IBM (News - Alert) announced the launch of its new storage virtualization software that facilitates efficient management and consolidation of business data. The new storage solution is designed to help improve utilization rates, energy efficiency, availability, and scalability of critical applications.

 

The company also announced the release of New System Storage Productivity Center (SSPC).

 

The new storage virtualization software was released as part of IBM's "Project Big Green" offerings. These products are based on the company’s best practices for virtualization, green IT, service management and cloud computing.

 

IBM’s new System Storage SAN Volume Controller (SVC) 4.3 software creates consolidated, virtual pools of information across the enterprise thereby helping clients to improve the flexibility and responsiveness of IT infrastructures. This facilitates IT departments to respond more quickly to client needs and centrally manage resources. The storage virtualization technology is said to reduce the requirements for additional physical storage hardware systems thereby reducing overall energy usage in the data center.

 

"IBM is dedicated to helping its clients improve their information infrastructures through powerful virtualization technology," said Barry Rudolph, Vice President, Storage Stack Solutions, IBM, in a statement.

 

Rudolph added: "We have been the leader in storage virtualization since SVC was introduced five years ago, and this latest version from IBM further showcases our innovation and represents our commitment to clients to incorporate green, efficient technologies into our storage portfolio to help clients manage the data center crisis of today."

 

IBM’s SVC 4.3 includes improvements that can help create greener data center, with features such as space-efficient virtual disks, space-efficient FlashCopy, virtual disk mirroring and improved interoperability.

 

IBM’s SVC 4.3 uses disk space only when data is written or for changes between source and target data, thereby saving space of the virtual disk. This facilitates space-efficient virtual disks and space-efficient FlashCopy. The new Space-Efficient FlashCopy reduces space that is required for copies by 75 percent or more, says company.

 

The virtual software helps improve availability of space for critical applications by storing two copies of a virtual disk on different disk systems and also includes support for Microsoft (News - Alert) Windows Server 2008, Mac OS X Server, as well as Pillar Axiom disk systems.

 

IBM New System Storage Productivity Center (SSPC) is said to be the management console for SVC systems. It is specifically designed to provide clients with a superior management platform that integrates virtual and physical infrastructure management. The SSPC incorporates TotalStorage Productivity Center for Replication 3.4 preinstalled thereby providing simplified management of advanced copy services offered by SVC FlashCopy, and Metro and Global Mirror.

 

IBM TotalStorage Productivity Center software provides with a solution that helps customers reduce wasted disk space by identifying duplicate data, orphan data, temporary data, and non-business data thereby increasing the energy efficiency. The center also identifies less frequently accessed data files that can be migrated to even more energy-efficient storage systems. 

 

"Power consumption continues to be a top concern for our key large data center clients and IBM SAN Volume Controller is addressing this with the most efficient storage utilization technologies," said Andy Slater, Chief Operating Officer, Tectrade, in a statement.

 

Slater continued: "Since its launch five years ago, SVC has continued to evolve, and SVC 4.3 now offers the Space-Efficient FlashCopy feature, which uses disk space only for changes between source and target data rather than for the entire capacity of a virtual disk copy -- a real benefit for clients looking to reduce their carbon footprint."

 

IBM's SVC that enables customers to improve the energy efficiency of their data center on multiple fronts facilitates Non-Disruptive Data Migration, Simplified Tiered-Storage Implementation and Improved Storage Utilization.

 

"IBM SAN Volume Controller really simplifies storage virtualization for our clients because they don't have deal with re-architecting their entire storage infrastructure. SVC doesn't lock them to one vendor's solutions," said Greg Nightingale, Director of Storage Solutions, Sirius Computer Solutions, Inc, in a statement.

 

Nightingale added: "The technical elegance and managerial simplicity that the SVC is built around promotes immediate ROI across multiple areas, from non-disruptive data migration and seamless data movement and copy to remote replication. The new version of SVC includes enhancements such as thin provisioning which translates into even greater functionality, flexibility and value. Moreover, IBM's SVC captures the market's demand for greener storage solutions that maximize storage utilization and minimize the power and cooling required supporting the IT infrastructure."

 

IBM’s SVC facilitates its clients by allowing them to choose any combination of storage devices from EMC, IBM, HP, Hitachi (News - Alert) or other vendors, virtualize them and manage and deploy them easily, with greater flexibility and independence.

 

"The simplicity of IBM's storage virtualization system makes it extremely attractive to a company such as Lifestyle Family Fitness," said Michael Geis, Director IS Operations, Lifestyle Family Fitness, in the statement.

 

Geis added: "We were looking to grow our business but at the same time wanted to minimize our IT infrastructure costs. With IBM's SVC system compatible with all storage hardware, regardless of vendor, it has allowed us to realize cost savings by maximizing our existing infrastructure, eliminate bottlenecks in accessing membership information and improve numerous application benchmarks from 60 to 10 seconds. At the end of the day, SVC has been the optimal system solution for us."