IBM has launched Smart Business Storage Cloud, Information Archive and new consulting services, making its entry into the cloud storage space.
The Smart Business Storage Cloud is a private cloud offering that utilises low cost components in a clustered model and supports multiple petabytes of capacity, billions of files, and scale-out performance previously limited to the ‘high performance computing’ systems, the company claims.
IBM said that its General Parallel File System has been combined with storage, virtualisation and server technologies such as XIV and BladeCenter to provide performance and scalability all under one globally addressable namespace.
In addition to this, IBM offers tightly coupled services for implementation support and an optional ongoing lightweight managed service to help clients manage their cloud environment on an ongoing basis. Reportedly, it also paid attention to concerns about vendor lock-in and is offering full support for standard file access protocols to enable easier movement of data into and out of their storage cloud.
IBM Smart Business Storage Cloud is the first of IBMs cloud-based storage offering, built to be implemented either on the client premise or as part of its strategic outsourcing capabilities. The company said that it will continue to build out this area of the portfolio, including a business-grade public cloud for storage, which is expected to be offered with flexible consumption models and a self-service user interface.
IBM also launched a new Smart Business System called IBM Information Archive, which reportedly allows organisations to address information retention needs, including business, legal and regulatory, and enables organisations to leverage different tiers of storage, including disk and tape, with policy-based management that automatically moves less active information to more cost-effective storage systems.
Using a customisable ‘collections-based’ approach, the archived data can be accessed in a private cloud computing environment, even if it’s stored on tape media, the company said.
In addition, IBM Global Business Services is adding three new cloud consulting offerings Strategy and Change Services for Cloud Adoption, Strategy and Change Services for Cloud Providers and IBM Testing Services for Cloud to its business and IT consulting portfolio. These are designed for clients looking at an end-to-end cloud business-based IT strategy or to help clients select the right cloud delivery model for their business, IBM said.
