IBM touts SSD data management software for its servers, arrays
It's now offering solid-state drives on its Power6 server line
Computerworld - IBM is now providing management software across all of its servers and storage arrays that identifies the most highly accessed data and migrates it to solid-state disk (SSD) drives to improve application performance.
The company also announced today that it is offering SSDs in its Power6 iSeries server line. IBM already offers SSDs from STEC Inc. as an option in its xSeries blade server line and DS8000 enterprise-class storage arrays.
Clod Barrera, chief technical strategist for IBM systems storage, said that by using SSDs to store highly accessed data, such as that which resides in relational databases and Web applications, application performance can be improved eightfold. "We asked ourselves, 'Isn't there a sweet spot or a place where we can move the indices plus hot tables for better performance?' and the answer is yes," Barrera said. "By moving only a fraction of the data, response time was [eight times] better than the hard-disk-drive-only baseline."
Based on IBM's testing, the new SSD offerings, combined with the Smart Data Placement tools, can reduce the physical footprint of the storage needed by about 80% and energy consumption by up to 90%. That's because SSDs use less power, and less frequently used data can be moved off primary servers and storage.
For example, a bank running a DS8000 storage array in support of DB2 for z/OS and SAP can improve business performance by more than 30% and reduce the physical storage footprint by 60%. That would reduce the bank's energy consumption by more than 70%, IBM state in a statement.
Jim Handy, an analyst at Objective Analysis in Los Gatos, Calif., said special management software for SSDs is not unique, but it's pretty rare.
"I have heard from SSD makers that the addition of an SSD to a system can bring about an immediate improvement, but this improvement pales in comparison to the improvements possible through the use of an SSD with well-tuned software," he said. "Not everyone has the programming manpower to hand-tune their software, and products like IBM's provides an off-the-shelf means of attaining a boost in line with the improvement afforded by hand-tuned software."
Many enterprises are interested in SSDs because they can be a cheap alternative to other "contorted ways" of getting fast storage, Handy said.
High-performance storage arrays use 15,000 rpm Fibre Channel hard disk drives to get data throughput up, compared with standard 5,400 to 7,200 rpm SATA drives. In addition, advanced storage arrays often "short-stroke" a number of Fibre Channel enterprise-class hard disk drives by using only the outer tracks of the platter, where the data pours off the disk faster.



- Excel 2010 Cheat Sheet
- Register for this Computerworld Insider Cheat Sheet and gain access to hundreds of premium content articles, guides, product reviews and more.
- Datacenter Consolidation Best Practices Whitepaper
- The benefits of storage consolidation are being realized by companies and seen as a way to streamline many storage-driven applications. Learn why the...
- Eliminating VMware / Storage Related Performance Challenges
- How to proactively monitor the performance in a Fibre Channel SAN / vSphere environment is always a concern. Understand the importance of a...
- Cloud Environments Have Familiar Storage Challenges
- Cloud environments have many storage challenges that are familiar to data center managers, but due to their density and abstraction, the issues become...
- Eight Considerations for Evaluating Disk-Based Backup Solutions
- In the past, the movement from tape- to disk-based backup has been less compelling due to the expense of storing backup data on...
- ExaGrid Helps U.S. Federal Government Agencies Reduce Backup Windows and Improve Data Protection
- The U.S. Government has been the largest user of tape-based backup systems since the 1970s. Most agencies have begun to deploy disk storage... All Storage White Papers
- Understand Your Data: The Future of Backup and Archiving
- Archiving and Backup are the foundation of the next generation of information governance. However, commodity data protection tools and basic archives are only...
- Optimizing Networks for the Cloud
- Join guest speaker, Rohit Mehra, IDC Director of Enterprise Communications Infrastructure, to explore current trends, discuss best practices for optimizing Data Center and...
- Apps QuickStart Series Part 2: Designing and Deploying SQL Server on VMware vSphere
- Download this webcast to learn about the design considerations for virtualizing SQL workloads, performance and scalability information and high-availability options, as well as...
- Apps QuickStart Series Part 1: Designing and Deploying Exchange 2010 on VMware vSphere
- Download this webcast to learn the virtual hardware design considerations for Exchange 2010, deployment using the building block approach, options for high-availability and...
- Customer Spotlight: How IPC The Hospitalist Company Implemented Oracle on VMware
- Have you been looking to hear about customer's experiences with the new VMware vCenter Site Recovery Manager product? View this webcast to learn... All Storage Webcasts