Category: IBM System Storage

So you've been working with your certified IBM business partner for 15 years, and it's been a very pleasant relationship. After all, IBM VARs are great for consulting you through a project, providing the necessary hardware and software, helping you implement the solution, and supporting that solution afterwards.

However, on this particular occasion, you just want to add some capacity to one of your existing storage systems without having to pay the typical premiums associated with that level of service. You need it quickly, and you don't think it should be a big ordeal.

Fortunately, you're already on the right track. Here are three easy ways to add capacity without the budgetary pains of services and additional maintenance.

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In the datacenter, the tape library is the ultimate lifeline to combat data loss and data corruption. Tape’s reliability with today’s LTO5 media and off-line status is essential, since tape isn’t as vulnerable to lightning-fast overwrites and corruption.

IBM’s recently announced expansion of the TS3500 Tape Library improves the capability of the IBM Total Storage Tape Library, allowing companies to improve their EMC, IBM, and NetApp environment’s backups and reliability.

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A disruption of your business processes could leave your entire business exposed. Today's companies face escalating customer demands and expectations—there is no room for downtime.

The goal of thorough disaster protection planning is to protect the applications that run your business and minimize unplanned downtime. However, one important consideration is that all planning for any type of a disaster-tolerant solution is always subject to balancing the solution versus the downtime versus the cost.

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The IBM DS4800 disk system, coupled with virtualization software, is an ideal platform for a stable, low- cost deployment for test, development, and quality assurance environments.

By deploying a solid virtualization platform on top of a DS4800 storage array throughout their development lab, companies can accelerate software project completion by increasing team productivity of their developers and testers, reduce hardware and administrative costs, and improve the quality of applications that are deployed in production.

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Data archives exist to protect older data that isn't regularly accessed for day-to-day business operations, but may need to be accessed for compliance, regulatory, or referential purposes. An effective archive approach is an integral part of every IT organization, and the IBM DS4800 storage array is an ideal box for a dedicated archival system.

The DS4800 can be fine-tuned and repurposed as an archive platform by utilizing EXP810s with SATA technology to maximize capacity and ensure that data is available for discovery during the full retention cycle.

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The IBM System Storage EXP5060 is a 4U storage expansion enclosure (Machine Type 1818, Model G1A) for IBM DS5000 series storage controllers. The IBM EXP5060 is a high density enclosure that can hold up to 60 3.5" SATA drives and fits in a standard 19" rack. When connected to an IBM DS5300 or an IBM DS5100 the EXP5060 can intermix with EXP5000s to connect up to 448 drives. The IBM DS5100 and IBM DS5300 can be configured up to 480 drives by using only EXP5060 enclosures. By using 1TB SATA disk drives, this configuration can scale up to 480TB of raw storage.

60 Drives in a single 4U enclosure
The IBM EXP5060 (1818-G1A) high density storage enclosure provides high-volume data transfer and retrieval and can deliver storage functions for multiple drives to multiple hosts. Using hot-swap technology the IBM EXP5060 provides reliable service and ease of management by allowing replacement of drives without shutting down the system.

By using IBM EXP5060 high desnity enclosures with the IBM DS5300 or IBM DS5100 storage controller, you can significantly reduce operational cost for high capacity applications and effectively reduce the space needed in your data center. By using high efficiency power supplies and variable speed cooling fans, the EXP5060 enclosures can significantly reduce energy costs and cooling requirements.

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