|
IBM is the world's largest
information technology services and consulting provider. Some 190,000
professionals in more than 160 countries help clients integrate information
technology with business value -- from the business transformation and industry
expertise of IBM Business Consulting Services to hosting, infrastructure,
technology design and training services. IBM services business delivers
integrated, flexible and resilient processes across companies and through
business partners, enabling clients to save money and transform their businesses
to be more competitive. For more information, visit www.ibm.com/services.
See also:-
IBM
- editor mentions on STORAGEsearch.com,
IBM
article comparing SAS SSDs with PCIe SSDs,
IBM's flash
SSD page
|
| . |
|
Editor's comments:- re IBM and SSDs
- September 2012
It took many years for
IBM's
SSD strategy to materialize into a recognizable shape.
Like other
server companies - initially it was not in IBM's interests to
educate customers
about SSDs because they feared it would reduce server sales. But as I predicted
in my 2003 SSD market
adoption article - as soon as user knowledge about SSDs reached a critical
mass and other server makers started to adopt them - server makers like IBM
potentially realized they would lose server sales if they didn't support them.
Before their born-again enthusiasm for SSDs - IBM (in 2006) had
publicly ridiculed products from SSD makers such as Texas Memory Systems - and /
or claimed that other SSD products in the market weren't good enough to use
yet. (A similar ploy to another SSD latecomer
Seagate.)
Like
many other server companies IBM initially went for the "safe" option
of remarketing, reselling or
rebadging proven
SSD products from companies like
Fusion-io,
STEC,
SanDisk and others.
IBM's
recently announced agreement to acquire
Texas Memory Systems
(August 2012) has within it the potential to rapidly scale into a multi-billion
dollar revenue SSD business unit. |
| . |
| Recent IBM SSD milestones
from
SSD Market
History. |
July 2007 -
SanDisk announced that
its SATA 5000 2.5-inch SSD will be offered as an option in IBM's new
BladeCenter HS21 XM.
April 2008 -
IBM Previews Racetrack Solid State Storage
August 2008 -
Fusion-io's SSDs were the secret ingredient in an
IBM
"million IOPS" story.
September 2008
- IBM announced a technology collaboration with
Fusion-io
In
February 2009 - IBM published a well written article -
SSDs
for Enterprise Storage (pdf) which introduces the need for SSD acceleration
and explains IBM's strategy in this market.
In May 2009 -
STEC confirmed that its
SSDs are oemed in several popular
IBM servers and storage
systems.
In December 2009 - Fusion-io
announced
that its ioMemory PCIe
SSD technology has been adapted by IBM who will remarket these
solutions (initially with upto 320GB capacity) as its
High
IOPS SSD PCIe Adapters for use in System x servers.
In August
2012 - IBM
announced it
will acquire Texas
Memory Systems
|
| . |
|
more SSD articles you may
be interested in - here on StorageSearch.com
Strategic Transitions
in SSD
controllers
for big SSD architecture
where are we now
with SSD software?
an
introduction to enterprise SSD silos
how fast can your SSD
run backwards?
the Survivor's
Guide to Enterprise SSDs
Auto-tuning SSD Accelerated
Pools of storage
High availability
fault tolerant SSD arrays market
usable flash
SSD capacity - the iceberg syndrome
|
| . |
|
| |
 |
| .. |
| IBM aims to be
multi-billion dollar flash systems supplier |
Editor:- April 12, 2013 - 3
years ago I wrote a blog
about the confusing nature of the "RamSan" brand of SSDs from Texas Memory Systems
given that all the recent models in the family were in fact
flash memory rather than
RAM based - and
furthermore some of the models didn't connect via an
FC SAN but used
PCIe instead.
So
it wasn't a surprise to see in yesterday's
announcement
by IBM (who
acquired TMS
last year) that the RamSan designation has been dropped in favor of the more
accurate sounding "FlashSystem" in those models which migrated
intact to IBM's
enterprise flash product line.
So - for example in the category of
high
availability rackmount SSDs - the old RamSan-720 (SLC) and RamSan-820
(MLC) have become the new
IBM
FlashSystem 720 and 820.
If you're not already familiar with
these fast HA SSDs - the thinking behind their design came out in an
interview I has with
Holly Frost, CEO of TMS when they were launched in
December 2011.
Unless
I missed them - then it doesn't look to me as though TMS's PCIe SSD models
have been so fortunate. I couldn't see them in IBM's range of PCIe SSDs (High
IOPS Modular Adapters) which are based on products and technologies from
Fusion-io and
LSI.
That
no-show may be due to the fact that - unlike TMS's rackmount systems which
were software agnostic - a lot more work is required to efficiently integrate
server based SSDs into a wide range of server products. But I anticipate
that TMS's big
architecture SSD controller technology will resurface in future IBM SSD
cards.
Much more significant was the news that IBM is investing
$1 billion in research and development to design, create and integrate
new flash solutions into its portfolio of servers, storage systems and
middleware. IBM also announced plans to open 12 centers of flash competency
around the globe. That demonstrates confidence in the
future scale of the
SSD market and its
perspective related
to computer history. | | |
| .. |
 |
| .. |
|
| |
