Inside System Storage -- by Tony Pearson

Cisco storage networking products

IBM continues to resell Cisco switches and directors, but now can offer these with a 1-year IBM warranty.

The entry-level Cisco 9124offers 8 to 24 ports. For IBM BladeCenter, IBM now offers the Cisco10-port and 20-port modules that slide into the back of the chassis, and are functionally equivalent to the 9124.The original BladeCenter came with a 16-port module with 14 internal, but only 2 external, which severely hamperedbandwidth connectivity to external storage. These new modules provide more external ports to relieve that constraint.

The midrange Cisco9200switches have two models, both with 16 fixed ports, with the option for a blade that can provide 12, 24 or 48 additional ports. The 9216A has 16 FCP ports, and the 9216i has 14 FCP ports, and 2 GbE ports to act as a router, such as toconnect to a remote location for business continuity using Metro Mirror or Global Mirror.

The enterprise-class Cisco 9500directors can support up to 528 ports.

TS3400 Tape Library

The new TS3400library is a small entry-level size library, supporting the enterprise-class TS1120 drive, providing interoperabilitywith the larger tape libraries, with all the support for tape encryption.

In addition to Linux, Unix, and WIndows, the TS1120 can now be connected to System i servers. In the past, the only IBMtape available to System i were the LTO models. There are a lot of businesses that need to comply with government regulations that are looking for tape encryption, and now IBM has made it accessible to more clients.

300GB drives at 15K RPM

The DS8000 can now support new drives with 300GB capacity at 15,000 RPM (15K). These can be up to 30 percent faster than the 10,000 RPM drives for typical workloads.

IBM continues its market leadership with these new set of features and offerings!

technorati tags: IBM, SAN, Cisco, 9124, BladeCenter, warranty, 9200, 9216i, 9216A, 9500, TS3400, TS1120, LTO, DS8000, disk,tape,15K, RPM