NetApp notes a long-standing tradeoff in the block storage market, where IT organizations have had to choose between simple, easy-to-use storage or high-performance scale-out storage with advanced data management. Accordingly, the company has designed the new A-series to deliver both, providing IT organizations with a simple but powerful storage solution for their critical block-oriented storage workloads, such as VMware-based applications and database workloads running Oracle, SAP, Microsoft SQL Server and Epic.
The new systems feature the types of substantial performance improvements that you’d expect. Compared to the previous models, the new A-Series offers substantial performance improvements, providing up to 2x performance increases overall with up to 12m IOPS and consistent sub-millisecond latency. And because the ASA family runs NetApp’s core OnTap software, the systems feature the comprehensive and rich data management capabilities that NetApp is well known for, such as SnapMirror active sync, comprehensive data security capabilities from NetApp’s Ransomware Recovery Guarantee, and a six-nines data availability guarantee. The A-Series is available in three models, spanning from mid-range to high-end and scaling out to a maximum of 12 nodes and up to 54PB of effective capacity, while assuming 4:1 storage efficiency (91TB-16PB raw).
What really makes the new A-Series stand out from its predecessors is its simplicity. Rather than overlay a new GUI on top of the existing management software, it features a comprehensive new management system, aligned with NetApp’s BlueXP management stack. This dramatically simplifies the entire system management process from the initial setup process around deployment and provisioning through to day-to-day management, such as upgrades and setting up data protection policies, as well as deep integration with VMware management.
Crucially, this not only expedites system management, but also means the A-Series can be managed by IT staff without deep levels of NetApp-specific, or even storage-specific, expertise. To demonstrate this, at the product’s launch at INSIGHT, a nontechnical intern set up an A-Series system in less than a minute.
Finally, IT budgets continue to come under pressure as organizations deal with a wide range of cost issues, from potential changes to their VMware licensing, to finding the funds to invest in new AI initiatives. In this regard, NetApp’s focus on the affordability of the new A-Series is a further reason to take note. The company claims 25%-50% lower upfront pricing relative to its competitors, as well as an improved ROI over time, with savings driven by lower cost of management, industry leading raw-to-effective storage efficiency, and reduced power consumption.
NetApp aimed to make a big statement when it released its first dedicated block storage ASA in 2023. With the new A-Series, the company is doubling down on its commitment to deliver a class-leading blend of performance, feature richness, affordability, and simplicity.