IBM Storage's FlashSystem Drive Innovation, Dramatically Cuts Your Costs, and Eliminates Complexity

By: Eric Herzog, CMO and VP of Global Storage Channels, IBM Storage Division, Feb 12, 2020

Storage made simple for hybrid multicloud

Albert Einstein said, “Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler.”

In line with that inspiration, IBM is launching a new family of flash storage solutions designed to meet the full range of enterprise storage needs from entry to mid-range to high-end systems that extend to your hybrid multicloud storage deployments. All are based on a common storage software platform that works seamlessly across all deployment types (bare metal, virtualized, container, and hybrid multicloud) and support your existing storage estate, whether the storage is from IBM or other vendors.

Different organizations have different requirements for storage. Even different applications within a single organization may have different needs such as entry point, performance, scalability, data services, functionality and availability. Storage vendors have traditionally responded with unique storage platforms to meet these varying requirements. But with that uniqueness comes complexity:

• Different management and troubleshooting
• Different APIs and automation
• Different paths to cloud, and more

There’s been plenty of innovation, but that can be accompanied with great complexity and higher cost.

In addition, many users deploy storage systems from multiple vendors, which just adds even more complexity. Is it any wonder that storage cost, management and optimization of data placement, and data migration are among the top five concerns of storage users?[1]

These concerns can delay deployment of new storage technologies, limit flexibility, impact your applications and workloads, and drive up costs.

IBM is taking a completely different approach by radically simplifying the IBM FlashSystem family. A single platform designed to simplify your storage infrastructure, reduce complexity, and cut costs, while continuing to deliver extensive innovation for your enterprise class storage solutions and your hybrid multicloud environments:

• A single approach to extraordinary data availability:“six nines” availability across all price points, 2- and 3-site replication, cross-site high availability configurations, and the option for guaranteed 100% data availability.[2] Data-at-rest encryption coupled with tape and cloud “air gap” copies, malware detection, and application-aware snapshots help provide a dependable cyber resiliency solution.
• A single, award-winning software foundation:IBM Spectrum Virtualize provides enterprise-class data services from entry enterprise to high-end enterprise deployments on premises and with consistent capability for hybrid multicloud. IBM Spectrum Virtualize provides the foundation for simplifying storage by delivering these same services for existing storage together with the ability for nondisruptive data movement. It also supports transformation by enabling cloud and container deployments with all supported storage.
• Consistent APIs for automation delivered on premises and in the cloud and supporting all deployment approaches: bare metal, virtualized, containerized, and for hybrid multicloud.
• Cloud-based, AI-infused management, storage analytics, and integrated proactive support: IBM Storage Insights delivers heterogeneous storage management made simple. IBM and select non-IBM storage together with cloud storage managed by IBM Spectrum Virtualize for Public Cloud can all be managed through a single pane of glass. AI-based analytics offers insights into best practice recommendations. For IBM storage, IBM Storage Insights provides streamlined access to support to help resolve issues even more quickly.

“The simplification of the IBM Storage portfolio means a single FlashSystem family built on a common software platform providing the same APIs and the same management across on premises and in the cloud,” said Eric Burgener, Research Vice President for Infrastructure Systems at IDC. “We believe this radical shift to their portfolio will significantly increase both the value and innovation delivered to IBM Storage customers.”

The new IBM FlashSystem family accomplishes all that, while supporting deployments spanning bare metal, virtualized, containerized, and hybrid cloud environments.

let’s take a closer look at the details of the new IBM FlashSystem family, a single platform designed to simplify your storage infrastructure, reduce complexity and cut costs, while continuing to deliver extensive innovation for your enterprise class storage solutions and your hybrid multicloud environments.

Technology innovation

IBM FlashCore Modules (FCMs) deliver both data compression and FIPS 140-2 certified data-at-rest encryption with NO performance penalty.

Space is always at a premium in data centers and cloud configurations. IBM is introducing a new FlashCore Module with 38.4TB usable capacity, twice the size of the previous largest module. Using this new FlashCore Module, IBM FlashSystem supports a maximum of 4PB of data in only 2 rack units (2U) of space for extraordinary density and efficiency.[1] These new FlashCore Modules are also available as upgrades for IBM’s previous flash array generation: FlashSystem 9100 and Storwize V5100 and V7000 Gen3.

Storage-class memory

To provide ultra-low latency for performance sensitive but less cache-friendly workloads, IBM is also introducing storage-class memory (SCM) drives from Intel and Samsung as a persistent storage tier for IBM FlashSystem family. Like the new FlashCore Modules, SCM drives are also available as upgrades for our previous generation of all flash arrays: FlashSystem 9100 and Storwize V5100 and V7000 Gen3.

Effortless management

With flexible drive options including Storage Class Memory (SCM), all-flash and hybrid configurations, the IBM FlashSystem family can help you to craft the optimal balance between cost and performance. And through its IBM Spectrum Virtualize software foundation, IBM FlashSystem can integrate storage from over 500 other heterogeneous storage systems.

To optimize both your system performance and deliver cost efficiency, IBM FlashSystem includes AI-driven IBM EasyTier capability that helps place the right data on the right tier at the right time. The system takes care of transparently moving the hottest blocks of data up the tiers while the cooler blocks of data are moved down. There’s nothing for you to do except set it and forget it. With EasyTier, you can configure storage environments with a small amount of the highest performing tiers and a larger quantity of more economical storage.

IBM Storage Insights provides monitoring, AI-based alerts, reporting and support capabilities from IBM Cloud. Storage Insights Pro simplifies storage further with support from a single management pane for cloud storage managed by IBM Spectrum Virtualize for Public Cloud and EMC Unity and Unity XT, NetApp FAS and AFF, and Hitachi VSP G-series storage.

“IBM’s FlashSystem announcement is a transformational change for the storage market,” says Bob Elliot, Vice President, Storage Sales at IBM Business Partner Mainline Information Systems. “By combining multiple award-winning solutions into one family, IBM is not only protecting existing customers’ investments, they are also providing strong innovation into the future. FlashSystem creates a highly scalable, incredibly adaptable, flexible and seamless solution from entry level to high end, extending to our clients’ hybrid multicloud environments. And since it is predominantly a channel-based family, it is extremely well suited to the partner environment. I think it’s a win-win for both customers and partners.”

Innovative new storage systems

Built with award-winning IBM Spectrum Virtualize software and including IBM Storage Insights, the new IBM FlashSystem family adds four new enterprise-class systems that deliver the benefits of IBM FlashCore Modules, storage-class memory, and the enterprise-class data services of IBM Spectrum Virtualize, while seamlessly connecting and managing data in your hybrid multicloud deployments.

When application growth calls for more storage capacity:

• IBM FlashSystem 7200: End-to-end NVMe and sophisticated enterprise-class hybrid multicloud functionality in a system designed for mid-range enterprise deployments. Supporting both scale-up with expansion enclosures and scale-out with up to 4-way clustering, FlashSystem 7200 supports 43 percent higher performance than Storwize V7000 Gen3 with a maximum of 9.2M IOPS[2]and 55 percent better throughput: a maximum of 128GB/s.[3] All this delivered at a lower list price compared to our previous generation.
• IBM FlashSystem 9200: End-to-end NVMe in a system designed for the most demanding enterprise requirements. FlashSystem 9200 delivers comprehensive storage functionality and our highest levels of performance: 20 percent better performance than FlashSystem 9100 with maximum 18M IOPS[4] and 180GB/s[5] per 4-way cluster. Both FlashSystem 7200 and 9200 also support only 70μs latency.[6] All this delivered at a lower list price compared to our previous generation.
• IBM FlashSystem 9200R:Designed for clients needing an IBM-built, IBM-tested complete storage system delivered assembled, with installation and configuration completed by IBM. The system includes 2-4 IBM FlashSystem 9200 control enclosures, Brocade or Cisco switches for clustering interconnect and optional expansion enclosures for additional capacity.

These systems are joined in the family by entry enterprise FlashSystem 5010, 5030, and 5100. All members of the IBM FlashSystem family, except the all-flash FlashSystem 9200 and 9200R, are available in both all-flash and hybrid flash models.

When modernizing heterogeneous storage, the trail-blazing IBM SAN Volume Controller (SVC) provides virtual storage consolidation of over 500 heterogeneous storage systems for simplicity, modernization, hybrid cloud capability and more. SVC uses the same IBM Spectrum Virtualize software and platform as IBM FlashSystem but supports only external storage. Two models are available, one delivering a maximum of 40 percent more IOPS than our previous system[7] at the same list price. The other, designed for more price conscious deployments, offers slightly better performance10 than our previous model but at a 25 percent lower list price.

“IBM’s recent announcement adds new enterprise class features in a storage solution that spans our workload needs from bare metal to virtualized, from container to hybrid multicloud,” says Dave Anderson-Ward, Server and Storage Technical Team Lead at the UK Ordnance Survey. “We’re looking forward for the new end-to-end NVMe generation of the FlashSystem family that is engineered to deliver lower latency and twice the capacity in only 2RU. IBM’s Flashcore Module technology provides us the leading-edge features—such as compression and data at rest encryption with no performance penalty—that we need to keep our data center and cloud environments ahead of our competitors.”

Together these IBM FlashSystem models deliver a single enterprise-class platform for simplicity and consistency across all deployments from the smallest entry configurations to the largest high-end enterprise to hybrid multicloud. They are designed to work across the servers you have today and are ready for containerized deployments using Red Hat OpenShift, Kubernetes, and CRI-O through their support for Container Storage Interface (CSI).

With IBM FlashSystem 5100, 7200, 9200, and 9200R, IBM delivers across the range of deployments end-to-end NVMe storage with the efficiency and cyber resiliency benefits of IBM FlashCore Modules and the ultra-low latency of storage-class memory, all backed by IBM Storage Insights management and streamlined support.

If you are considering new storage or are simply trying to modernize the storage you already have, you’ll find the new IBM FlashSystem family the right choice for your next storage acquisition. Find out more here.

https://www.ibm.com/blogs/systems/storage-made-simple-hybrid-multicloud/