NetApp Performance Acceleration Module

Optimize the performance of your storage system without adding disk drives. Grow while conserving power, cooling, and space.

Use the NetApp® Performance Acceleration Module (PAM) to optimize the performance of your random read intensive workloads such as file services and messaging. NetApp created this intelligent read cache so you can reduce storage latency and increase I/O throughput without adding more fast-spinning disk drives.

Each of these PCI Express modules adds 16GB of dedicated read cache to your NetApp storage controller. Depending on the controller, up to five modules can be installed for a unified cache as large as 80GB.

In recently published benchmark results, NetApp showed that a FAS3140 system equipped with NetApp Performance Acceleration Modules and SATA disk drives delivered a level of I/O throughput equivalent to the same system configured with twice as many 15,000 RPM Fibre Channel disk drives. Response times were similar for the two systems. The resulting savings in purchase price, rack space, and electricity usage are substantial.

Learn more about NetApp Performance Acceleration Module (PDF).