IBM Introduces Next-Generation Storage Virtualization Software
IBM announced today breakthrough enhancements to its industry leading storage virtualization engine software that extends its reach to greater distances, greater speeds and a greater number of platforms.
IBM's enhanced storage virtualization software -- the IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller 4.1 (SVC) -- includes a number of powerful new technologies, including one that is designed to help organizations virtualize their infrastructures more efficiently and at lower costs over longer distances. In the wake of regional disasters, such as Hurricane Katrina, businesses are increasingly seeking ways to support continuing IT operations by placing data centers that share resources at greater distances than in the past, including in other cities, other states, even other countries. A new global mirroring function is designed to help customers virtualize data at locations of greater than 100 miles faster and more cost effectively than previously.
Today's announcement further expands IBM's leadership in storage virtualization. IBM this month announced it had surpassed 2,000 SVC customers who are virtualizing more than 15 petabytes of data. The IT research firm IDC recently reported that the installed base of appliance-based, virtualized networked storage capacity was 28.1 petabytes at the end of 2005. Based on this information, IBM believes that SVC manages more than half of the appliance-based virtualized storage capacity in the market today.
In addition to the business continuity enhancements announced today, SVC 4.1 now supports four gigabits per second (Gbps) environments and has extended its capabilities to virtualize data on nearly 80 different disk systems.
"IBM continues to expand the reach and capabilities of its storage virtualization software by incorporating features that will help customers achieve their business goals and bottom-line targets," said Kristie Bell, vice president, System Storage Marketing, IBM. "Compared to the previous version, our enhanced storage virtualization software provides increased flexibility, ease of management and improved business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities, empowering customers to architect their information on demand environments to be more resilient, dynamic and flexible, regardless of where the data resides."
Enhancements to IBM's storage virtualization software announced today include:
- Long-Distance Global Mirror -- IBM SVC version 4.1 features Global Mirror functionality designed to provide long-distance asynchronous remote replication for business continuity and disaster recovery at nearly unlimited distances. Built on the Metro Mirror code base already offered in SVC, Global Mirror is designed to maintain a consistent secondary copy of data. With SVC 4.1, Metro and Global Mirror are delivered as a single feature allowing for implementation flexibility and no additional licensing fee for existing Metro Mirror users. IBM's replication service allows a client to mix and match arrays between primary and secondary sites to help reduce overall costs.
- Four gigabits per second (Gbps) Fabric Support -- IBM supports the industry's highest bandwidth 4 Gbps SAN fabrics in new SVC engines therefore enhancing infrastructure simplification capabilities. SVC also helps protect investment as selected existing node models may be upgraded to 4 Gbps and 4Gbps-capable nodes may be intermixed in clusters with 2 Gbps- capable nodes.
- Support for Additional Disk and Server Systems -- IBM, the storage virtualization marketplace leader, has extended SVC 4.1 to new disk models and server operating systems, including Hitachi TagmaStore and OpenVMS. Also supported are new disk systems from IBM, HP, and Network Appliance, bringing the total number of environments supported to nearly 80.
- Cluster Non-Disruptive Upgrade -- This feature, unique to SVC, is designed to enable customers to replace current SVC engines with new ones without disrupting access to data, ultimately building a foundation for continued infrastructure growth through deployment of more advanced technology.
Also Announced Today
Supporting today's launch of SVC 4.1 is the introduction of IBM TotalStorage® Productivity Center (TPC) for Replication V3.1, and a new product, IBM TotalStorage Productivity Center (TPC) for Replication Two Site BC V3.1, which offer replication management services for the IBM Enterprise Storage Server 800 and future support in 2006 for the IBM System Storage DS8000 and DS6000. These products provide customers with an easy to use, single point of control that's designed to help improve performance and minimize replication setup errors.
IBM TPC for Replication V3.1 provides management support for SVC's FlashCopy and Metro Mirror replication features. New features in this release are improved product scalability and a redesigned user interface. Additionally, IBM TPC for Replication Two Site BC V3.1 will provide a complete disaster recovery management package for SVC and the other supported products to allow failover and failback capabilities. It also offers a high availability option that introduces replication management servers at both the original site and the backup site that can monitor each other and take over operations from a failing server if necessary.
Information On Demand
The desire by businesses to access, manage and deliver information more efficiently is driving rapid change in the IT marketplace. Companies that are grappling with new government mandates and business demands are striving to capture and integrate information in a more seamless, real-time fashion across the enterprise. IBM's information on demand approach combines deep business insight with open standards, advanced storage systems, and sophisticated software to manage and secure information as a service to create efficient, cost effective and flexible information infrastructures. Regardless of industry, IBM helps companies transform data into insight to enable information on demand.
For more information about IBM, visit www.ibm.com.