IBM to expand 'on-demand' product portfolio

IDG News Service - IBM is set to expand its "on-demand" menu today, announcing products designed to help companies make more efficient use of their servers and storage equipment.
The products, announced at an IBM analyst conference in Palisades, N.Y., include storage virtualization products, software for pooling application servers, tools that make it easier to add servers to increase capacity and balance server load, and "pay-as-you-grow" offerings for storage and blade server systems, IBM said in a statement.
With the height of the latest technology boom over, many businesses are focused on simplifying their IT environments and cutting the cost of running systems they have in place. IBM hopes to sell products that will help users achieve that with its on-demand initiative, which is similar to Sun Microsystems Inc.'s N1 and Hewlett-Packard Co.'s Utility Datacenter and Adaptive Infrastructure initiatives.
SAN Volume Controller, SAN Integration Server and SAN File System are IBM's first storage virtualization products, said Scott Drummond, director of storage networking.
Storage virtualization provides a single view of and easy access to all storage resources on a network. It's meant to help companies make the most of their storage capacity and simplify the use and management of multiple storage systems.
The IBM virtualization products initially will work only with IBM storage hardware. Products from other vendors, including HP, EMC Corp. and Hitachi Data Systems Corp., will be tested and should be supported by year's end, Drummond said.
SAN Volume Controller, which is for companies that already have a storage-area network, is due out in July and will be priced starting at $75,000. The SAN Integration Server, for users looking to add capacity or build their first SAN, is due in August. Pricing for that product hasn't been set.
The SAN File System is a SAN-wide file system that automates the management of data in most popular storage systems, according to IBM. The product is expected in December.
On the application server side, IBM announced software that will allow users to pool application servers and then balance the workload between them dynamically as traffic volumes change. Users can also apply multiple application servers to the highest-priority task at any particular time, IBM said.
"You will get a lot more value for your money. It is all about making sure you can use all your resources as efficiently as possible," said Bob Sutor, director of WebSphere infrastructure software at IBM.
The software, called IBM Server Technology for WebSphere Application Server, will initially be offered to a limited number of customers who use the Enterprise Edition