Table of Contents

Introduction

New benchmark proof with large volume breakthrough mode

What is Azure NetApp Files large volume breakthrough mode?

Explore the latest Azure NetApp Files SPECstorage® 2020 publications

Results that Speak for Themselves

Single large volume breakthrough mode

Large volume breakthrough mode at scale

Performance that Scales with Your Design Cycles

From large volume scale… to breakthrough mode scale

What Storage Performance Means For EDA Velocity

Learn more

Introduction

In his latest Azure NetApp Files for EDA workloads: From revolution to breakthrough at scale post Aung Oo – Vice President, Azure Storage – explored a fundamental shift in Electronic Design Automation (EDA) infrastructure: cloud storage no longer needs to tradeoff between scale and predictable performance. It unpacked the historical compromises EDA teams made to balance amongst extreme concurrently, shared datasets and the strict latency requirements and how Azure NetApp Files was architected to solve these challenges with consistent, linear scaling behavior.

Just as importantly, that post presented independently validated SPECstorage® Solution 2020 benchmarks showing that Azure NetApp Files can support real-world EDA workloads at scale while sustaining sub-millisecond latency – shifting cloud storage from a bottleneck in modern chip design pipelines to an enabler.

This blog builds on that foundation.

With the introduction of Azure NetApp Files large volume breakthrough mode, the conversation shifts from proving scalable performance to redefining its upper limits. Where earlier results established predictable scaling, breakthrough mode pushes the concurrency envelope further – allowing thousands of parallel jobs to share storage while maintaining consistent latency under sustained load.

The result is a new level of cloud performance for EDA: not just solving scale challenges, but delivering a true performance breakthrough, now validated by the latest SPECstorage® Solution 2020 benchmark publications.

In this blog, we take a closer look at two new SPECstorage® Solution 2020 EDA_BLENDED benchmark submissions that validate the impact of large volume breakthrough mode, both for a single volume configuration and at scale, and place those results in real-world context.

Co-authors:

• Ron Hogue, Sr. Program Manager
• Ranga Sankar, Azure NetApp Files Product Manager
• Andy Chan, Azure NetApp Files HPC/EDA Principal Product Manager
• George Strother, Senior Cloud Solutions Architect, NetApp
• Cass Morgenstern, Director of Engineering - Office the CTO, NetApp

New benchmark proof with large volume breakthrough mode

Following the same industry‑standard SPECstorage® Solution 2020 EDA_BLENDED workload methodology used in our prior large volume submissions, the newly published results evaluate:

• Azure NetApp Files large volume breakthrough mode
• Azure NetApp Files large volume breakthrough mode scale

Together, these independently audited benchmark publications validate how breakthrough mode enable Azure NetApp Files large volumes to sustain higher concurrency levels while maintaining the consistent, sub‑millisecond response times that modern chip design pipelines depend on.

What is Azure NetApp Files large volume breakthrough mode?

Azure NetApp Files large volume breakthrough mode unlocks a new level of scale and performance for the most demanding EDA workloads. By combining massive concurrency with consistent sub-millisecond latency, it helps modern chip design pipelines move faster, scale further, and operate without compromise.

For a quick overview, check out the Quick Byte video:

Explore the latest Azure NetApp Files SPECstorage® 2020 publications

These two newly released benchmark publications showcase the exceptional performance and scalability of Azure NetApp Files’ large volume breakthrough mode for EDA workloads.

Azure NetApp Files large volume breakthrough mode: 
https://www.spec.org/storage2020/results/res2026q2/storage2020-20260227-00147.html

Azure NetApp Files large volume breakthrough mode scale:
https://www.spec.org/storage2020/results/res2026q2/storage2020-20260227-00148.html 

Results that Speak for Themselves

This chapter presents the latest benchmark results for Azure NetApp Files in full detail, highlighting the significant performance advantages enabled by large volume breakthrough mode. Through both single and scaled large volume configurations, these results demonstrate the ability to support demanding EDA workloads with exceptional throughput and consistent low latency. The findings underscore Azure NetApp Files’ capability to meet the rigorous requirements of modern chip design pipelines, ensuring reliability and efficiency at every scale.

Single large volume breakthrough mode

The architecture shown in the diagram was specifically designed to generate the load necessary for producing the benchmark results discussed in this section.

 

This level of performance demonstrates how a single large volume deployment can sustain thousands of concurrent EDA workloads – while preserving the latency profile required for simulation, synthesis, and verification tasks.

Large volume breakthrough mode at scale

The architecture shown in the diagram was specifically designed to generate the load necessary for producing the benchmark results discussed in this section. For resource availability reasons, six volumes were distributed across multiple Azure regions and availability zones, though this is not a requirement. Deployments can use any number of volumes, and regional / zonal distribution is optional – only necessary when targeting specific availability or resilience goals.

 

 

Even at six times the workload scale, latency remains consistently sub‑millisecond – enabling highly parallel EDA workflows to scale without introducing storage‑induced bottlenecks.

The multi-region/zone configuration was selected for resource availability reasons. This configuration is not a requirement, and deployments can use any number of volumes – by no means limited to six. A configuration can scale to any number of volumes, provided sufficient large volume capacity is available.

Performance that Scales with Your Design Cycles

Across breakthrough mode and breakthrough mode scale configurations, latency remains tightly bounded as workload concurrency increases — indicating that Azure NetApp Files large volume breakthrough mode enables linear scalability characteristics without introducing latency instability under load.

This predictable performance and scale behavior is critical for distributed EDA environments, where design teams increasingly rely on massively parallel simulation and verification jobs to accelerate time‑to‑tape‑out.

From large volume scale… to breakthrough mode scale

Compared to previously published (non‑breakthrough mode) large volume results from October 2025,, large volume breakthrough mode expands the achievable throughput envelope while even lowering observed overall response times as workload levels increase.

This allows Azure NetApp Files to deliver:

• Higher aggregate throughput ceilings
• Greater concurrency tolerance
• Consistent latency behavior under scaled-out EDA job submission

– all without architectural changes to application workflows.

What Storage Performance Means For EDA Velocity

Modern EDA workflows are built around rapid, iterative design loops, where architects and physical designers continuously refine Register-Transfer Level (RTL), run regressions, analyze timing, fix violations, and repeat often thousands of times before tape‑out. At scale, these workflows depend on large compute grids with hundreds or thousands of cores accessing shared storage simultaneously. In this environment, storage latency is not just a performance metric; it directly determines engineering velocity and business outcomes. Azure NetApp Files large volume breakthrough mode delivers cloud‑native storage performance that keeps every core productive, enabling higher simulation throughput, faster iteration cycles, and predictable performance even under extreme parallel load. The benchmark results independently validate how Azure NetApp Files large volume breakthrough mode empowers the most demanding modern EDA workflows.

Ultimately, this improves engineering velocity. Shorter regression cycles enable more iterations per day, higher compute utilization eliminates idle cores, and predictable performance allows teams to confidently push scale without risk. More iterations before tape‑out translate directly into better Power, Performance, and Area (PPA) outcomes and faster time‑to‑market. For semiconductor design organizations, Azure NetApp Files large volume breakthrough mode elevates storage from supporting infrastructure to a strategic enabler – delivering independently validated, cloud‑scale performance purpose‑built for the most demanding EDA workloads.

Storage Performance Impact on Engineering Velocity:

• Shorter regression cycles → more design iterations per day
• Higher compute utilization → no idle cores or wasted licenses
• Fewer job failures → engineers focus on design, not infrastructure
• Faster data movement → smoother transitions across design stages

This is why companies investing in cloud‑scale EDA infrastructure such as AMD, Microsoft, and ASML, consistently report faster time‑to‑market and stronger design outcomes.

Learn more

• What is Azure NetApp Files
• SPECstorage® Solution 2020
• All Published SPECstorage® Solution 2020_eda_blended Results

• Azure NetApp Files for EDA workloads: From revolution to breakthrough at scale

• Validating Scalable EDA Storage Performance: Azure NetApp Files and SPECstorage® Solution 2020
• Benefits of using Azure NetApp Files for Electronic Design Automation (EDA)
• Azure NetApp Files: Revolutionizing silicon design for high-performance computing
• Solution architectures using Azure NetApp Files | Electronic design automation (EDA)