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IBM announces new storage products
A new range of storage products announced by IBM on Tuesday is aimed at helping companies handle the spiraling amount of data being created across corporate networks.
- By Scott Shuey, Chief Business Reporter
- Published: 23:38 September 9, 2008
Paris: A new range of storage products announced by IBM on Tuesday is aimed at helping companies handle the spiraling amount of data being created across corporate networks.
"This isn't about replacing one system with other. This is about filling a space in the market that no one else is offering," said Jim Stalling, the company's general manager of Enterprise Systems.
While other major technology companies such as EMC, Hitachi and HP also have technology that manages massive amounts of data, IBM says its system is easier to use and will be more attractive to IT departments faced with rising administration costs and a shortage of skilled talent.
IBM is also offer the system as a "complete package," meaning not only will it store the information and keep it secure, it will also help companies access and retain the data.
IBM estimates that companies are being forced for various reasons - including compliance regulations and security issues -to store more and more data. Stalling estimates companies are seeing their storage demand grow by 40-60 percent every year, although in some industries the need for more storage is growing at triple-digit rates.
Authur Vermeer, a technical serviced director for Tommy Hilfiger, said his company, which needed to store only 7 terabytes of financial data just 3 to 4 years ago, today requires about 50 terabyes, or about the same amount of information that would fit on almost 1,100 DVDs. Vermeer said the company keeps the data so it can meet regulatory requirements if it ever decided to go public.
IBM said it has spent $2 billion and acquired seven technology companies over the past two years to develop the storage technology. Andy Monshaw, general manager of system storage at IBM, said the company is "not even close to being done yet" in its hunt for other companies that would help enhance the company's system.
IBM is also marketing the storage system as a way to cut energy costs associated with running and cooling the servers that hold the data.
IBM is also leveraging its history with storage infrastructure - the company invented the hard-disk drive in 1956 - to promote its latest offering.
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