Net App AFF A1K: A Quick Study
Is the financial cost of acquiring 100TB of initial usable storage really going to vary that much depending on which drives you select, your desired RAID level and parity, whether or not you buy your capacity upfront or over time? The short answer is yes, and getting the best discount possible will not necessarily provide you with the lowest possible cost structure. Knowing your TCA and TCO will increasingly be the only financially responsible way to purchase storage, particularly with the increased demand created by AI.
Setting the Stage
There are more than 50 variables that drive a data storage system's Total Cost of Acquisition (TCA) and all of these same variables and more factor into the Total Cost of Ownership (TCO). Given how many factors are involved, it's easy to understand why changing only one may not be expected to significantly alter the final result. However, in the case of drive type/capacity, RAID selected, parity, and timing of capacity purchasing, the financial impact can be substantial. In some cases, we are talking about hundreds of thousands of dollars even for just 100TB of usable capacity.
CIOview's Approach
A traditional data storage buyer would normally focus on the Total Cost of Acquisition (TCA), which is simply the cost to get the storage system up and running. Notably, your TCA may actually be less than 50% of the total costs of the system over its useful life. The lowest TCA for the A1K is $437,300. However, the corresponding Total Cost of Ownership (TCO) is $799,483. In reality, by choosing the lowest TCA possible you would save $5K in terms of getting your storage array up and running. However, by selecting the lowest TCA you will end up with a TCO which is $65,302 more than you need to spend.
Best and Worst Case
So, what is the worst and best case for TCA? $437,300 is the best you can do, while $975,386 is the worst result. In TCO terms, the worst option is $1,291,810, while the best is $734,181.
Why TCA and TCO?
TCA is important because:
- It is the cost of getting your system up and running, which is key to know if budgets are very tight.
- Your vendor discount only applies to your TCA, and if TCA is only a small part of TCO, then your discounts are substantially diluted.
TCO is important because it:
- Includes all costs over the life of your storage, such as: electricity, data center space, support, IT personnel, and even the cost of carbon.
- Takes into account key financial metrics such as corporate taxes, depreciation, and cost of capital.
TCO Range: $734,181 - $1,271,810
TCA Range: $437,300 - $975,386
The difference in TCO results is $537,629, while your TCA could vary by as much as $538,086. These differences are substantial, and everyone has the possibility of getting both the wrong TCA and the wrong TCO.
*** To see just how close you can get to the optimal TCA and TCO for NetApp's AFF A1K array, click here.
*** To see CIOview's standard set of TCA and TCO assumptions, click here.