IBM to Launch New Automated Cluster Storage Software

IBM said at SNW Fall 2011 that it will make available new storage software by the end of the month that enables data to be automatically migrated between tiers on an array and even between arrays regardless of where the data chunks might be physically located. Big Blue also previewed that it will soon release an upgrade to its midrange storage array, the Storwize V7000 Unified, that is able to perform file and iSCSI-based block-level data transfers using the same management interface.

SNIA’s Green Storage Initiative announced the availability of the SNIA Emerald Power Efficiency Measurement Specification, which was developed collaboratively among more than 25 member companies. In addition, the GSI announced the SNIA Emerald Program that provides a vendor-neutral power efficiency test that is based on an industry-wide repository of measured test data. SNIA provides more information about the specification on its Website.

Emulex announced its new LightPulse 16Gb Fibre Channel Host Bus Adapters at the show. This is the ninth generation of Fibre Channel adapters, and Emulex says they deliver more than 1 million I/O per second (IOPS) on a single port, which is optimal for enabling high-performance I/O for high density cloud applications and virtualized data centers. The new HBAs are based on the Emulex Engine XE201 I/O Controller (IOC), the industry’s first and only quad-port converged fabric controller that supports 10Gb Ethernet (10GbE), 16GFC and up to 40GbE-based network convergence.

Kaminario exhibited its next-generation K2 high-performance, highly available and ultra-low latency all solid-state SAN storage machines. These are designed for high-performance storage requirements for widely diverse applications and workloads. They also offer a choice of media (DRAM or NAND Flash) within a single system.

OCZ Technology Group, a provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, is showcasing its latest flash storage products, including the Z-Drive R4 PCIe and customizable Deneva 2 SSD Series. These are specifically designed to optimize productivity and throughput to address enterprise, data center, and HPC storage challenges, the company said.

Phoenix International Systems, a manufacturer of rugged, commercial, off-the-shelf data storage systems for military, aerospace, telecommunications, utilities and process control industries, demonstrated its expertise at the show. The company has more than 18 years’ experience designing ruggedized COTS storage systems and currently supports a number of high-profile military aerospace and defense programs, including the Joint Surveillance Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) and the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) programs.

LeanLogistics presented a case study on “Deploying Hardware Encryption for Improved Performance and Security,” which offered a detailed discussion of the company’s deployment of self-encrypting solid-state drives (SSDs) managed by Wave Systems for protecting confidential data. LeanLogistics provides software-as-a-service (SaaS) transportation management services to a wide range of industries, enabling customers to improve overall supply chain management in a collaborative, centrally located environment. Its customers include ACE Hardware, Barilla, Chiquita, Dannon, Kellogg and McDonalds.

Chelsio Communications, which focuses on solving high-performance networking and storage problems (among the most common in data centers), demonstrated the high performance and flexibility of its T4 Unified Wire Adapters by showing concurrent iSCSI and FCoE traffic between two servers. A key differentiating feature of the T4 10Gb Ethernet adapters is the ability to simultaneously offload a wide range of protocols over a single card. Conventional cards have different versions for each protocol offload supported, with separate firmware for each. The demonstration consisted of two rack servers connected via a Cisco Nexus switch, passing both iSCSI and FCoE traffic concurrently at wire speed.

SMART Modular Technologies, a leading independent manufacturer of solid-state storage products and memory modules, announced that SoftLayer Technologies has selected its XceedIOPS SATA 2.5-inch solid state drives in 100GB, 200GB and 400GB capacities for use in its dedicated hosting centers. By offering SSD capabilities to its customers, SoftLayer has introduced a new level of storage performance for handling the high-transaction workloads. These SSDs combine enterprise-grade multi-level cell (E-MLC) NAND flash and SMART’s home-developed flash management IT.

The 2012 SNIA Board of Directors, Executive Committee and their roles are: Wayne Adams (EMC, pictured), Chairman and Executive Committee; Doug Voigt (HP), Vice Chairman and Executive Committee; SW Worth (Microsoft), Secretary and Executive Committee; Rob Peglar (Isilon), Treasurer and Executive Committee; Leo Leger (SNIA), Non-Voting Member, SNIA Executive Director and Executive Committee; Dave Dale (NetApp), Member; Don Deel (EMC), Non-Voting Member and Chairperson, Technical Council; Tony Dicenzo (Oracle), Member; Glen Jaquette (IBM), Member; Skip Jones (QLogic), Member; Gary Phillips (Symantec), Member; Allan Zmyslowski (Fujitsu America), Member.