The promise of software defined storage is for companies of all sizes

Software defined storage is a new concept for some providers—but not for IBM Storage. The first step in software defined storage is virtualization, which IBM has been offering for 10 years. When you virtualize your storage, data on all your storage from any storage company can be managed as a single pool of data with the same management interface with the same capabilities. The benefits of this are huge, including:

• 47 percent reduction in time spent managing storage
• 30 percent reduction in storage capacity growth

IBM’s newest member of the Storwize Family, the IBM Storwize V5000, makes software defined storage more affordable than ever. Any size company can now afford to experience the benefits of storage virtualization.

In addition, the Storwize V5000 has capabilities common to the Storwize family like Easy Tier automated tiering, thin provisioning and advanced remote mirroring and FlashCopy for data protection. This video covers these benefits (link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Eq53TmFuvnI)

I mentioned that IBM Storage has supported the first step in software defined storage—storage virtualization—for many years. The Storwize V5000 also supports the next step: opening up the platform to allow others to provide innovation. The Storwize family now supports IP replication to reduce the cost of remote mirroring. In addition, SANSlide technology from a company called Bridgeworks is included to reduce network costs even further by increasing the utilization of the network.

This exactly defines the promise of software defined storage. When you virtualize your storage with the Storwize V5000, all of your storage can now get the benefits of IBM innovation like Easy Tier or innovation from other companies like Bridgeworks.

It’s one thing to get a storage system with advanced capabilities, but when your storage can give other storage systems advanced capabilities they didn’t have before, that’s simply amazing.

Check out the below infographic, and then let me know: What storage management challenges is your company facing?

By: David Vaughn
Link: http://www.smartercomputingblog.com/smarter-storage/software-defined-storage/