IBM enhances its hardware for big data, cloud

IBM enhances Smarter Storage line of flash, disk and tape systems, which according to the company will fasten access to information and big data insight

News | by CIOL Bureau

BANGALORE, INDIA: IBM announced enhancements across its systems portfolio to help organizations adopt cloud computing as they build software defined environments (SDE).

IBM enhanced its Smarter Storage line of flash, disk and tape systems, which according to the company will fasten access to information and big data insights. It also enhanced its high performance computing (HPC) solutions, thus bringing HPC capabilities to mainstream servers.

The company also added new capabilities to its PureSystems family of integrated systems, which enhances its security capabilities for cloud deployments and also fasten-up data recovery and restoration. The new IBM PureFlex Solution for Cloud Backup and Recovery solution incorporates specialized patterns based on Tivoli Storage Manager, Microsoft Hyper-V and the SAP Business Suite.

IBM created a new mobile solution, IBM Mobile Application Platform Pattern, based on its Worklight server on PureSystems for both Power and x86, which the company claims will reduce mobile applications deployment to as little as 30 minutes.

"Cloud computing and big data analytics are playing key roles in helping organizations lower operating expenses, improve efficiencies, and increase productivity," said Ajay Mittal, director, Systems & Technology Group, IBM India/ South Asia. "But they're also enabling greater and faster access to business insights, which is fundamentally transforming the ways in which organizations, public and private, are interacting with, learning from, and supporting their customers."

In addition to rolling out its new IBM FlashSystem family of all-Flash appliances, IBM also added support for 4TB drives to its Storwize V7000 and XIV storage systems.

IBM also enhanced its Easy Tier technology, which automatically moves data to storage tier in a storage system. The new Easy Tier Server function helps boost performance by caching 'hottest', most-frequently accessed data to EXP30 Ultra SSD I/O drawer on IBM Power Systems.

When these servers are used in conjunction with the IBM DS8870 Storage System, the new Easy Tier Server capabilities can help boost storage performance by up to five times, claims the company in a release.

IBM introduced Linear Tape File System Enterprise Edition, which allows users to avail tape storage as a separate tier. The system is integrated with IBM GPFS file system.

The company released new FlashSystem series, which was first announced in April, and also rolled out nine new Power Systems offerings, with new capabilities for big data analytics and cloud computing.

To commemorate the 25th anniversary of the IBM i operating system, IBM introduced i 25th Anniversary Edition. Available on either a Power 720 or Power 740 server, this solution edition includes a no-charge IBM i 7.1 processor license and three service vouchers. on IBM PureSystems.