There are really two separate items being announced for the IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller (SVC):

SVC v5 software

The software moves from a 32-bit kernel to a 64-bit kernel. Fortunately, IBM had the foresight to know that would happen back in 2005, so models 8F2, 8F4 and 8G4 can be upgrade to this new software level and gain new functionality. This is because these models have 64-bit capable processors. Those with six-year-old 4F2 will continue to run on SVC 4.3.1, but should consider it's about time to upgrade soon.

New 2145-CF8 model

The CF8 is based on the IBM System x 3550M2. Each node can have up to 4 Solid-State Drives (SSD) that can be treated as SVC Managed Disk Groups. Virtual disks can be easily migrated from hard disk drives (HDD) over to SSD, processed, and then move them back to HDD. By treating the SSD as managed disks, rather than an extension of the cache, we are able to support all of the features and functions in a seamless manner.

As Barry says, IBM has been working on this for quite a while, and based on initial responses looks to be quite successful in the market!

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