IBM has expanded its flash storage portfolio to make it easier for customers to access data to use in apps.
Boasting a minimum latency of 250ìs (microsecond), the FlashSystem A9000, FlashSystem A9000R and the IBM DS8888, focus on bringing data to cloud-based applications and workloads.
The A9000 comes fully configured to help drive down cost for implementing an all-flash environment. It incorporates data reduction features such as pattern removal, deduplication and real-time compression, as well as IBM FlashCore technology.
The A9000R also includes these features, and is built on grid architecture to provide easy scaling up to the petabyte range.
These two solutions start at $1.50 per gigabyte.
Finally, the IBM DS8888 accelerates customer databases and data-intensive applications.
The solutions have IBM MicroLatency built in, which transfers data within the flash array via hardware instead of the added layer of software.
They also have features designed to solve cloud requirements such as quality-of-service to prevent the impact of ‘noisy neighbours’, or cloud computing infrastructure co-tenant that monopolise resources and drive down performance for other cloud tenants.
Greg Lotko, general manager of IBM Storage and Software Defined Infrastructure said that businesses would need to be able to quickly deal with "the drastic increase in volume, velocity and variety of information" to be prepared for the "Cognitive Era".
William Reed, chief technology officer at customer the Arizona State Land Department, said, "the workloads our department manages include CAD files for land mapping, geographic information system (GIS) applications and satellite imagery for the over 9.2 million acres of State Trust lands we’re responsible to oversee."
Reed said that IBM’s FlashSystem has helped to increase the department’s client productivity by 7 times while reducing its virtual machine boot times by over 85 percent.
