IBM Polishes Storage Tools, Big and Small

Enterprise Storage Forum content and product recommendations are editorially independent. We may make money when you click on links to our partners. Learn More.

IBM on Tuesday rolled out a sweeping array of enhancements to products for both enterprises and small and mid-sized businesses (SMBs).

Customers, whether large enterprises or small startups, are seeking less-expensive storage to meet rapidly growing data requirements, said Charlie Andrews, IBM’s worldwide product manager of system storage.

“The move is toward driving more efficiency,” he said. “Our larger customers want fewer boxes but bigger drives. Our SMBs don’t want big boxes just sliced and chopped down. They want systems geared toward their specific needs.”

In an effort to respond, Big Blue has plugged new hardware into its IBM N7000 Modular Disk Storage System series, making the NAS appliance OEMed from NetApp faster and twice as large.

As a result, the series’ new N7700 and N7900 now support up to 1,176 terabytes (TB) of raw capacity. The two units will become available in April.

Meanwhile, the N3300 now scales to 68TB, while the N3600 grows to 104TB and the N5300 doubles to 336TB. The N5600, N7600 and N7800 likewise grow to 504TB, 840TB and 1008TB, respectively.

Targeting the SMB N-series customer, the N3300 and N3600 now support SATAor SASdrives in the controller. IBM has also integrated its SnapManager for Microsoft Office SharePoint on every N-series system.

The vendor added the same functionality onto its DS8000 Turbo series in the fourth quarter of last year.

“It provides customers with a better price point,” Andrews said.

While IBM’s System Storage DR550 has been around for a while, the vendor is pushing out two new models (DR1 and DR2) of the enterprise-focused archival and compliance appliance, both of which now use IBM Director as the management system.

DR1 is a 25U pre-integrated device aimed at medium-sized customers, while the DR2 features a tall 36U rack for the larger-size enterprise.

The new offerings should benefit both IBM and its customers, Andrews said.

“We’ve repackaged them to make it easier for our sales channel and to provide better appliance support in the field for customers,” he said.

Both units will be available at the end of February.

Big Blue Goes 8-Gig

IBM’s System Storage SAN768B director platform OEMed from Brocade, which runs on both Brocade and McData fabrics, also received an update as part of the product refresh.

“It’s bigger and provides 8-Gigabit-per-second link speed over Fibre Channel links,” Andrews said. It’s available in both a 4Gbps and 8Gbps configuration.

According to an IBM spokesperson, the new link speed provides a 100 percent improvement in data transfer speed from the previous generation.

The updated SAN768B will be available later this month.

On the SMB level, IBM has revamped the current generation of its Linear Tape Open (LTO) tape drive, which debuted last April. The new TS3100 and TS3200 Tape Library Express Models are geared toward saving both cost and physical space, IBM said.

Andrews said the products, which are slated to ship in mid-March, will provide SMBs with better security against physical loss and theft, as well as improved performance. In addition to speed enhancements, users can encrypt data using the IBM Encryption Key Manager.

Calling Telecom Customers

A final offering also received an update, specifically targeting SMBs in the telecom space.

The new DS3300 DC-power model 32T includes tweaks to help telecom better meet compliance mandates.

For example, the device now meets Network Equipment Building Systems (NEBS) mandates. The regulatory standard is tied to equipment integrated into carrier environments and details requirements in power management, disaster preparation and hardware interfaces.

The unit, which integrates into existing IP networks using a dual iSCSI controller enclosure and provides 12 disk drive bays, also gives providers new IP-based communications features to offer customers. The device supports voice telephony, Internet Protocol television and video on demand.

“There is clearly a trend to make sure solutions that come out-of-the-box are better customized offerings for the SMB, whether it’s for their application environment or their industrial environment,” Andrews said. “We’re doing that because we understand the unique requirements these customers have, and customizing through hardware needs or with our services and consulting.”

Article courtesy of InternetNews.com

Judy Mottl
Judy Mottl
Judy Mottl is an experienced technology journalist who has served as a senior editor, reporter, writer, and blogger for InformationWeek, Investors Business Daily, CNET, and Information Security Magazine, as well as other media outlets.

Get the Free Newsletter!

Subscribe to Cloud Insider for top news, trends, and analysis.

Latest Articles

15 Software Defined Storage Best Practices

Software Defined Storage (SDS) enables the use of commodity storage hardware. Learn 15 best practices for SDS implementation.

What is Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE)?

Fibre Channel Over Ethernet (FCoE) is the encapsulation and transmission of Fibre Channel (FC) frames over enhanced Ethernet networks, combining the advantages of Ethernet...

9 Types of Computer Memory Defined (With Use Cases)

Computer memory is a term for all of the types of data storage technology that a computer may use. Learn more about the X types of computer memory.