IBM held its fall 2007 Systems and Technology Group (S&TG) IT Analysts Briefing on October 2d – 4th in Stamford, CT. IBM’s S&TG covers technology for servers, storage, and software. Analysts had the opportunity to hear and provide input on IBM’s strategy and roadmap pertaining to these areas. Here, we summarizes and discuss key points to IBM’s technology direction specifically for storage. Although the conference covered a wide range of individual storage topics, the underlying subject matter centered on virtualization, management, security, and SMB -- and the common theme throughout these subjects was the concept of green.
IBM reiterated that the major challenge facing enterprises today is the growing volume of data. In fact, the volume of data is expected to grow sixfold by 2010. Obviously, past and even current storage implementations will not meet the need of this growing demand. IBM’s strategy to meet this growth consists of four elements: enable business flexibility, mitigate risk, optimize IT, and leverage information. While noble in intention, these elements are extremely broad and require some underlying substance.
IBM’s plan for the enterprise involves many components, but virtualization, improved management, disaster recovery, and security are at the forefront. IBM will invest in increasing the robustness and reliability of its DS8000 storage platform, with emphasis on increased scalability, disk encryption, and advanced copy services such as FlashCopy, MetroMirror, and GlobalMirror. This emphasis on mirrored replication recognizes the importance of data protection, particularly for disaster recovery. Also key to IBM’s strategy for the enterprise is SAN Volume Controller (SVC). Addressing data growth, data sharing, and efficient disk utilization will require a virtualized environment – and IBM makes no secret that SVC is the current storage virtualization market leader with close to 10,000 units installed. On the management front, enhancements to the Tivoli management framework will include a service focus with further emphasis on the alignment of technology with business needs. Tivoli continues to move away from its silo heritage to a more unified architecture that addresses servers, storage, and networks.
Key to the go ahead strategy for IBM is the SMB market. To address the SMB market for storage, IBM will focus on simplicity, pricing, packaging, and channel readiness. All enterprise storage vendors have recognized the opportunity for selling into the SMB market and IBM is no exception. But SMBs are sensitive to complexity and price. SMBs do not have nearly the same level of resource as their enterprise counterparts and require products that are easier to install and support. Although sensitive to price, SMBs are not satisfied with enterprise products that are “dumbed down” to meet price points. They are seeking products that are targeted specifically to needs – and also affordable. The BladeCenter S is an example of such a product. IBM provided a very interesting demo of the BladeCenter S comparing it to HP’s BladeSystem c3000, nicknamed “shorty”. The demo was very entertaining and clearly displayed the advantages of BladeCenter S over the c3000. In fact, HP should take note and prepare a response. IBM is a bit later to the SMB market than other vendors and also has a long way to go in the channels area, but is otherwise well positioned to increase its market share in this space.
With all the discussion of enterprise, virtualization, and SMB, the one common thread was green. However, IBM’s message was in the context of “storage for the green data center”, rather than “green storage.” Although there was certainly some discussion of tools for power and cooling efficiencies, IBM’s main point was that following best business practices will ultimately translate to green. Technologies such as data classification, tiering (including tape), and de-duplication that result in positive effects for the business overall, now have a green significance to them. Organizing the data center for maximum efficiency businesswise is a good first step to the utmost in energy savings.
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