IBM launches new high-end storage array
Published:23-October-2009
By Staff Reporter
Claims to offer up to 150% performance improvement
IBM has expanded its enterprise storage offerings with the launch of new high-end storage array System Storage DS8700, which includes new dual POWER6-based controllers, an internal fabric interconnect, and upgraded device adapters.
The company claims the new System Storage DS8700 to offer more than a 50% increase in IOPS/Watt than the previous DS8300 models and deliver a performance improvement of up to over 150%, compared to the previous model.
According to IBM, the new System Storage DS8700 enables clients to non-disruptively upgrade from base models to the advanced models, allowing organisations to grow their systems as requirements increase without purchasing new systems. It also offers interoperability with prior model's hard drives, drive enclosures, tools, scripts, and copy services.
The company said that it will enhance DS8700’s ability to identify hot data and automatically migrate to and from solid-state and traditional spinning drives. The automated data relocation is expected to help optimise data placement across tiers of drives with different price and performance attributes.
IBM has also announced enhancements to its N series line, including new Performance Accelerator Module (PAM II) cards, which are 16 and 32 times larger than the previous version. These new enhancements offer increased cache memory to help improve response time by 30% across all N series systems, while helping to reduce power consumption by up to 50% compared to using traditional hard disk drives, the company claims.
The company has also launched new System Storage EXN3000 expansion disks (SAS) for the N series, which it claims to offer high capability and resiliency, and 22% better rack space efficiency, allowing more disks to be stored in fewer shelves. It has added a new N series SnapManager for Microsoft Hyper-V that provides customers with a virtualisation management tool to enable automated data protection and disaster recovery for Microsoft Hyper-V environments.
