IBM bolsters mid-range storage
IBM's recently announced the Storwize V7000, a new mid-range storage system, which the company reckons is "optimised for workloads such as transaction processing and real-time analytics". Mid-range for IBM means a tactical deployment of servers costing under US$150,000.
It's aimed at simplifying management and reducing footprint, cutting rack space usage by up to 67 percent, and Big Blue reckons it's cheaper over a three year period of ownership than the competition's products.
The launch follows Big Blue's acquisition of real-time compression specialist Storwize in July this year. However, Stewart Bazneh, IBM's systems & technology group sales leader for UK & Ireland, was at pains to explain that this announcement was not a rebadge of an existing Storwize product, even though there's not been time since July to do much else.
Rather, what Big Blue has done is bring together existing storage technologies from the DS8700, which was launched last year, such as its Easy Tier software. "EasyTier migrates data from hotspots to a higher performance tier when required for an application such as batch runs and credit card transactions," according to Bazneh.
"It's an evolution of our existing virtualised disk solution", said Bazneh about the V7000. "Customers can choose whether they want 24 2.5-inch drives or 12 3.5-inch drives, all in a 2U package." To expand using up to nine expansion units you pick the controller you need and then add expansion units, claimed Bazneh.
IBM supplied figures to bolster its claim to be cheaper to buy and run than the competition, which includes products from HP, Dell, EMC and Compellent.
Against an HP EVA 8400 with 35.68TB, IBM reckoned its V7000 is 38 percent cheaper over three years when you include the hardware, advanced functions, software, and support and maintenance. Up against an EMC CX4-240, the claimed delta is 34 percent. IBM's configuration being compared deploys 80 450GB disks plus spares, and includes comparable software plus a three-year hardware and a one-year software warranty. Your mileage may, naturally, vary, but in all cases we're talking about a total cost well north of US$250,000 spread over three years, with HP's the most expensive at US$424,324 -- all according to IBM's comparison.
This is just one of many announcements being made this autumn, which appears to me to be much busier on this front than last year. Things must be picking up...