STORSever Enterprise Backup Appliances based on IBM hardware and Tivoli Storage ManagerRecently, I spoke with Jarrett Potts, my long-time friend and former IBM colleague, who now works as Director of Strategic Marketing over at STORServer. If you have never heard of STORServer, it is a company that makes purpose-built backup appliances.
What is a Backup Appliance? It is an integrated solution of hardware and software that serves a single purpose: backup and recovery. STORServer Enterprise Backup Appliance (EBA) combines IBM's high-end x86 M4 server, IBM disk and tape storage, and IBM Tivoli Storage Manager (TSM) backup software. (Fun Fact: The 2012 IBM year-end financial results were announced last month. IBM not only continues its #1 lead in servers overall, but has the #1 marketshare for high-end x86 servers, market-leading disk and tape storage hardware, and market leading backup software.) To determine the appropriate size of your backup appliance, the folks at STORServer help you every step of the way. They figure out the number of TB you will backup every day, and even help configure all of the TSM server parameters to achieve the policies that make the most sense for your organization. The appliance can backup every type of data, from databases and Virtual Machines (VMs) to documents, spreadsheets, and other unstructured data. Are you then left with a solution too complicated to run yourself? No. The STORServer Console is an easy-to-use GUI for ongoing monitoring and maintenance. Plus, your friends at STORServer are only a phone call away in case you have any questions. (FTC Disclosure: I work for IBM, and STORSever is an approved IBM Business Partner that uses IBM hardware and software to build their solution. I have no financial interest in STORServer, and was not paid by STORServer to mention their company or products on my blog. This post may be considered a celebrity endorsement of STORServer and its Enterprise Backup Appliances.) Perhaps my readers feel that I am a bit biased in describing a TSM-based solution, and you want a second opinion. No worries, I understand. In the latest 165-page [2012 DCIG Backup Appliance Buyer's Guide], the STORServer models ranked very high. Here is an excerpt: "Nowhere is this demand for purpose built appliances more evident than in the rise of purpose built backup appliances (PBBAs) over the last few years and their anticipated growth rate going forward. A recent market analysis performed by IDC found that worldwide PBBA revenue totaled $2.4 billion in 2011 which was a 42.4 percent increase over the prior year. The STORServer is ideal for small and medium-sized business (SMB), but can scale quite large to handle business growth. If you are currently unhappy with your current backup environment, and feel now is the time to look around for a better way of taking backups, you won't go wrong choosing a solution based on IBM's market-leading server and storage hardware with Tivoli Storage Manager software.
Tags:  tivoli+storage+manager ibm system+storage storserver |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Upcoming Storage Events - Spring 2013Here are some upcoming events related to IBM Storage! ![]() If you sell IBM and/or Oracle solutions, please join me for IBM Oracle Virtual University 2013! A few weeks ago, I recorded a session on IBM Storage: Overview, Positioning and How to Sell that will be available on demand starting tomorrow, February 26th, at the IBM Oracle Virtual University 2013. It's one of 65 new sessions that will help IBM to surround Oracle applications with IBM infrastructure, services and industry solutions. Oracle software, after all, runs best on IBM hardware. Other highlights of Oracle Virtual University include a live executive State of the Alliance session with Q&A, Oracle keynote, updates by Oracle product managers, sessions on PureSystems, Selling IBM into an Oracle environment, Cloud, and much more. Visit the [Orace Virtual University 2013 Registration page] to register. (Update: For employees of IBM, Oracle and their respective business partners, the replays for this event is available until Feb 26, 2014. Visit the [Orace Virtual University 2013 Replay page]) There will be live technical teams on hand throughout launch day to answer your questions in real time, so I hope you can carve out 30 minutes or more on February 26th to take advantage of these available resources. ![]() After helping launch the first Pulse back in 2008, I have sadly not been back since. Last year, I was invited to attend as a last-minute replacement for another speaker, but I was busy [having emergency surgery]. This year's [Pulse 2013] conference looks amazing. It will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada. Guest Speaker Payton Manning, NFL 4-time MVP football player, and Carrie Underwood, 6-time Grammy award winner, join IBM's Software Group executives and experts on how IBM Tivoli can help optimize your IT infrastructure. Sadly, once again, I will not be there at Pulse. This time, I will be on the East Coast visiting clients instead, but my on-premise correspondent, Tom Rauchut, has informed me that he will be there. Hopefully, he will provide me something to write about. ![]() Later in March, I will be in Brussels, Belgium for the Storage Expo. This is held March 20-21, at the Brussels-Expo venue. I will be presenting several topics each day, as well as visit clients in the area. This event comes on behalf of IBM Belgium in association with IBM Business Partner IRIS-ICT. If you plan to participate in any of these events, let me know!
Tags:  las+vegas oracle ibm expo carrie+underwood payton+manning brussels+belgium storage pulse |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
IBM announces SmartCloud Storage
|
|
Visits (8350)
Well, it was Tuesday again, and we had quite a lot of announcements here at IBM this week! Over 1,800 clients attended the [Live February 5 webcast]! The announcements were all part of IBM's SmartCloud Storage portfolio. Here are the highlights:
For more information on these announcements, check out the [IBM Smarter Storage landing page]. For a different perspective on this, consider Dave Vallente's thoughts on Wikibon, in his [Message to IBM's Ambuj Goyal: A Prescription for Storage Transformation]. Ironically, Ambuj Goyal was my fifth-line manager for the past two years, but since he took this new job leading Storage and System Networking, he is no longer in my management chain.
Tags:  stn7800 ibm xiv storage+access smartcloud |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Pardon our Dust -- Tucson EBC is MovingWe're moving! We often joke that I.B.M. stands for "I've Been Moved", and the Tucson Executive Briefing Center is no exception. ![]() Today is the last day for us in Building 9070. Starting tomorrow, the Tucson EBC will operate out of Building 9032 instead. While moving is always painful, there are some distinct advantages to the new facility:
For myself, as the lead Subject Matter Expert on the Tucson EBC staff, I get a much larger office with brand new furniture! Now is the time to book a briefing in Tucson to check out the new facility. Go to the [Tucson EBC landing page] for contact information. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
IBM Watson - Helping Doctors Reduce Costs, Manage Risk and Improve Healthcare Outcomes
|
|
Visits (7135)
![]() Happy [Valentine's Day] everyone! Love is in the air! There was plenty of evidence of this everywhere I looked:
Sadly, only 70 percent of doctors in the United States use Electronic Medical Record [EMR] systems. My own Primary Care Physician has made the switch, and told me he how much he loves having ready access to the information he needs. EMR systems reduce costs, help manage risk, and improve healthcare outcomes. It is no surprise that the U.S. government has taken a [stick-and-carrot approach] to encourage doctors to use them. Two years ago this week, [IBM Watson won the Grand Challenge] on the popular Jeopardy! game show. I wrote [a series of blog posts on IBM Watson]. To-date, there have been over 90,000 downloads for my now infamous step-by-step instructions on [How to build your own "Watson Jr." in your basement]! A frequent topic at the Tucson Executive Briefing Center where I work is how to make the most use of IT for healthcare and life sciences. For much of 2011 and 2012, I was also one of the technical advocates assigned to Wellpoint Insurance, in support of their adoption of IBM Watson technology for healthcare. Consider [Oncology], the branch of medicine focused on cancer. IBM has just released a new 8-minute YouTube video [IBM Watson Demo: Oncology Diagnosis and Treatment] that shows how IBM Watson is being put to use at [Memorial Sloan-Kettering], a world-class cancer treatment facility. This is just one of the many [IBM Smarter Healthcare solutions] that is helping to build a smarter planet!
Tags:  oncology valentines+day wellpoint+insurance watson ibm emr reviews+ratings memorial+sloan-kettering |