IBM Dedicated File System for LTO-5

IBM Corp. announced new storage products – part of its 2010 lineup of workload-optimized systems – that are designed to reduce the cost and complexity of storing vast amounts of data while making it easier for clients to apply analytics and gain insight from the data.

Driven by a rapidly growing pool of sensors and gadgets that are digitizing information, the world’s data already vastly exceeds available storage space – yet enterprise demand for storage capacity worldwide continues to grow at a compound annual growth rate of over 43% from 2008-2013-. Companies and governments need to better prioritize and classify their data so they can analyze and extract intelligence from it, but at the same time need to reduce the complexity and cost of storing and protecting vital information.

This is driving spending for storage to the fastest growth in the technology hardware segment in the U.S. in 2010. Clients are looking for storage technology that will improve efficiency and reduce costs, increase capacity, and better categorize data for workloads like real-time analytics. IBM is today introducing new storage systems designed to meet these client imperatives.

These new products ride a wave of growth for IBM. Driven by two years of strategic acquisitions and billions of dollars spent on product investments, IBM’s storage business achieved 11% revenue growth in the first quarter of 2010. IBM retained its #1 position for Archiving Software with over 23% share in 2009, according to IDC.

New Technology Automatically Prioritizes Data
for Workloads Like Analytics
Clients are looking for tiered storage systems that help them prioritize critical data – like purchasing trends or energy use data that feed analytics engines – and manage it differently than secondary data that isn’t likely to be needed right away, like data that needs to be stored due to government regulations such as HIPAA, for example.

IBM’s DS8700 disk storage system will now include a new technology invented by IBM Research that can make it easier and more economical to manage data in tiers. IBM’s System Storage Easy Tier feature uses ongoing performance monitoring to move only the most active data to faster solid-state drives (SSDs), which can eliminate the need for manual storage tier policies and help reduce costs. By automatically placing clients’ most critical data on SSDs, Easy Tier provides quick access to data so it can be analyzed for insight as needed to provide competitive advantage.

Increase Capacity for Unstructured Data
Companies are investing in storage solutions to manage unstructured data like Web-based video and images, which will grow at a more than 47% compound annual rate from 2009 to 2013. IBM is introducing new solutions ideal for storing unstructured retention data – the IBM Long Term File System and LTO Ultrium Generation 5 tape drive offerings.

The LTO (Linear Tape-Open) Ultrium format is an open tape storage technology that can help dramatically lower energy consumption and potentially reduce storage media costs up to 10 times. The IBM Long Term File System uses LTO-5 technology for a simpler, less expensive way to provide file system access to the very large data archives created by unstructured data. The Long Term File System is designed to address the growing storage needs of industries that generate digital media such as Media and Entertainment, Medical and Digital Surveillance.

Thought Equity Motion, in digitizing, delivering and monetizing high-quality video content, beta tested the IBM Long Term File System and found that it could lower the company’s storage costs significantly.

"Thought Equity Motion drives monetization for its media partners by making their news, sports, entertainment and creative footage accessible to content producers and digital channels. This type of footage has a tremendous storage footprint and we are seeking new ways to affordably and securely store our client’s content," said Mark Lemmons, CTO, Thought Equity Motion. "The IBM Long Term File System proved itself to be a simpler, less expensive way to handle the unique needs and exponential growth of digital media."

Technologies Significantly Improve Storage Efficiency
Reducing the cost and complexity of storing vast amounts of data is a priority for clients. In fact, data deduplication is the top storage spending priority for 2010 as clients seek ways to stop redundant data from growing out of control.

IBM is adding a ‘Many-to-one’ replication feature to its ProtecTIER deduplication technology that allows multiple data centers or remote offices to replicate backup data to a central location. By stripping out duplicate data before it’s replicated, ProtecTIER can reduce the bandwidth needed to send the data by 95% or more.

The latest version of IBM Tivoli Storage Manager can be used to collect, manage and retrieve the data stored on ProtecTIER. IBM Tivoli Storage Manager provides a broad range of advanced data management capabilities, including backup, archive, migration, and data reduction including, all under a unified recovery management framework that simplifies administration.

IBM is also announcing the latest version of its successful XIV Storage System. With 2 TB drives and lower voltage processors, the new version can double capacity and help reduce peak power usage by up to 59 percent. IBM added more than 400 new clients to its XIV platform in 2009, over 60 percent of whom were new to IBM open system storage.

Welch’s turned to IBM XIV when its storage capacity was growing 40% per year. "With XIV, Welch’s was able to reduce our storage requirements by as much as 30% and can now rapidly provision new systems as the business requires," said Mukesh Sharma, IT manager for Welch’s. "By automating tasks, XIV helped lower storage costs by some $300,000. Although we have a big brand name, Welch’s is a small company owned by family farmers, so it’s essential to keep technology costs down."