IBM Storage


The IBM Storage product portfolio includes disk, flash, tape, NAS storage products, storage software and services. IBM's approach is to focus on data management.

IBM Spectrum Storage

IBM Spectrum Storage portfolio can centrally manage more than 300 different storage devices and yottabytes of data.

IBM Spectrum Accelerate

The functionality of Spectrum Accelerate is based on the IBM XIV, a high-end disk storage system. IBM Spectrum Accelerate and XIV run the same base software stack and interoperate with features such as management, remote replication and volume mobility.

IBM Spectrum Scale

IBM Spectrum Scale is software-defined storage for cloud and analytics.
The product is very widely used in both commercial and academic environments. It has a history going back to the mid 1990s. It was formerly known as GPFS before IBM re-branded all storage products in 2015.

IBM Spectrum Virtualize

IBM Spectrum Virtualize is a block storage virtualization system. Because the IBM Storwize V7000 uses SVC code, it can also be used to perform storage virtualization in exactly the same way as SVC. Since mid-2012 it offers real time compression with no performance impact, saving up to 80% of disk utilization. SVC can be configured on a Stretched Cluster Mode, with automatic failover between two datacenters and can have SSD that can be used by EasyTier software to perform sub-LUN automatic tiering.

IBM Spectrum Control

IBM Spectrum Control provides infrastructure management for virtualized, cloud and software-defined storage.

IBM Spectrum Protect

IBM Spectrum Protect is a progression of the Tivoli Storage Management product.

IBM Spectrum Archive

It allows users to run any application designed for disk files against tape data without concern for the fact that the data is physically stored on tape.
IBM offers four options:
offers a range of dedicated, non-SSD "all-flash" storage systems and provide flash capacity for a number of integrated systems. In April 2013, IBM announced a plan for a $1 billion investment in flash storage research and development. IBM acquired flash storage system maker Texas Memory Systems in 2012.
The product line-up was renewed in January 2014 with the announcement of the FlashSystem 840 and in February 2014 with the announcement of the FlashSystem V840. Both products were improved in May 2014 with new entry level capacity points and more protocols. IBM has been refreshing those systems and adding new capabilities every year.
IBM FlashSystem products are covered under warranty against flash wear.

IBM FlashSystem A9000

IBM FlashSystem A9000 is a 8U rackmount unit with up to 300TB of usable storage capacity provided by FlashSystem 900 modules, managed by IBM Spectrum Accelerate software. It's scalable sibling, the FlashSystem A9000R, consists of a minimum of two units, scaling to 6 units or 1.8 PB usable in a 42U rack. A9000R units share CPU, cache and access paths with their neighbours, leveraging a zero-tuning data distribution design. The FlashSystem A9000 family supports IBM Real-time Compression, real-time global deduplication and real-time pattern removal, while maintaining average access times of 250 µs under database workloads. Up to 144 instances of FlashSystem A9000 and XIV Storage Systems can be combined into one HyperScale cluster with client multitenancy. Since A9000, A9000R and XIV Storage Systems share the Spectrum Accelerate management software, the FlashSystem A9000R is occasionally referred to as XIV Gen4.

IBM FlashSystem V9000

IBM FlashSystem V9000 is a 6U rackmount with up to 57 TB of usable storage capacity provided by FlashSystem 900 modules, managed by IBM Spectrum Virtualize software. The system supports a wide range of advanced data services such as IBM Real-time Compression and external storage virtualization. With scalability up to 456 TB of usable capacity, FlashSystem V9000 is targeted for mixed workload environments.

IBM FlashSystem 900

IBM FlashSystem 900 is composed of IBM enhanced MLC flash technology. The system is a 2U rackmount unit with up to 57TB of RAID-5, usable storage capacity. The system supports a high-availability architecture with redundant and hot-swappable components, IBM optimized ECC, IBM Variable Stripe RAID, and two-dimensional flash RAID for data protection. With read IOPS of 1,100,000 and write IOPS of 600,000, FlashSystem 900 is targeted for OLTP and OLAP databases.
On October 24, 2017 IBM announced an update to the FlashSystem 900 to add support for hardware-accelerated, inline data compression and updated flash technology to 3D triple-level cell .

IBM FlashSystem V840

IBM FlashSystem V840 is a 6U rackmount with up to 40TB of usable storage capacity. It is the predecessor of the FlashSystem V9000. The system supports a wide range of software-defined storage services including: Real-time Compression, external storage virtualization, snapshots, replication, IBM Easy Tier, VAAI, and thin provisioning. FlashSystem V840 is targeted for workloads that need high velocity data access and advanced storage services.

IBM FlashSystem 840

FlashSystem 840 is composed of enterprise multi-level cell flash technology. The system is a 2U rackmount unit with up to 48TB of usable storage capacity, 40TB with RAID 5. It is the predecessor of the FlashSystem 900. The system supports a high-availability architecture with ECC, IBM Variable Stripe RAID, and two-dimensional flash RAID for data protection and offers hot-swap flash modules and power supplies. With read IOPS of 1,100,000 and write IOPS of 600,000, FlashSystem 840 is targeted for OLTP and OLAP databases, scientific applications and cloud services.

IBM DeepFlash 150

IBM DeepFlash 150 is an ultra-high density SSD drawer holding up to 0.5 PB of Flash capacity in 3U rack space. It is directly attached via SAS to a maximum of 8 servers used as application cluster or as integrated device running some SDS storage management software. Its design point is lowest price per reliable capacity. In contrast, for lowest price per IOPS or best latency per invest, consider storage built around FlashSystem modules.

IBM DeepFlash Elastic Storage Server

an integrated device combining one or two DeepFlash 150 drawers with IBM Spectrum Scale software for Exascale storage repositories with analytics capabilities. The DeepFlash-ESS can be clustered non-disruptively with existing IBM Elastic Storage Servers, up to a theoretical limit of 8000 clustered devices. It features file, object and Hadoop transparent access. Spectrum Scale offers automated data placement and lifecycle management from Memory to Flash to Disk to Tape, besides geographically distributed caching and replication.

IBM Data Engine for NoSQL

IBM Data Engine for NoSQL is an integrated black-box device combining an IBM PowerLinux server with FlashSystem modules attached as non-volatile memory extension.The integrated system offers large capacity NoSQL services based on pre-loaded Redis, Cassandra and Neo4J, up to 57 TB in-memory instances. Compared to a clustered in-memory implementation, the Data Engine for NoSQL consumes a fraction of the power and rack footprint while delivering similar performance by keeping relevant data structures in fast memory. Use cases include scalable web shops, gaming, genomics, geolocation, catalogs, hash tables and cluster caches like memcached.

Other flash storage capabilities

High IOPS PCIe Adapters – PCIe card adapters for former IBM System x servers, offering capacities up to 2.4 TB. Moved to Lenovo.

Disk Systems

For enterprise workloads

DS8000

The IBM System Storage DS8000 offers specialized advanced functions optimized for IBM Power Systems and IBM System z servers. The DS8000 also can use self-encrypting drives for every drive tier to help secure data at rest.
The IBM XIV Storage System is designed to work well in cloud and virtualized environments. The XIV Gen3 model offers 2, 3, 4 or 6 TB drives, providing up to 485 TB of usable capacity per rack. SSD caching adds up to 12 TB of management-free high-performance data caching capability to the entire array. The system can also connect to external storage via Fibre Channel and iSCSi.

SONAS

IBM Scale Out Network Attached Storage is the IBM enterprise storage platform based on GPFS technology. This system implements NAS based protocols over a large-scale global name space. Today the system can scale out using commodity components to 30 balanced nodes and up to 14.4 PB of storage. GPFS gives the SONAS system with built-in ILM and tight integration with Tivoli Storage Manager helps move data to disk pools.

For entry and midrange workloads

IBM Storwize family

The Storwize family of storage controllers shares the software with the IBM SAN Volume Controller and offers the same functionality with few exceptions. Storwize systems are capable of external virtualization, ideally used for technology migration and investment protection for aging systems. Storwize advanced caching, free-of-charge Easy Tier and automatic hotspot elimination help infuse a second life to previous-generation storage systems. Modern virtualization functions like inline real-time compression for data on external systems can help delay capacity repurchase for several years.
IBM Storwize V7000 is a compact virtualizing storage system that inherits IBM SAN Volume Controller functionality. It can attach to storage clients via FCP, FCoE or iSCSI protocols and can use Real-time Compression to reduce disk space usage by up to 80 percent.
IBM Storwize V7000 Gen2 and Gen2 turbo, each a technology upgrade with increased throughput and number of drives support: 720 slots per single controller or 3040 per clustered controller.
IBM Storwize V7000F, designed for SSD-only operations.
The Storwize V7000 Unified combines two head units running IBM Storwize File Module Software with the IBM Storwize V7000 block storage system. It is described as unified storage because it simultaneously implements NAS protocols and block storage. It leverages IBM Spectrum Scale software capabilities.
IBM Storwize V5000, announced in 2013, is a mid-range virtualizing storage system offering many of the features of the V7000 in a 2U rack-mount enclosure. Storwize V5000 supports 6 Gbit SAS and 1 Gbit iSCSI host attachment and either 8 Gbit FC or 10 Gbit iSCSI/FCoE host attachment. The system can support up to 480 drives with nineteen expansion enclosures, and up to 960 drives in a two-way cluster configuration.
IBM Storwize V5000 Gen2, a technology upgrade with increased number of drives support. It is available as V5010, V5020, and V5030 with mutual in-place upgrade capability.
IBM Storwize V5000F, designed for SSD-only operations.
IBM Storwize V3700, announced on November 6, 2012, is an entry-level system designed to meet the block storage needs of small and midsize businesses. This system offers capabilities previously available in more expensive systems to help businesses consolidate and share data at a lower price. Key hardware features include:
Storwize V3700 also offers management and interoperability features from previous Storwize systems, including:
In October 2013, IBM announced DC powered models, NEBS and ETSI compliance and remote mirror over IP networks, integrating Bridgeworks SANrockIT technology to optimize the use of network bandwidth.

IBM Storwize storage media

As of November 2016, available Storwize media sizes include 2.5-inch flash SSDs with up to 15.36 TB capacity and 3.5-inch Nearline-HDDs with up to 10 TB capacity, available for Storwize 5000, 7000 and SAN Volume Controller native attach. IBM Storwize Easy Tier will automatically manage and continually optimize data placement in mixed pools of nearline disks / standard disks / read-intensive Flash and enterprise-grade Flash SSDs, including from virtualized devices.
Transparent Cloud Tiering for Swift- and S3-compatible object datastores can be used as a cold tier for incremental volume snapshots and volume archives without live production access. This allows keeping hourly time machine copies or archiving VM images including attached volumes at a price point somewhat closer to tape media. Supported on-premise datastores include IBM Cloud Object Store and IBM Spectrum Scale object. Off-premise datastores would be popular S3-compatible cloud services like IBM Bluemix. Off-premise Transparent Cloud Tiering per default uses AES encryption, which is a licensed feature.

High density rack systems

IBM Storwize High-Density Expansion 5U92 for Storwize V5000 Gen2, V7000 and SAN Volume Controller, attaching via 12Gb SAS lanes.
This high density carrier hosts 92 hot-swappable large form factor drives in 5U rack height. Use cases include general footprint reduction, active archives, streaming media applications, or big data warehouses.
Peak performance figures are equivalent to four chained 2U Storwize EXP 12Gb SAS expansions, at equal total number of drives.

Tape and virtual tape systems

For enterprise workloads

TS4500 Tape Library

High density tape library supporting Linear Tape-Open 5 and 6 or TS1140 and TS1150 drives. Can scale up to 35.5 PB of native capacity with 3592 cartridges and up to 11.7 PB with LTO 6 cartridges. Supports up to 5.5 PB in 10 sq ft.

TS3500 Tape Library

Highly scalable tape library supporting Linear Tape-Open or TS11x0 drives. Can scale up to 16 frames, 192 drives and over 20,000 cartridges capacity per library string or up to 2,700 drives per library complex.

Tape drives

Tape libraries

IBM SmartCloud Storage Access

IBM SmartCloud Storage Access is a software application designed to create a private cloud storage service on existing storage devices. The software can be configured to allow users self-service, Internet-based access for account creation, storage provisioning and file management. The software offers simple management with monitoring and reporting capabilities, including storage usage by user and group definitions.

Active Cloud Engine

The Active Cloud Engine is an advanced form of multiple site replication. ACE is designed to allow different types of cloud implementations to exchange data dynamically. ACE does is designed to extend the SONAS capability for a single, centrally managed namespace, to a truly distributed, geographically-dispersed, global namespace.

IBM Easy Tier

IBM Easy Tier is designed to automate data placement throughout the disk pool to improve the efficiency and performance of the storage system. Easy Tier is designed to relocate data across up to three drive tiers automatically and without disruption to application. IBM Easy Tier is available on the DS8000, Storwize V7000, Storwize V7000 Unified, Storwize V5000, Storwize V3700 and SAN Volume Controller.

Withdrawn systems