BM unveiled software defined storage products which will enable organizations to access and process any type of data, on any type of storage device. One technology in the portfolio, codenamed “Elastic Storage,” is capable of reducing storage costs up to 90% by automatically moving data onto the most economical storage device. The new storage software is ideally suited for the most data-intensive applications, which require high-speed access to massive volumes of information – from seismic data processing, risk management and financial analysis, weather modeling, and scientific research, to determining the next best action in real-time retail situations.
Software-defined storage is a set of software capabilities that automatically manage data locally and globally. At its core, Elastic Storage builds on IBM’s global file system software to provide online storage management, scalable access, and integrated data governance tools capable of managing vast amounts of data and billions of files. For example, Elastic Storage also exploits server-side Flash for up to six times increase in performance than with standard SAS disks. This feature recognizes when a server has Flash storage and automatically uses that Flash as cache memory to improve performance.
Elastic Storage virtualizes the storage allowing multiple systems and applications to share common pools of storage. This enables transparent global access to data without the need to modify applications and without the need for additional and often disruptive storage management applications.
Through its support of OpenStack cloud management software, Elastic Storage also enables customers to store, manage and access data across private, public and hybrid clouds. In addition to supporting OpenStack Cinder and Swift access, Elastic Storage supports other open APIs such as POSIX and Hadoop.
While traditional storage systems must move data to separate designated systems for transaction processing Elastic Storage software will also be available as an IBM SoftLayer cloud service later this year.