2 min

NetApp announces a series of new products and programs. The company is introducing a new product line called NetApp ASA (All-Flash SAN Array), for block storage that guarantees 99.9999 percent data availability. In addition, customers can count on an extended recovery guarantee for ransomware attacks.

Block storage is currently the fastest storage solutions for organizations with mission critical workloads. This form of storage is highly scalable and robust. Data is divided into blocks and distributed as efficiently as possible on a SAN (storage area network). Previously we have seen major announcements in this area from HPE and Pure Storage; in other words, there’s plenty of innovation in this area.

The announcement in this case is substantially different: where HPE and Pure Storage have merged block and file storage into one appliance, NetApp is all about optimizing block storage itself. The company cites a number of issues currently straining the IT sector. These include the increasing complexity of IT environments, sustainability issues and the growth of cyber threats.

“In an increasingly complex world, organizations are looking for simplicity and security as a foundation,” said Joost van Drenth, Senior Manager Solutions Specialist/Field CTO at NetApp. “NetApp’s leadership in storage technology helps customers solve data storage challenges with operational simplicity at scale and built-in security to manage and recover from ransomware threats. In addition, it helps customers with Flash storage backed by guaranteed efficiency to meet or exceed sustainability and savings goals.”

Active-active

NetApp’s announcement regarding ASA builds on the drive for efficiency and reliability. Infrastructure silos should be a thing of the past, simplifying environments with structured and unstructured data. The company promises continuous data access with the so-called “6-Nine Guarantee”: 99.9999 percent certainty that you as an organization can access your data. This is accomplished through ASA’s symmetric active-active architecture: this means that there is constant back up for your data. In essence, another location is ready immediately should the primary location fail for any reason.

Another important aspect NetApp raises with ASA is that of sustainability. The solution should achieve up to 50 percent less power consumption and CO2 emissions than the competition.

Ransomware guarantee

As for the so-called NetApp Ransomware Recovery Guarantee, the company is leaning on self-confidence. The proprietary ONTAP service is said to automatically stop malicious file types, block malicious attacks and provide tamper-proof snapshots. Recovery from a ransomware attack should be able to occur “within minutes.” If all this does lead to data loss, NetApp will offer compensation, but under specific conditions that it is not yet releasing many details about. The company is not the first to offer such guarantees. Rubrik, for example, provides a warranty that goes up to 10 million dollars. At NetApp, no coverage amount is specified.

In addition to these two main announcements, NetApp reports that ONTAP One will become more widely available. Also, ONTAP is getting a new version that better protects against ransomware and improves management of consolidated workloads. Also expanded and improved are StorageGRID and NetApp Advance.