IBM has unveiled its new strategy for software defined storage (SDS) optimized for delivering interoperability across a wide array of hardware and software solutions.
The new storage model will provide greater flexibility around how customers can receive, consume and explore different options for data storage, which will ultimately allow customers to better harness their data for greater business insights, said IBM in a statement.
With this new offering, IBM is hoping to trap the growing SDS market. Recently IDC said SDS platforms have grown more than 15 percent in Q2 2014. IBM has also been named the leader in SDS-P in IDC’s latest Worldwide Storage Software QView for the second quarter 2014, based on software revenue.
In a keynote delivered at IBM Enterprise, Jamie Thomas, general manager, Storage and Software Defined Systems at IBM, said storage and data-centric infrastructures must serve as the foundation in order to provide the speed and automation necessary to derive business insights through analytical tools.
At IBM Enterprise, Thomas also launched IBM Elastic Storage Server, an integrated software defined storage appliance that combines IBM POWER8 server with storage software code named Elastic Storage.
“Software defined storage is disrupting the industry, and we’re leading the market by applying our storage and software heritage to the data management challenges of businesses today,” Thomas added.
In traditional storage environments, data is stored and analyzed in silos on disparate systems. With a software defined storage strategy, IBM combines these data management systems to make it easier for organizations to retrieve insights in near real-time to create increased efficiencies, the company said.
IBM is offering IBM Software Defined Storage offerings through three flexible delivery models: Storage as Software that includes IBM Elastic Storage, SAN Volume Controller and Virtual Storage Center; integrated software and hardware storage solutions, which includes IBM Elastic Storage Server; and storage via the cloud that has IBM Elastic Storage on SoftLayer.
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