NetApp has recently given its AFF A- and C-series flash storage arrays a serious upgrade, enhancing capacity and performance across its StorageGrid object storage and E-series SANs. The upgrades come from new 60TB arrays and significant improvements in CPUs and backplanes.
The AFF A- and C-series are designed for performance and capacity, respectively. They now feature next-gen CPUs, upgraded PCIe connectivity, and a fully modular design, allowing for in-place component upgrades without replacing the entire chassis. The inclusion of 60TB drives means more capacity as well.
Storage options are flexible, incorporating file, block, or object through the Ontap operating system. NetApp also has the ASA block storage array, which received an update last September. The dedicated object storage comes from the StorageGrid line, which we’ll dive into shortly. The A-series arrays, focused on performance, include the A20, A30, and A50 models, which NetApp claims are now 41%, 96%, and 153% faster than their predecessors, the A150, A250, and A400.
These new A-series models replace older versions at the entry level while enhancing the existing lineup at the high end, which includes the A70, A90, and A1K. The A1K can reach nearly 4PB of raw capacity and over 15PB usable, with clusters supporting up to almost 200PB.
In the C-series, which utilizes QLC flash, the new arrays include the C30, C60, and C80. The largest model, the C80, now nearly doubles its predecessor’s capacity—from 7.4PB to 14.7PB. At the lower end, the C30 offers 2.2PB compared to the C250’s 1.5PB. A clustered setup of C80 arrays can push total capacity beyond 700PB.
Grant Caley, UK and Ireland solutions director at NetApp, emphasized that with flash storage, the focus has shifted from disk performance issues to controller performance. “Capacities aren’t changing significantly, but controller performance is,” he noted.
Meanwhile, the StorageGrid object storage arrays, built from E-series hardware and Bycast software, also received an upgrade featuring 60TB arrays, with the SGF6112 model supporting over 2PB in just 3U. The latest StorageGrid software enables users to separate workloads in a cluster into nodes for data and metadata, and it supports up to 5,000 buckets per tenant.
While Ontap-equipped hardware can handle object storage, StorageGrid is specifically designed for dedicated object storage use cases. Caley explained that “Dynamic policy management lets customers set security, lifecycle, and more in a more extensive platform compared to Ontap’s transient storage options.”
Turning to the E-series SAN arrays, which don’t operate on Ontap, these models also feature the new 60TB drives and CPU refreshes. The E4012 and E4060 models can achieve 264TB and 1.3PB raw capacity, respectively, expanding further with shelves to reach 2.1PB and 6.6PB.
NetApp positions the E-series as an affordable, straightforward storage option, perfect for users needing basic capacity. Caley highlighted that the E-series targets “simple SAN” applications. “It has snapshots and replication but is focused on video surveillance, backup, or archived data,” he explained. “It’s built for extreme performance or density rather than complex data management, and it features Infiniband for HPC storage.”
Beyond hardware upgrades, NetApp also rolled out various enhancements to its software ecosystem. These include Kubernetes data protection in Trident, providing snapshots, backups, disaster recovery, and workload migrations for both on-premise and cloud environments. The data protection features in Trident are now compatible with Red Hat’s OpenShift, alongside new collaborations with Cisco to create FlexPod converged offerings tailored for OpenShift configurations geared towards virtualization and AI.