SOMERS, NY, May 21, 2009 - IBM today announced that it is delivering new solid-state offerings across its hardware platforms using new smart data management software to enable customers to dramatically improve response times on Solid State Drives (SSDs), while reducing costs. Based on IBM's testing, the new offerings can improve performance by up to 800%, while also reducing the physical footprint of the amount of storage needed by approximately 80%, and energy consumption by up to 90%.
Solid-state drives uses Flash technology, similar to that used in MP3 players, but on a more advanced and larger scale. As it has no moving parts, or spinning disks, such as used in traditional storage, solid-state storage technology can conduct up to 20,000 transfers per second compared to one hard drive disk at approximately 200 data transfers per second. IBM is unveiling a more targeted approach than other solid state drive hardware vendors to implement flash technology by leveraging and integrating IBM hardware, software and research expertise.
IBM's solid-state lineup includes a suite of enhanced software tools that enable customers to migrate, monitor and dynamically place data on SSDs to maximize value. For example, smart data placement through IBM Data Facility Storage Management Subsystem (DFSMS) provides for targeted data placement on SSDs in an IBM zSeries and DS8000 environment. In another example for Power systems, IBM's most recent product line to incorporate SSDs, IBM provides SSD Data Balancer software tools that allow a system administrator to move hot data (frequently accessed) to SSDs, while moving cold data to traditional hard drives. This approach recognizes that most customers will have a hybrid environment using both SSDs and traditional disks.
This capability is vital to information-intensive industries, enabling faster credit checks, real-time financial analytics and enhanced fraud detection with a dramatic improved performance by up to 800% on IBM's DB2 database software. IBM today also announced an expansion of solid-state drives to include Power systems, joining IBM's System x servers, as well as its System Storage DS8000 devices, as offering SSDs.
Using the new technology, IBM can help clients manage and analyze critical business information dramatically faster while reducing costs:
