IBM to Launch Networking Technology to Localize Data
Oct. 13–IBM Corp. will today introduce a data storage networking technology that treats all information as local — even when it’s stored on a set of hard drives 10,000 miles away.
IBM, the world’s largest computer company, says the technology will pose a major challenge to EMC Corp., the Hopkinton-based leader in high-end data storage systems.
The new technology, called Storage Tank, will let large organizations run vast storage area networks by treating all of the data as if it were stored in a single giant local data directory.
The system will work with servers running Microsoft Corp.’s Windows operating system as well as AIX, IBM’s own version of the powerful Unix operating system. Next year, Storage Tank will be made available for servers running Solaris, the Unix version made by Sun Microsystems Inc. and the free operating system Linux.
Corporate computer servers using any of these operating systems store data in large storage arrays. These banks of disk drives are connected to local servers, which in turn are connected to the larger corporate network. But with existing tools, it’s difficult for a worker on a Unix computer in one city to gain access to data stored on a Windows-based drive array in another city.
Storage Tank creates a sort of super-directory containing information about all of the data stored in all of the corporate systems. It also makes the data available to users no matter which operating system their computer runs.
“They can now manage it in a single way, in a consistent way,” said Bruce Hillsberg, IBM’s director of storage software strategy.
For instance, accounting data on a Windows system would be easily accessible to a computer running Unix, and the physical locations of the systems would make no difference.
Dan Colby, general manager of IBM’s storage group, said that Storage Tank would also allow organizations to manage their storage needs much more efficiently, reducing the need to buy more storage hardware.
“This could be a real breakthrough,” Colby said.
Steve Kenniston, analyst at the Enterprise Storage Group in Milford, said that a number of start-up companies have tried to roll out similar systems, but without success.
“IBM definitely has the market muscle to get this particular complex technology implemented,” Kenniston said.
Just one week ago, IBM announced that it was expanding its technology partnership with rival EMC. But Kenniston noted that Storage Tank could pose a significant challenge to EMC, because the big companies that are EMC’s chief customers need a better way to manage their vast storage networks.
“It won’t be a major blow right away,” said Kenniston. “But it does give [IBM] significant leverage to walk into some of those bigger customers and tell a better story.”
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