NetApp Launches FAS2240 to Answer Midsize Storage Needs
What’s the leading cause of storage growth in your data center? It’s probably virtualization — as the SMB and midsize-business community continue to shrink their data centers with virtual servers, the space saved is often replaced by data appliances. But NetApp is releasing an addition to the FAS2000 family to help reduce the complexity that can accompany all that storage and make it easy to administer. Tech specs on the new unit are coming right up …
The FAS2240 is NetApp’s latest entry-level design, purpose-built to be high-performance, easily scalable and easy to use. NetApp is promising this new addition to be up to three times faster than the previous appliances. Outfitted with the latest version of NetApp Data ONTAP, the FS2240 will give IT admins access to a “unified, scalable” storage solution which, coupled with NetApp’s OnCommand System Manager 2.0, can deliver deep visibility into how storage is being used to help balance workloads.
The FAS2240 supports a maximum of 24 internal hard drives and up to 144 external expansion via SAS drives as users need. There are also two 10GbE ports along with 8Gb Fibre Channel. A full rundown of all the ports, LED indicators and tech specs is available at NetApp’s impressive appliance tour.
NetApp developed the FAS2240 so midsized businesses wouldn’t have to compromise or, said CEO Tom Georgens, “Make a trade-off between affordable and ‘good enough’ technology.” So what’s the price tag on the expandable storage unit? The FAS2000 family is getting an entire price restructuring, but no specific prices have been announced. The appliance solutions are slated to start at $7,500, but the price actually will be based on configuration and storage space needs. And as expected, the entire FAS2000 family is available to all NetApp resellers and distribution partners.
VARs working in the SMB space may want to reach out to the higher end of that SMB and see if these new midmarket devices are a good remedy to consolidate and clean up cluttered storage situations. Meanwhile, be sure to check out Dell Compellent’s technology, which itself is actively targeting similar markets.
We’ve tested NetApp and was impressed; however, we were even more impressed with Nexenta.
Jeff: What impressed you with Nexenta? Are you associated with that company?
-TVG
Nexenta is an open source filer based on Sun’s ZFS in OpenSolaris. NetApp is trying pretty hard to kill it with legal fees because it is pretty close to FAS’s filer and is a fraction of the cost. I am getting sick of NetApp and their “the filers shall inherit the earth” strategy anyway.
Sam: The VAR Guy thanks you for the deeper info about Nexenta.
-TVG
Nexenta sucks … too many bugs and no real support ..a dead end product
I confirm, Nexenta really sucks, bugs,bugs,bugs (driver,firmware,zfs fragmentation bugs,ha failover bugs)
(4min for ha failover with 150luns….)
And support is baaddd. (we have gold support, lol, sometime no response in 1 dat)
We are going to netapp now !