IBM Expands All-Flash Storage Offerings for Cloud and Cognitive Computing

IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced new, cost-conscious, enterprise class, all-flash storage designed to provide small, midsized organizations and global enterprises with primary storage for cloud or cognitive applications and workloads.

Also announced IBM’s “Flash In,” a storage migration program designed to help companies looking to leverage IBM’s expertise, like Dell and EMC clients, easily transition to IBM storage solutions as part of a journey to become cloud and cognitive businesses.

Clients today are embracing all-flash storage to deliver speed and response times necessary to support growing data workloads across public, private and hybrid cloud environments, as well as the demands of cognitive applications and workloads. IBM Storwize V7000F and IBM Storwize 5030F are all-flash arrays that meet the needs across the wide breadth of primary storage applications, workload and use cases at cost effective price points.

Built with IBM Spectrum Virtualize, the Storwize all-flash solutions reduce the cost and complexity of data center and cloud environments. The award-winning IBM management software improves storage efficiency with features such as real-time data compression, thin provisioning, and snapshotting across nearly 400 different storage arrays from a multitude of vendors. IBM Spectrum Virtualize also optimizes data security, reliability and operational costs. The software automatically tiers, migrates data from one storage array to another, provides secure data at rest encryption, and remotely replicates data for disaster recovery and business continuity purposes.

“This announcement addresses a clear need for clients that require a substantial increase in storage performance but at a price that’s in line with the reality of today’s datacenter budgets,” said Ed Walsh, general manager of IBM Storage and Software Defined Infrastructure. “As an essential part of a company’s primary storage strategy, IBM’s new all-flash solutions provide robust security and the reliability that organizations need as they move to cloud and cognitive environments.”

IBM Storwize V7000F and IBM Storwize 5030F also bring enterprise-class availability and function to mid-range and entry-level all-flash storage delivering greater performance and requiring less time to provision and optimize systems.

• Affordable all-flash mid-range storage: IBM Storwize V7000F improves performance by up to 45 percent¹ and supports four times clustering for scale-out and scale-up growth to help organizations manage rapidly growing datasets.
• Entry-level all-flash storage: IBM Storwize 5030F offers high performance and availability at an attractive entry point to help clients control costs.

The all-flash Storwize V7000F and Storwize V5030F are also built to manage a variety of primary storage workloads, from database management systems such as SQL Server and MySQL to digital media sources that include broadcast, real-time streaming, and video surveillance. The new technology can also handle huge volumes of Internet of Things (IoT) data.

Availability and pricing

The new IBM Storwize storage solutions will be available worldwide from IBM and through IBM Business Partners beginning early September. Pricing begins at $19,000.

Introducing installation services to easily transition clients from Dell/EMC to IBM

IBM’s “Flash In” is a no-cost migration initiative providing organizations that are not current IBM customers with a smooth transition path from storage deployments to the IBM family of all-flash arrays. Under the new program, clients will receive data migration and installation services for five consecutive days for either on-site replacement or upgrades.

Business Partners looking to add IBM as a strategic vendor to provide more long term stability and broaden their solutions portfolio will find a set of comprehensive benefits that compare very favorably to what they may experience today.

Up to 80 percent of all-flash storage is sold by IBM Business Partners. The IBM Flash In initiative will amplify the company’s all-flash offensive to help Business Partners reach new clients not currently served by IBM, and clients who may face potential disruption if there are product portfolio integrations with Dell and EMC.

“With any merger or acquisition, there is unrest in the industry creating uncertainty for channel partners,” said Mark Wyllie, chief executive officer, Flagship Solutions Group, a premier IBM Business Partner dedicated to helping clients with data center strategic planning and hybrid cloud implementations. “It’s critical that Business Partners have a strong relationship with a company like IBM that is committed to the channel and has proven leadership across key investment areas like flash and software defined storage, in addition to providing resources for ongoing development, training and support that opens the doors to growth.”

Clients choosing to migrate from Dell or EMC can also select from the following IBM storage solutions to meet their needs across the wide breadth of primary storage applications, workloads and use cases. These include:

IBM FlashSystem A9000 and IBM FlashSystem A9000R, IBM FlashSystem V9000, IBM FlashSystem 900, IBM DS8888, IBM Deep Flash 150 with Spectrum Scale and VersaStackofferings with IBM FlashSystem V9000, IBM Storwize V7000F and IBM Storwize V5030F.

“With ever increasing volumes of customer and operational information, flexible and secure data storage is crucial to keeping our operation afloat as our company expands to hundreds of destinations worldwide,” said Leonardo Irastorza, Technology Revitalization & Global Shared Services Manager, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. “That is why we depend on IBM Flash technology, which plays a critical role in ensuring exceptional guest experiences across our brands.  It’s all about the guest experience, which is a foundational pillar in our company’s continued innovation.