no longer be an afterthought. NUS 5.4 transforms your storage into a locked-down, zero-trust appliance ready for the most strictly regulated industries. * FIPS 140-3 & STIG: Nutanix, Inc. has completed a massive architectural migration to RHEL 9, inheriting modern cryptographic libraries to provide a clear path to FIPS 140-3 compliance. * The Locked-Down Appliance: Nutanix, Inc. is officially closing the door on the "open OS" era. By disabling open Bash shell access by default, any deep troubleshooting now requires a secure, MFA-backed challenge-response workflow. This reduces the attack surface and aligns with federal STIG requirements. * High-Performance Secure NFS: Nutanix, Inc. is introducing native NFS over TLS, providing continuous stream encryption that delivers near-native speeds. It avoids the crippling performance overhead and administrative nightmare of legacy Active Directory/Kerberos setups. * Granular Data Governance for Objects: Granting users access to an entire storage bucket can create unnecessary security risks. NUS 5.4 introduces highly granular metadata-based access control using object prefixes and tags. This allows administrators to securely isolate and serve distinct datasets within a single bucket to different teams. By enforcing strict access boundaries dynamically, organizations can satisfy the principle of least privilege without constantly modifying core bucket policies. Nutanix Data Lens on-prem continues its roll out. Of course, a secure vault isn't complete without a world-class data analytics system. Nutanix Data Lens (NDL) is evolving into a proactive threat-neutralization engine to protect your unstructured data estate. In the recent past, Nutanix, Inc. announced that NDL is now available for deployment as an on-premise offering along with its SaaS deployment option. You can read more about this here. This latest release continues the capability roll out for the on-premise solution. This brings customers even greater data insight and anomaly detection without a single bit being sent into the public cloud or off-site. The bottom line. With NUS and NDL, Nutanix, Inc. is giving organizations the unrivaled velocity, seamless scalability, and profound peace of mind required to turn their data into a true strategic asset. Ready to see it in action? Take Nutanix Unified Storage for a Test Drive today. (C) 2026 Nutanix, Inc. All rights reserved. Nutanix, the Nutanix logo and all Nutanix product and service names mentioned are registered trademarks or trademarks of Nutanix, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Kubernetes is a registered trademark of The Linux Foundation in the United States and other countries. All other brand names mentioned are for identification purposes only and may be the trademarks of their respective holder(s).

Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure 7.6: multi-tenant AI workloads on a modern, enterprise ready virtualization platform. July 28, 2026 10:30 am | 4 min As organizations increasingly require infrastructure that is both adaptable and automated, Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure (NCI 7.6) delivers a sophisticated suite of capabilities engineered to supercharge virtualization, accelerate artificial intelligence (AI) and continue expansion with external storage ecosystems. The release of NCI 7.6 marks a deliberate advancement in the Nutanix enterprise cloud architecture. This release is architected around four foundational pillars, each engineered to address the escalating demands of modern IT environments. Agentic AI. Addressing the computational intensity of artificial intelligence workloads, this release lays the groundwork for near bare-metal performance with all the advantages of virtualization. This is realized through automated Topology Aware Scheduling and the introduction of predefined VM profiles specifically calibrated for AI workloads. The architecture facilitates rapid access between GPUs, CPUs, memory, and network resources, and intelligently offloads dedicated network traffic, systematically minimizing traditional bottlenecks in distributed AI environments, initially releasing for specific hardware configurations. Modern Virtualization. The second pillar, Modern Virtualization, redefines operational resiliency and workload mobility. Administrators can benefit from structural efficiencies, notably achieving AOS upgrades that can be up to approximately 15-30% faster, supported by highly granular Lifecycle Manager (LCM) scanning. This release also strengthens proactive risk mitigation, offering tools that support customer compliance efforts for security hardening across both AHV and AOS. Furthermore, it brings detailed capacity metrics into a single dashboard and improves Recovery Time Objectives (RTO) through robust Instant Restore capabilities. Supply Chain. The Supply Chain pillar focuses on maximizing hardware flexibility by expanding the hardware compatibility list validated for NCI. For example, 7.6 introduces support for ultra-dense 307TB+ nodes that maintain a low Recovery Point Objective (RPO), paired with improved cluster fault-tolerance. Crucially, this release broadens the platform's external storage integrations, most notably with Dell PowerStore, enabling organizations to adapt their hardware strategies without compromising architectural integrity. Multi-tenancy. Finally, NCI 7.6 establishes a sophisticated framework for multi-tenancy, delivering a true self-service operational model based on Prism Central projects. Utilizing Projects 2.0 and Service Provider (SP) Central, the platform empowers tenants through expanded entity and project associations. It enforces strict administrative boundaries and provides isolated Kubernetes Virtual Private Clouds (VPCs), designed to help operationalize shared infrastructure that can securely support diverse and independent business units. Supplementing with Dell PowerStore. This release significantly expands the universe of NCI compatible external storage through its expanded integration with Dell Technologies. With NCI 7.6, general support for Dell PowerStore is now available, extending comprehensive support across PowerStore Generations 1, 2 and 3. This critical integration effectively bridges Nutanix compute with enterprise-grade external storage. This alignment organically extends across the broader Nutanix software ecosystem. By unifying system administration through Nutanix Prism, securing the virtualized core with Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure, and facilitating modern containerized deployments via the Nutanix Kubernetes Platform (NKP), the stack delivers a highly cohesive operational model. The integration of Dell PowerStore combines external storage, compute resources, and cloud-native applications into a single, highly visible management paradigm. Conclusion. Nutanix Cloud Infrastructure 7.6 balances powerful optimizations; from AI-ready topologies and rapid LCM upgrades to flexible multi-tenant isolation, with vital external hardware integrations. It provides a definitive strategic foundation for organizations seeking to scale their enterprise environments without operational compromise. Try it today. (C) 2026 Nutanix, Inc. All rights reserved. Nutanix, the Nutanix logo and all Nutanix product and service names mentioned are registered trademarks or trademarks of Nutanix, Inc. in the United States and other countries. Kubernetes is a registered trademark of The Linux Foundation in the United States and other countries. All other brand names mentioned are for identification purposes only and may be the trademarks of their respective holder(s).

NC2 on Google Cloud: The first 6 months. By Mat Brown, Senior Technical Marketing Engineer, Nutanix July 28, 2026 10:30 am | 6 min It's hard to believe it's only been six months since Nutanix, Inc. announced the General Availability of Nutanix Cloud Clusters (NC2) on Google Cloud. The momentum Nutanix, Inc. has seen from customers and the incredible engineering collaboration between Nutanix and Google Cloud has been nothing short of brilliant. If you managed to catch Nutanix, Inc. at Nutanix .NEXT in Chicago or saw the team at Google Cloud Next in Las Vegas, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about. The energy around hybrid multicloud is palpable, and NC2 is right at the centre of it. But Nutanix, Inc. haven't just been resting on its laurels; Nutanix, Inc. has been busy shipping features that make running your enterprise workloads on Google Cloud more flexible, resilient, and cost-effective. Let's take a look at the major feature developments and regional expansions Nutanix, Inc. has delivered in its first six months. Expanding its global footprint. When Nutanix, Inc. launched, Nutanix, Inc. hit the ground running with availability in 17 Google Cloud regions. But demand waits for no one, and Nutanix, Inc. is rapidly expanding. Nutanix, Inc. has just rolled out two new regions, Dammam, KSA and Tokyo, Japan, and Nutanix, Inc. is currently working with Google Cloud on support for another three regions: including Hong Kong, Mumbai and Sydney, which will bring the total to 22 regions globally. Figure 1: NC2 on Google Cloud is rapidly expanding, soon to be available across 22 regions globally. This means that if you need to place your workloads closer to your users, you could deploy a hybrid cloud environment across the globe in a matter of hours. The game changer: C3 bare-metal nodes are now live. To provide a much more flexible and cost-effective entry point Nutanix, Inc. is introducing support for Google Cloud C3 bare metal instances. This isn't just adding another server option to the catalogue; it represents a significant engineering milestone and a fundamental shift in how Nutanix, Inc. deliver storage for NC2 on Google Cloud that can significantly impact the TCO math. Unlike its Z3 and C4 offerings that rely on local NVMe SSDs, the C3 bare metal nodes are diskless. To make this work, its engineering teams worked to implement Google Cloud Hyperdisk as the primary storage tier for NC2 on C3. This decoupling of compute and storage allows Nutanix, Inc. to leverage Google Cloud's next-generation block storage architecture to support resilience and performance of AOS Storage, without physically attached local drives. Figure 2: A high-level overview of the diskless C3 bare metal configuration leveraging Google Cloud Hyperdisk available with NCI 7.6. With C3, you can now deploy nodes with a more granular storage configuration to more closely match your workload requirements (from 15TB up to 120TB per node). This is designed to optimize the hourly burn rate for general-purpose virtualization which can be especially helpful for VDI, or smaller DR sites. Nutanix Multicloud Snapshot Technology (MST) for Google Cloud Storage. Disaster recovery doesn't have to break the bank. With the recent Prism Central 7.5.1 release, Nutanix, Inc. introduced Multicloud Snapshot Technology (MST) capabilities for Google Cloud Storage. Figure 3: Nutanix MST can be used to efficiently offload snapshots to low-cost Cloud Storage. MST allows you to natively store Nutanix snapshots in Google Cloud's low-cost, S3-compatible object storage. IT teams can use this to build highly cost-effective "pilot light" or "zero compute" DR solutions. With a zero compute solution, your data simply sits in Google Cloud Storage until an event occurs. If you ever need to recover, MST orchestrates the rehydration of data into an on-demand NC2 cluster so your VMs can power on. It's an incredibly efficient way to add an additional recovery position to support compliance requirements without maintaining expensive, active compute nodes. Furthermore, if the longer RTO of a zero compute approach has put you off utilising MST, the Prism Central 7.6 release is designed to improve performance, increase flexibility and add a new "Instant Restore" capability. This not only improves restore speeds and reduces the manual steps required for zero compute, you can now boot a VM whilst its volumes are still re-hydrating from object storage. Solving the Windows licensing conundrum. True cloud freedom isn't just about workload mobility; it's about having genuine choice in how you procure and remain compliant with your license obligations. Thanks to some fantastic engineering collaboration between Nutanix and Google Cloud, Nutanix, Inc. has introduced two new capabilities to simplify this: * Bring-Your-Own-License (BYOL): Microsoft supports porting some Windows Server licenses to Google Cloud under certain BYOL conditions. To help support your compliance efforts Nutanix, Inc. introduced a customized node maintenance procedure. Instead of replacing nodes during scheduled maintenance, Nutanix directly invokes Google Cloud's in-place maintenance. This is designed to keep your licenses from moving to a different physical host even during scheduled maintenance. * License-Included (PAYG) Instances: If you prefer a streamlined procurement and billing experience, you can now deploy NC2 with Windows Server License-Included bare-metal instances. Google Cloud simply bills you monthly for the Windows Server licenses allocated to these nodes, consolidating your expenses and reducing the need to manage separate license agreements. Looking ahead. The first six months of NC2 on Google Cloud have been heavily focused on delivering real, architectural flexibility and driving down TCO. Between the C3 diskless nodes, MST support, and its new Windows licensing models, Nutanix, Inc. is providing IT architects with tools to help them build a hybrid cloud with greater flexibility and control over their costs. And Nutanix, Inc. is just getting started! (C) 2026 Nutanix, Inc. All rights reserved. Nutanix, the Nutanix logo and all Nutanix product and service names mentioned are registered trademarks or trademarks of Nutanix, Inc. in the United States and other countries. All other brand names mentioned are for identification purposes only and may be the trademarks of their respective holder(s). Google Cloud and Google Cloud Hyperdisk are trademarks of Google LLC. This content may contain express and implied forward-looking statements, including related to addition of new Google Cloud regions, which are not historical facts and are instead based on its current expectations, estimates, and beliefs. The accuracy of such statements involves risks and uncertainties and depends upon future events, including those that may be beyond its control, and actual results may differ materially and adversely from those anticipated or implied by such statements. Any forward-looking statements included speak only as of the date hereof and, except as required by law, Nutanix, Inc. assume no obligation to update or otherwise revise any such forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.