NetApp High-Capacity, Low-Cost Flash Storage Announced

NetApp announced the AFF C-Series family of all-flash QLC-based storage options that offer lower-cost, all-flash storage and the AFF A150 entry-level storage system in the AFF A-Series family of all-flash systems. The AFF C-Series delivers high-capacity flash performance in a cost-effective, efficient smaller footprint.

The NetApp AFF C-Series allows customers to modernize their data center with the flexibility to select the right storage (performance flash, capacity flash, or hybrid) for various workloads and database demands while lowering TCO. The AFF C-Series runs on NetApp ONTAP and is centrally managed by NetApp BlueXP for a seamless hybrid cloud experience.

The AFF C-Series includes the AFF C250, C400, and C800. Features include:

Guaranteed storage efficiency that improves storage footprint and energy costs to reduce TCO while simplifying operations. According to NetApp, deploying C-Series storage can save up to 95 percent in rack space and up to 85 percent in power and cooling costs versus hybrid flash storage.
Seamless on-premises scalability allows organizations to scale capacity and performance to meet data growth demands. Expand capacity with non-disruptive scaling in a cluster without silos or data migration. The C-Series storage options support NVMe/FC and NVMe/TCP connectivity.
AI/ML-powered ransomware protection to keep data secure, available, and protected. Business continuity and faster disaster recovery with zero data loss and zero downtime are achievable with the C-Series flash storage options.

NetApp AFF A150 Entry-Level Storage

The NetApp AFF A150 has been designed for Remote Office/Branch Office (ROBO) and distributed deployments to meet entry-level enterprise-class storage.

The AFF A-Series, like the new C-Series systems, support end-to-end NVMe technologies like NVMe SSDs front-ending host connectivity of both NVMe/FC and NVMe/TCP. AFF systems come with a full suite of NetApp integrated and application-consistent data protection software capable of reducing storage costs and minimizing performance hits with cloning and Snapshot copies supporting up to 1,023 copies. NetApp SnapCenter software provides application-consistent data protection and clone management, while SnapMirror replicates to any NetApp FAS or AFF system on-premises or in the cloud.

The new AFF C-Series and the addition to the AFF A-Series are well-suited for entry-level workloads, including VMs, databases, and backup consolidation. They are full-featured with ONTAP data management and competitively priced, creating substantial growth opportunities for NetApp partners to reach new markets and qualify for NetApp Partner Sphere incentives.

AFF Series Technical Specifications
	AFF C800	AFF C400	AFF C250	AFF A150
Maximum scale-out	2–24 nodes (12 HA pairs)	2–24 nodes (12 HA pairs)	2–24 nodes (12 HA pairs)	2–24 nodes (12 HA pairs)
Maximum SSDs	1,728	1,152	576	864
Maximum effective capacity	106PB	71PB	35PB	26PB
Effective capacity based on 5:1 storage efficiency ratios with maximum SSDs installed; space savings dependent on workload and use cases.

Per-system specifications (high-availability dual controller)
Controller form factor	4U with 48 SSD slots	4U	2U with 24 SSD slots	2U with 24 SSD slots
PCIe expansion slots	8	10	4	n/a
FC target ports (32Gb autoranging)	32	24	16	n/a
FC target ports (16Gb autoranging)	32	32	n/a	n/a
FCoE Target Ports, UTA2	n/a	n/a	n/a	8
100GbE ports (40GbE autoranging)	20	16	4	n/a
40GbE ports (can be 4x 10GbE)	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a
25GbE ports (10GbE autoranging)	16	16	16	n/a
10GbE ports	32	32	n/a	4
10Gbase-T (1GbE autoranging)	n/a	16	4	4
12Gb/6Gb SAS ports	n/a	n/a	n/a	4
Storage networking supported	NVMe/TCP, NVMe/FC, FC, iSCSI, NFS, pNFS, CIFS/SMB, S3	NVMe/TCP, NVMe/FC, FC, iSCSI, NFS, pNFS, CIFS/SMB, S3	NVMe/TCP, NVMe/FC, FC, iSCSI, NFS, pNFS, CIFS/SMB, S3	NVMe/TCP, FC, iSCSI, NFS, pNFS, CIFS/SMB, S3
OS version	ONTAP 9.12.1 RC1 or later	ONTAP 9.12.1 RC1 or later	ONTAP 9.12.1 RC1 or later	ONTAP 9.12.1 RC1 or later
Shelves and media	NS224 (2U, 24 drives, NVMe QLC SSDs)	NS224 (2U, 24 drives, NVMe QLC SSDs)	NS224 (2U, 24 drives, NVMe QLC SSDs)	DS224C (2U, 24 drives, 2.5″ SFF)
Power consumption (median)	1463W	1240W (with NS224)	491W
Host/client OS supported	Windows Server 2012, Windows Server 2016, Linux, Oracle Solaris, AIX, HP-UX, macOS, VMware, ESX

NetApp Advance Storage Program

NetApp also introduced NetApp Advance, a new portfolio of storage programs and guarantees that help customers future-proof on-premises environments. NetApp Advance gives customers the flexibility and choice to safeguard their storage investment, whether it’s the C-Series, AFF A150, or other newly acquired systems with the ability to right-size on-premises and cloud storage to meet business growth.

Availablity

NetApp AFF C-Series family and NetApp AFF A150 are both available today.

Engage with StorageReview

1 year ago

Harold Fritts

I have been in the tech industry since IBM created Selectric. My background, though, is writing. So I decided to get out of the pre-sales biz and return to my roots, doing a bit of writing but still being involved in technology.