New unified storage systems modernize workloads for businesses of all sizes

At NetApp, we are driven by a relentless passion for innovation. We strive to empower businesses in solving their most critical challenges and preparing for the future. Our unwavering commitment to excellence focuses on enhancing four key areas: enterprise storage, cloud storage, artificial intelligence (AI), and data security.  

Today, we are excited to share the latest advancements in the NetApp® intelligent data infrastructure portfolio to modernize businesses' IT operations. 

• Performance flash. Building on our strong flash leadership, we are thrilled to announce the expansion of the NetApp AFF A-Series ultra high-performance unified data storage systems. The introduction of the A20, A30, and A50 models complements our existing A70, A90, and A1K systems (introduced last May), providing even more affordable options for businesses of all sizes. These new AFF A-Series systems offer exceptional performance, accelerating VMs, databases, and file environments.

• Capacity flash. Today, we are proud to upgrade the popular AFF C-Series family with the introduction of the AFF C30, C60, and C80. These capacity flash storage systems are designed for general-purpose workload consolidation, delivering up to 1.5PB raw capacity in just 2U of space. With a remarkable 4x density improvement, businesses can achieve unparalleled floor space savings and power efficiency while benefiting from the exceptional performance of all-flash storage. 

Regardless of data type or workload, NetApp offers simplicity at scale, streamlining operational and protection models for enhanced efficiency and productivity. These new AFF A-Series and C-Series systems are the latest testament to that commitment to providing customers with a seamless, unified data storage experience across hybrid multicloud environments. 

To learn more about our innovations in unified storage, check out the new blog post by our SVP and GM of Enterprise Storage, Sandeep Singh. 

NetApp StorageGRID® is the industry-leading software-defined object storage solution that can evolve and change to meet your unstructured object data needs in AI, Apache Hadoop® modernization, IoT sensor data, and exascale levels of unstructured object data across industries and workloads. To help store all this valuable object data efficiently, the NetApp StorageGRID® SGF6112 appliance is extended with 60TB QLC drives to help you gain new levels of capacity density and save significantly on power, cooling, and rack space.  

In addition, StorageGRID 11.9 software will soon offer features that improve security and scalability with a low cost for stored data, with the right level of durability and governance by using built-in lifecycle management. StorageGRID 11.9 software will be available later in November 2024. 

For more about these exciting object storage innovations, read the blog post by Vishnu Vardhan. 

The NetApp BlueXP™ control plane unifies control and simplifies the process of managing your intelligent data infrastructure. Now, BlueXP workload factory is fully integrated and available through the BlueXP console so you can optimize and automate workloads, streamlining operations through a single point of control. Features include workload support for generative AI, VMware, and databases, as well as general-purpose storage workloads like the new Software Build Studio, PostgreSQL databases, and SQL drift management. 

In addition, we strengthened BlueXP ransomware protection with advanced workload defense and new features. These features include AI-driven classification, user behavior anomaly detection with Data Infrastructure Insights (formerly Cloud Insights), and a SIEM integration with Microsoft Sentinel.

The innovations continue in other vital areas and markets.  

• For customers who require affordable, fast, reliable block storage such as ROBO deployments, backup targets, and video surveillance, the new E-Series E4012 and E4060 storage systems enable organizations to store 40% more data and achieve higher read and write performance than the previous generation.  

• Every Kubernetes environment will see enhancements with NetApp Trident™ version 24.10, which brings NetApp ONTAP® data protection features like Snapshot™ and SnapMirror® to Kubernetes applications. These enhancements drive full enterprise resilience and data protection into containerized environments, addressing organizations’ broad needs to develop and deploy enterprise applications on Kubernetes. Additionally, Trident provides application-aware portability for disaster recovery and business continuity use cases. Learn more about Trident in this blog post by Rohit Kapoor. 

• NetApp's intelligent data infrastructure combined with Red Hat OpenShift delivers flexibility in how customers deploy and manage their hybrid cloud virtual environments. New joint solutions include an update to the Cisco FlexPod® validated design for Red Hat OpenShift and new Cisco Validated Designs (CVDs) for OpenShift Virtualization and AI platforms. Additionally, new integration of Red Hat OpenShift Dedicated with Google Cloud NetApp Volumes gives customers the option to use Google Cloud to run their containerized workloads and leverage all the benefits of NetApp natively integrated storage on Google Cloud. 

• ONTAP 9.16.1 offers new features to support greater simplicity at scale across block and file workloads. The update includes advanced capacity distribution to optimize the performance and capacity use of ONTAP FlexGroup by splitting large files across multiple containers and systems. Other enhancements in the 9.16.1 release include latency and throughput metrics for volume qtrees, enhancements to multipart upload for ONTAP S3, an improved upgrade experience with fewer reboots to reduce service windows, and ASA A70, A90, and A1K enhancements like high-availability pathing for NVMe and node space rebalancing. 

• The ONTAP Tools for VMware vSphere 10.2 release adds NVMe for VMware Virtual Machine File System (VMFS) datastores, now supporting all protocols for VMFS. Additionally, ONTAP tools extend the vCenter UI, giving VM administrators an easy way to configure vSphere Metro Storage Cluster based on NetApp SnapMirror active sync. 

• NetApp is now offering a streamlined deployment experience for Cloud Volumes ONTAP Freemium through the Azure Marketplace. With this new method, setting up a new instance takes less than 10 minutes and eliminates the need for a connector. This deployment method is a simpler and more user-friendly try-and-buy experience, removing the complex and time-consuming steps previously required to set up a Cloud Volumes ONTAP Freemium instance in Azure. To learn more, check out this blog by Morgan Johnston.  

Innovation is not just a buzzword. It's ingrained in our DNA.  

Through our continuous advancements in enterprise storage, cloud, AI, and cyber resilience, we empower businesses of all sizes to overcome their most critical challenges and thrive in an ever-evolving digital landscape. Whether it’s the power of the AFF A-Series, the capacity of the AFF C-Series, or the improvements and enhancements in other parts of the portfolio, we’re dedicated to bringing you the most value for your money.  

With our intelligent data infrastructure, businesses can unlock new possibilities, drive efficiency, and gain unparalleled insights. Join us on this transformative journey as we shape the future of data storage and unleash the full potential of your business. 

Find a recap of all the November launch portfolio updates on the Product Updates page.