IBM promises to ease enterprise storage woes

IBM has announced several improvements to its System Storage DS8000 and XIV Storage System, aimed at helping enterprises deal with the explosive growth in data and information.

The company said that businesses are struggling to get the most out of their infrastructure, while facing rising pressures concerning compliance and security.

The new enhancements promise to deliver better performance, security, manageability and business continuity, according to IBM.

"Businesses today are faced with addressing core information requirements around compliance, availability, retention and security, while also maximising the value in their current storage infrastructure," said Barry Rudolph, vice president of system storage at IBM.

The System Storage DS8000 will have a thin provisioning feature allowing customers to better utilise existing storage capacity. This should also help reduce energy consumption and costs, while dealing with the increasing volume of information that needs to be stored, managed and analysed.

The XIV Storage System is to get new management functions, as well as dual processors which should boost the performance of certain workloads by as much as 30 per cent, according to IBM.

Later this year the company also plans to implement asynchronous mirroring on the XIV architecture with low response times at virtually unlimited distances. This is primarily aimed at boosting remote disaster site recovery.

Pricing for thin provisioning on the DS8000 is flat rate by model, starting at approximately $69,000 (£42,300). The XIV storage system updates will be available at no additional charge.