Move up to IBM System Storage

Is your storage adapted to todays environment? IBM system virtualization gives you the flexibility you need to survive in todays unpredictable business environment.

The right storage systems are critical to a flexible, on demand IT infrastructure—and to meeting today's growing compliance demands. To help you attain both objectives, IBM offers a wide range of performance and capacity options for data protection, disaster resiliency and metro and global mirroring. IBM's key advantage? Our disk, tape, and software products work together to exploit synergies—such as virtualization—across IBM systems. The benefit for you: higher performance and availability across heterogeneous servers and applications, at lower cost and with less complexity.

IBM's integrated approach to storage makes it easy for you to add individual products to your infrastructure, or gain maximum advantage through an end-to-end, scalable solution. Our industry and technical experts are available to create an Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) strategy designed specifically for your current and future needs

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Discover IBM's state-of-the-art disk storage technology in the DS8000 and XIV enterprise-class, DS4000/DS5000 midrange-class, and DS3000 entry-level class disk systems.

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DS8000: Information Infrastructure for the World’s Most Demanding Clients

The IBM System Storage™ DS8000™ Turbo series is designed to support the most demanding business applications with its exceptional performance and tremendous scalability. This, combined with its world-class resiliency features, make it an ideal storage platform for supporting today’s round-the-clock, global business environment.

Highest levels of performance and resiliency through IBM POWER5+™ processors, advanced cache optimization, and 4Gb Fibre Channel FICON® connectivity
Scalability, flexibility and adaptability to simplify your infrastructure through consolidation with IBM Virtualization Engine technology
Heterogeneous server support with unique IBM server synergies for superior throughput and availability

IBM DS8000 vs EMC Symmetrix: a closer look

*IBM DS8000 vs EMC Symmetrix DMX*
FEATURES	IBM DS8000	EMC Symmetrix DMX
Asynchronous remote copy design can reduce data loss	YES (sends data quickly, reducing data loss)	NO (delays sending data, leading to more data loss)
Enterprise Choice warranty for hardware and advanced functions	YES	NO
Published high performance benchmarks(SPC-1 and SPC-2) ^[1]	YES	NO
Better host attachment scalability	128 Fibre Channel 128 FICON 64 ESCON	64 Fibre Channel 48 FICON 64 ESCON
Higher cache space efficiency	YES (4KB slots)	NO (64KB slots)
Better IBM System i, p, z synergy	YES (generally quicker to market with support for new models, OS releases, function)	NO (generally delayed support at best)
One-stop shopping for server, disk, tape, software, services and financing	YES	NO

XIV Storage System: Storage Reinvented

The IBM XIV Storage System is an enterprise-class, Tier-1 disk system designed to deliver high performance and eliminate hot spots through full exploitation of all system resources for all applications. Its revolutionary architecture provides performance, scalability, and ease of management while harnessing the high capacity and cost benefits of SATA drives.

The ground-breaking IBM XIV architecture delivers outstanding performance, scalability, availability, and reliability. The system applies a unique parallel architecture, caching algorithms and more, intended to provide all applications with high-end performance and reliability with the attractive cost structure of mass storage.

Automatic balancing of data across all system components is designed to prevent performance hot-spots from occurring
Automatic self-tuning optimizes logical volumes for maximum performance, regardless of application and user access patterns
Revolutionary rebuild process allows the rebuilding of a 1TB disk drive in 30 minutes or less
Single tier storage architecture is designed to provide all applications with high-end performance and reliability with the attractive cost structure of mass storage

IBM XIV vs. EMC CLARiiON and Symmetrix DMX: a closer look

*IBM XIV vs. EMC CLARiiON and Symmetrix DMX*
FEATURES	IBM XIV	EMC CLARiiON and Symmetrix
Virtualization	The system is inherently virtualized. This makes the system very easy to manage.	Capacity allocation requires awareness of system components such as disks, metavolumes, spares, tiers, and more. This makes system management more complex and time consuming.
Performance	All volumes are spread over all disks. Thus, all disks handle equal workloads, eliminating disk hot spots.	The system is susceptible to disk hot spots which can significantly degrade performance.
Rebuild time	Revolutionary protection scheme ensures 30-minute rebuild time (or less) for 1TB disks, minimizing the likelihood of a double disk failure.	Rebuild time can take hours, increasing the possibility of additional disk failures that can lead to data loss.
Snapshots	Up to 16,000 snapshots in one system; no fixed per-volume limits.	Limited to fewer snapshots.
Migration	Built-in capability; minimal disruption as XIV is inserted between hosts and the older disk systems being replaced.	No comparable capability for open systems.
Costs	Hardware: Design innovations deliver high performance using lower-cost/high capacity disks. Software: Management software is included at no extra charge. Snapshots/clones, thin provisioning, and metro distance mirroring are all standard at no extra charge.	Hardware: A larger number of disks and/or more costly, faster disks may be required to match XIV’s performance. Software: Management software is separately priced. Optional feature costs each have base charges, per-terabyte charges, additional charges when disk capacity is added to the system, and post-warranty maintenance charges.

DS4000/DS5000: Setting new heights for flexibility and affordability

IBM System Storage DS4000/DS5000 family offers you a robust portfolio of storage devices, from entry level to high-performance-all flexible, modular and affordable.

DS5000 – Highest performance mid range mixed workload product in the industry with up to 4x EMC’s new CLARiiON CX4 family
DS4800 - Highest performance of DS4000 series for business-critical applications and efficient data replication and up to 2x the performance of EMC CX3-80
DS4700 - Exceptional performance value for moderate replication and remote replication requirements
DS4200 - Lower-cost, entry-level RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) storage based on SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) disks, for less demanding I/O (Input/Output) such as archiving and imaging

IBM DS4000 and DS5000 vs EMC CLARiiON: a closer look

*IBM DS4000 and DS5000 vs EMC CLARiiON*
FEATURES	IBM DS4000/DS5000	EMC CLARiiON
Dynamic mode change (Synch to Asynch) for remote mirroring (Global and Metro)	YES	NO
Multi-pathing software included in base price	YES	NO
Published high performance ISV and industry standard benchmarks	YES	NO
Dynamic conversion of entire array groups from any RAID level to any RAID level	YES	NO
Mix and match disk capacities and types (SATA or Fibre) within the same disk drawer	YES	NO
Single source for server, disk, tape, software, services, and financing	YES	NO
Switched disk drive architecture	YES	NO
Call Home Autonomic Service Calling	YES	NO
No additional fees for software maintenance	YES	NO

For more information, download: IBM DS5000 Series. Real-World Performance for Virtualized Systems (2.16MB)

Building materials supplier Foxworth-Galbraith puts IBM SAN (Storage Area Network) to work

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DS3000: Entry level SAS disk storage for an on-demand world

IBM System Storage DS3000 family offers you a robust portfolio of storage devices, from entry level to high-performance-all flexible, modular and affordable.

DS3200 - Lowest cost, SAS direct-attached storage for customers installing their first external disk system
DS3300 - Low cost iSCSI attached disk storage
DS3400 - Low cost Fibre Channel attached storage ideal for customers installing their first Fibre Channel SAN.

IBM has also provided investment protection for our customers with forward and backward compatibility over 6 years time where in the same period EMC has had 3 incompatible designs. This not only provides the comfort level of compatibility but can also lead to lower lease rates and better trade in values for IBM hardware compared to EMC.

1) See http://www.storageperformance.org/results/benchmark_results_all/#A00049 (link resides outside of ibm.com) and http://www.storageperformance.org/results/benchmark_results_all/#B00006 (link resides outside of ibm.com)