NetApp adds new ASA A-Series block storage systems—and so much more

You know NetApp as the intelligent data infrastructure company, and today we’re expanding our portfolio in a way that reinforces what that means for customers worldwide.

Over the past year, NetApp has been systematically refreshing our entire enterprise storage portfolio. Today, we take another step toward completing that refresh and creating the strongest NetApp^® ONTAP^® storage portfolio ever.

NetApp is well known for its unified storage solutions. Whether it’s file, block, or object, ONTAP is ready for the most demanding workloads, no matter what the protocol requires. Often, a block-optimized solution is needed, requiring a simple, powerful, and affordable SAN storage solution.

In 2024, we introduced a new generation of the NetApp ASA enterprise storage system to address this growing need. Today, we’re proud to announce the next milestones in this family of systems. 

The NetApp ASA A-Series family adds the ASA A20, A30, and A50, three new entry-to-midrange systems. They make exceptionally low-latency block-optimized flash storage available to companies of every size for mission-critical apps like databases and VMs. These systems allow companies to start small, with a 15TB affordable entry point, and scale performance and capacity seamlessly. 

The NetApp ASA family accelerates IT modernization by delivering block-optimized storage that’s simple to operate—and affordable. Read more about these systems in the blog Unleashing the future of storage by John Shirley, VP of Product Management for Enterprise Storage at NetApp. 

In addition to these exciting ASA updates, we’re expanding NetApp’s enterprise portfolio with new FAS and EF-Series systems.

• The new NetApp FAS50 system completes the hybrid flash family refresh. The FAS50 is a 2U midrange hard drive–based system optimized for data tiering, backup, and cyber vault solutions. It offers the right lower price/performance blend for these secondary workloads but is still 1.5 times faster than its predecessor. NetApp’s customers and partners will appreciate the FAS50's incredible density, I/O flexibility, and overall optimal price point as the perfect complement to NetApp AFF and ASA systems for primary workloads.
• Today’s announcements also include two new NetApp EF-Series systems: the NetApp EF300C and EF600C arrays, with 30TB or 60TB quad-level cell (QLC) drives. These systems are capacity-dense, high-throughput flash storage solutions for workloads requiring large data transfer, such as video streaming, log file processing, and fast backup/archiving. Learn more about them in the blog: EF-Series adds new high-density QLC-optimized systems: EF300C and EF600C. 

As we’ve previously shared, we provide NetApp Autonomous Ransomware Protection with AI (ARP/AI) at no additional cost for ONTAP based enterprise storage systems. It offers real-time detection of ransomware and has been validated by SE Labs as 99% accurate. Although no security solution is perfect, we still think ARP/AI is of immense benefit to you, and we’re always looking for new programs to highlight this capability. 

Therefore, we’re introducing the NetApp Ransomware Detection program to help provide you with recovery services at no cost if an undetected attack occurs. It’s complemented by the NetApp Ransomware Recovery Guarantee and overall cyberdefense solution. Read more about it in this blog, The Most Secure Storage on the Planet Now Provides Even More Peace of Mind.

ARP/AI delivers these amazing results today for file-based workloads. But as a unified storage company that’s taking block storage to new heights, we’re now building our real-time Autonomous Ransomware Protection with AI for block storage. Although plans can always be subject to change, we’ve been incredibly pleased with the development and accuracy of this capability in our initial design and testing, and we intend to ship it later this calendar year as an update in ONTAP.

NetApp Data Infrastructure Insights (formerly Cloud Insights) is advancing SAN monitoring, VM optimization, and AIOps with machine learning. Today’s updates enhance SAN features to support NetApp’s position as a market leader with ASA block storage, offering unmatched simplicity, manageability, and support for low-risk integration and migrations in complex environments. Additionally, Data Infrastructure Insights now extends VM optimization by pinpointing inefficiencies and enabling immediate improvements with host and cluster optimization. Learn more about these updates in this blog, Maximizing Storage Management Efficiency with Data Infrastructure Insights.

The NetApp BlueXP^™ unified control plane continues to expand its features, offering more options for managing storage and data services in your hybrid multicloud intelligent data infrastructure.

• BlueXP ransomware protection extends its advanced recovery options, enabling you to simulate attack and recovery on demand to validate your overall security posture. To learn more, read the blog, Practice Makes Perfect: Be Fully Prepared with BlueXP Ransomware Protection Readiness Drills.
• BlueXP disaster recovery delivers simple, integrated protection for VMware workloads, saving more than 80% over competitive offerings. It now offers support for disaster recovery between the new generation of ASA systems, and we’ll extend it to support additional cloud storage targets.
• BlueXP workload factory is an intelligent optimization and automation service that uses industry best practices to design, set up, and operate key workloads using Amazon FSx for NetApp ONTAP. Today, it adds the capability to deploy and manage PostgreSQL and more functionality updates for database workloads.

Today’s launch includes a couple of cloud storage updates for Azure and AWS users:

• Microsoft is announcing a variety of new features for Azure NetApp Files that will improve file share experiences for enterprise workloads. These updates provide more flexibility, resilience, and performance for your data storage needs. Read more about them in the blog: What's New in Azure NetApp Files? Exciting Cost Savings Feature Just Announced.
• The NetApp FSx for ONTAP CloudFormation package is a powerful extension that connects AWS-native tools and the advanced data management capabilities of FSx for ONTAP. With this package, you now have a way to seamlessly handle advanced ONTAP operations natively in CloudFormation to give you more control and flexibility.

Relentless innovation is at the heart of NetApp’s product strategy as we break down silos to support any data, any application, anywhere with simplicity at scale.

Find a recap of all the February launch updates along with all our recent innovations on the Product Updates page.

Disclaimer: No ransomware detection or prevention system can completely guarantee safety from a ransomware attack. Although it’s possible that an attack might go undetected, NetApp technology acts as an important additional layer of defense, and our research indicates NetApp technology has resulted in a high degree of detection for certain file encryption-based ransomware attacks.