Cloud-Core NAS System Scales to More Than 5 PB

With an eye on entry-level users in what it calls "high data growth" industries, such as VFX, Avere launched Cloud-Core NAS (C2N), a new cloud-aware scale-out NAS system. C2N incorporates tiers of file-based and object-based storage to provide a NAS-based path from traditional NAS infrastructure to cloud storage..

The basic system starts at 120 TB, the company said, making it an option for users such as VFX facilities that don't need to start with a PB or more of capacity through a private cloud storage provider. Adding 80 TB at a time, the system can scale as needed to more than 5 PB, Avere said.

The company already has a foothold in the VFX industry, where its FXT edge filers are used as high-performance storage appliances that accelerate NAS workflow. Avere said an existing NAS can be combined with a C2N system (with plans for expanding to a public cloud) in a single global namespace to create a hybrid cloud architecture.

"Cloud migration is the holy grail of enterprise storage, but making the move to the cloud involves many expensive and resource-intensive hurdles that can slow adoption,” said Jeff Tabor, senior director of product management and marketing at Avere Systems, in a prepared statement. “Avere’s C2N is the first of its kind and offers a stepping stone to object storage, transforming existing environments into cloud-aware infrastructure to accelerate performance and hide latency.”

The C2N system has an internal all-Flash "performance tier" based on Avere's FXT edge filer hardware, plus an additional object-based "capacity tier," or core filer. Tier-2 data can be stored internally as well as externally on private object-storage systems via NAS protocols, and Tier-3 data is stored on public cloud storage (Amazon Web Services or Google Cloud Platform) with the C2N serving as a NAS access point. If some data can't be stored on public cloud systems due to data security protocols, that data us instead stored on C2N or external object storage.

The first tier of Flash storage scales from 15 to 480 TB, while the object tier scales from 120 TB to multiple PB. The system supports NFS and SMB protocols as well as erasure coding. 

The Avere C2N CX200 120 TB storage node is shipping now in North America at a starting list price of $99,500.