IBM Offers Storage Tools, Services

ARMONK, N.Y. -- IBM today announced new services and products to help clients build a new, more dynamic infrastructure that will bring more intelligence, automation, integration, and efficiencies to the digital and physical worlds. As a result, it will enable businesses and governments to better respond to and manage challenges presented by today's globally integrated planet.

The new products and services enable clients to use powerful computing systems to manage and gain insight from an increasing number of things in their physical infrastructure that are being instrumented with intelligent sensors. For example, a utility could build a smart grid to eliminate wasted power, delivering power to where it is needed most, in real time. A smart grid also helps a utilities' customers to monitor their energy consumption in real time and view stresses in its electrical grid instantly to schedule pre-emptive maintenance.

Key requirements for the new dynamic infrastructure are:

• The integration of digital and physical infrastructure, providing the ability to use information technology to manage business processes, increasingly intelligent physical infrastructure and assets, and drive new and improved services as a result.
• The ability to manage, store, and analyze the 15 new petabytes of information the world is now generating per day-- eight-times more information than in all US libraries combined. This will enable clients to address massive information management requirements associated with today's governance, compliance, availability, retention, risk, and security challenges.