Just to make life as difficult as possible for the development and test teams, and not content with refreshing the lower end Storwize V5000 products earlier this year, today IBM is announcing a refresh to the Storwize V7000, FlashSystem V9000 and SVC platforms, some new all-flash variants of...   [Continue Reading]

A few weeks back myself and Lloyd Vickery, from the IBM NZ Systems team, attended an IDG run CIO roundtable event. The insights from those attending give a great view into the concerns and needs of CIO's today - when it comes to data, getting useful information from the data, and the ethics...   [Continue Reading]

New “Differential” Licensing Over the years its become clear that a TB isn’t what it used to be, for example the maximum tier of SVC license capacity back in 2003 was 32TB… so things have changed. We wanted to reflect this in the managed (mdisk) capacity licensing. Not all...   [Continue Reading]

Last week I covered some of the main updates in the 7.7.0 release of Spectrum Virtualize, this week I am in IBM RTP in North Carolina and can fill you in on yet more! New Flash and Drive Options   Lower Cost Flash Drives Just as we have had different price and performance point spinning HDD...   [Continue Reading]

Last week while in Sweden and Denmark I posted about the new 7.7.0 Spectrum Virtualize software that was announced while I was there. Back home in New Zealand now, and got some time to fill you in on the rest of the features this new release brings to SVC, Storwize, FlashSystem V9000 and VersaStack....   [Continue Reading]

Introducing Spectrum Virtualize Version 7.7.0 Software This week I have been travelling in the Nordics. Despite now living in New Zealand, I can’t escape from the great User Group events that the Swedish team have been running for many years now, and its great to actually visit Stockholm in...   [Continue Reading]

Hi all, I know over the years I've had hundreds of enquiries regarding the XML statistics, what they contains and how they can be decoded. Some of you have written your own parsers and need to know when new things have been added or items changed. Google isn't much help as it finds, the old...   [Continue Reading]

Its that time again, another six months since our last software update and we bring you version 7.6 of the Spectrum Virtualize software. Applicable to all SVC and Storwize systems currently supported out there, but not the end of life for support of 8G4 and 8A4 systems in the RFA details issued last...   [Continue Reading]

Hi all,   Another quick post, before I start my long trek back to the UK...   The next SVC and Storwize User Groups in the UK will be held next week in IBM Hursley, still time to register and come along. Hope to see you there :   Monday 12th October, IBM Hursley House (Business...   [Continue Reading]

A very quick post, the North American SVC and Storwize User Groups are being held on 16th and 17th September in Austin this year.   See Andy's post for more details... We will both be there, hope to see you too!   Told you, very quick one!

I think its true to say that the SVC and Storwize User Groups that IBM has helped to setup and run has created a real community of users and partners around the globe. There are very active groups in the UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Sweden and Finland and of course the USA. (Sorry if I missed some)...   [Continue Reading]

Over two weeks ago, we released v7.5.0 of the recently re-branded 'Spectrum Virtualize' software, that software that we all know as the code running in both SVC and Storwize products. The major new feature in 7.5.0 is HyperSwap - which you can think of as a new and improved Stretched Cluster...   [Continue Reading]

Hi all,   A quick update to let you know of a new blog here on developerworks that should be worth adding to you RSS feeds/reader. Andrew Martin is one of my colleagues from the Hursley development team and currently works as the Support Architect for SVC/Storwize products and everything...   [Continue Reading]

    Storwize Customer UGM     Wednesday 6th May 2015, IBM Hursley    IBM Storwize Family of Products (including SVC) User Group Meeting      Come and meet the Storwize Team at the IBM Laboratory, based in Hursley Park, Winchester. The team will...   [Continue Reading]

First trip in new role has been to Christchurch for the last couple of days. Some good meetings with Business Partners to see the lay of the land here, and look over some interesting prospects being worked on. The recent FlashSystem V9000 announcement, which I didn't cover in my absence during...   [Continue Reading]

I do have a good excuse this time for the short hiatus in posts, as things have been a bit more crazy than normal, but to be expected when you up and move the whole family, literally to the opposite side of the globe! My wife was born in New Zealand and spent much of her youth there, with most of...   [Continue Reading]

In this very concise IBM Redpaper we describe the procedure for making use of an IBM SAN Volume Controller (SVC) Standby Storage Engine in a SAN which is not a part of any cluster, but is a candidate and able to join a cluster at a moment’s notice. The purpose of this is to reduce the impact...   [Continue Reading]

With half term week here in the UK and preparations for next months travels, I almost forgot that yesterday we announced the contents of version 7.4.0 of the SVC and Storwize software that will be GA'd on 28th November. The full RFA can be viewed here , but here's a quick summary....   [Continue Reading]

The port to local node communication is used for mirroring write cache as well as metadata exchange between nodes and is critical to the stable operation of the cluster. The DH8 nodes with their 8-port and 12-port configurations provide an opportunity to isolate the port to local node traffic from...   [Continue Reading]

Hi all, Just a quick update for November which is now know as "User Group Month"... I will be attending all of these and hope to see you there : Date Country Location Attendees Registration Contact 5-6th November USA IBM EBC Raleigh Business Partners (Requires partnerworld login)...   [Continue Reading]

I guess a few folks will comment that I'm raising my head again at announcement time, and true, but thats part of the problem on working on new and exciting stuff, I can't talk about it until days like today where we have announced two major new engines in the SVC and Storwize family. I even...   [Continue Reading]

I think that this Heartbleed bug is going to be an observational comedian's dream. Well I guess one that is a bit of an IT geek anyway. Not quite sure what the Pub Landlord will make of it, but I am sure that he will have some kind of an opinion. Probably not fit to print. Anyway, on to the...   [Continue Reading]

Starting with IBM Storwize Family Software V7.2, including IBM SAN Volume Controller, we introduced native replication over IP networks. As this IBM Redpaper describes, you will see that it is easy to configure in an existing IP infrastructure. This is a lower-cost alternative to the Fibre...   [Continue Reading]

I think I missed January, it certainly seems like February has snuck up on us - maybe its because every day here in the UK is merging into one... since us Brits love to talk about the weather... its been kinda boring, rain rain, oh look its raining. It feels more like being back in Scotland where we...   [Continue Reading]

I see that EMC have finally pushed yet another technology family on its customers. Extreme I/O arrays. So now you have to decide which one of these things do I want.   OK, let me buy an all flash array, so how will that fit with my VMax and VNX estate - oh it wont -   you mean its...   [Continue Reading]

Your Personal Invitation to the SVC and Storwize V7000 User Group Meeting This is an unrivalled opportunity for you to meet with and talk to IBM’s leading SVC and IBM Storwize V7000 subject matter experts. Our team will formally present their views on the strategic directions of SVC and IBM...   [Continue Reading]

As most people are aware (see Barry's post) we just announced the Storwize V5000. It fits neatly between the Storwize V3700 and the V7000. And of course no product is complete without an accompanying IBM Redbook.   So, here goes:   One new one:  ...   [Continue Reading]

Some of you may have spotted we release another Storwize Family member back in July, but in limited geographies. Today IBM announced world-wide availability of the IBM Storwize V5000. As the name suggests, this product sits firmly between the Storwize V3000 and Storwize V7000 ranges, in terms of...   [Continue Reading]

I know, I promised this some months ago, and I've been enjoying my spare time too much, and not blogging enough! So rather than keep you all waiting even more, here is a PDF of the presentation I gave at IBM Edge 2013 in Vegas. Hopefully most of it is self-explanitory, and I WILL post some more...   [Continue Reading]

Recently we published an IBM Redbooks Solution Guide on Implementing IBM Easy Tier with IBM Real-time Compression. IBM® Easy Tier® is a performance function that automatically and non-disruptively migrates frequently accessed data from magnetic media to solid-state drives (SSDs). In that...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  v7000 svc ssd storwize easy-tier flashsystem

“To err is human; to forgive, divine.” Alexander Pope. Well we are mixing up poetry and Star Wars here today (or tomorrow, if it is already tomorrow where you are), and finish it off with a cryptic message. Anyway, let's cut to the chase here: a long time ago, in an IBM Redbook far,...   [Continue Reading]

Just over a week or so ago we completed the ITSO Redbook residency to create a book based on the SAN Volume Controller and the IBM FlashSystem 820. Now, normally we like to get these things out very quickly and the team, Danny Bryant, Christian Burns, Joao Marcos Leite, and Denis Senin worked very...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  820 flashsystem svc

A quick update from IBM Edge2013 at the Mandalay Bay, Las Vegas, and we are very pleased to have launched, announced, published as a draft paper the results of work that we have been doing with a company called Bridgeworks, and their SANSlide product. They are here at Edge and we were able to fine...   [Continue Reading]

  I know its been a long time since I posted the first to parts in my "optimal performance" series, and I've been promising parts 3 and 4 for some time, but they are more or less written - well the basic information has been distilled into a presentation... The world exclusive for...   [Continue Reading]

It is hard to look anywhere these days without seeing Flash being used. I think the word that marketing like to use, unless it has fallen out of favour is "pervasive". Mind you in the hands of some people it is definitely moving from "pervasive" to "invasive" but...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  practice performance flashsystem flash best redbooks svc guidelines v7000 820

Less than two weeks to go before the start of the IBM Edge 2013 conference in Las Vegas. I've finally finished my presentations for the two main sessions I am hosting as part of the Virtualization track Monday 10th 9:30am Session 1610 A Brief History of SVC and Storwize Family : What, How, Why?...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  svc virtualization storwize ibmedge edge

Just a quick one - while having a scan through IBM's new(ish) ability to review products on its main website, I found this : http://www-03.ibm.com/systems/storage/software/virtualization/svc/reviews.html   It did make me chukkle... its cetainly no Invista either - and all this talk of...   [Continue Reading]

We are delighted to announce an exciting addition to the distribution channel of  IBM Redbooks – now available at the Apple iBookstore is the ability to download, for free, (I probably should add some disclaimer about network charges may apply so this is it!) selected books. Not all books...   [Continue Reading]

Hi all, I'd like to introduce Jon Tate who has been added as a co-author to my blog. Jon is known to the team here as "Mr IBM Redbooks" - and will be posting about new publications, any new residencies that are available etc, specifically related to storage and networking.   Here...   [Continue Reading]

I was recently interview by Antony Ashead at ComputerWeekly to fill in some details behind IBM's recent FlashSystem announcements. To see Antony's write up, check out his article :...   [Continue Reading]

Your Personal Invitation to the SVC and Storwize V7000 User Group Meeting This is an unrivalled opportunity for you to meet with and talk to IBM’s leading SVC and IBM Storwize V7000 subject matter experts. Our team will formally present their views on the strategic directions of SVC and IBM...   [Continue Reading]

For the last few years we have often talked about 'flexible hardware' options for SVC. While we have offered the internal SAS HBA and SSD attachment within the nodes, and a 10Gbit iSCSI/FCoE capable upgrade, we've never quite made it to true flexible hardware, with respect to Fibre...   [Continue Reading]

One of the internal, and IBM Business Partner mailing groups I subscribe and participate in ( Hi to all on Diskcore ) recently debated : Want to know whether IBM V3700 are true symmetric active active controllers. A response was made, but also asked : Can you define what you or the customer...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  flex v7000 v3500 alua storwize svc v3700

Hi all, Happy New Year (are we almost in February already!)   This is just a quick heads up, the next UK based SVC, Storwize family User Group meeting is planned for the 8th of May 2013. To register, see here :...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  user_group virtaulizartion stowize storage v7000 svc

As I try to get back to more regular posting, Part 3 of Configuring for Optimal Performance is getting its final polish to post hopefully next week. Meanwhile its some time since I opened this up for your questions.   This is Q & A #5, so feel free to ask away. Obviously I can't discuss...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  storwize virtualization svc storage v7000

As you may have seen, today IBM announced the next product in the Storwize family, the IBM Storwize V3700. The Stowize V3700 builds on the amazing success that the Storwize V7000 has seen in the last two years- and of course SVC has had in the market for almost 10 years now. I could use the work...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  v7000 v3700 virtualization storwize svc storage

Last week I had a couple of meetings in Manchester (UK) with some SVC and V7000 end users, as well as the chance to pop in and say hi to our team in the IBM Manchester labs. About two days before heading up the M6 I was asked if I'd like to join in a roundtable session with UKFast - discussing the...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  svc performance v7000 ssd virtualization

 IBM introduced smarter storage for midrange storage when we brought you the Stowize V7000, delivering enterprise level features, functions and availability to our midrange storage products. Please join us on November 6th at 10:45am US EST for a virtual briefing covering IBM's midrange storage...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  svc v7000 storage storwize

Configuring IBM Storwize V7000 and SVC for Optimal Performance Part 2 Thanks to everyone who responded to my Part 1 post, I'm amazed at how many people must read what I have to say! Based on the number of you that have either spoken to me in person, or emailed. I'm glad to be of some use Anyway,...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  storage ssd storwize performance hdd svc v7000

As you may or may not have seen, IBM has agreed to acquire Texas Memory Systems : http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/38594.wss   This has many implications (all good) for SVC, Storwize V7000, and Pure Systems. Better integration with existing RamSan products, and of course integrated...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  ramsan performance tms ssd v7000 svc

On Friday we will release SVC software version 6.4 - it used to be simple, I could just reference SVC, but of course the same software package can be installed on V7000 systems. At present V7000 Unified systems remain at 6.3 features and functions. You've probably seen the news in the press, and IBM...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  virtualization 6.4 svc storwize storage v7000

One of the key benefits of the Storwize V7000 product is its built in Virtiualization capabilites. Or as some vendors like to call it  Federation? Its been almost 9 years since we first released SAN Volume Controller (SVC) and in that time, its been through 6 hardware iterations, and 16 major...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  performance v7000 ssd benchmark storage svc

Hi all, lots of posts coming I promise, lets start with the most pressing, the next UK SVC/V7000 user group meeting. Open of course to end users from across the globe :     Where and when :  11th July 2012 at IBM Hursley Park, Winchester Abstract :   During the day you will be able to informally...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  v7000 virtualization svc storwize storage

I'm busy crafting part 2 of my Configuring for Optimal Performance series, meanwhile check out part two of my interview with Hal Jennings hosting IBM's blog talk radio channel , click on the image below  :      

Tags:  virtualization v7000 storage storwize svc

... a mid-term interrupt...   The storage system behind IBM's PureFlex, PureSystems recent announcement, is of course the IBM Storwize V7000 controller... Check out more details at http://www.ibm.com/ibm/puresystems/us/en/index.html#tab:overview/subtab:default   (Hence all my expert video posts over...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  storage ibm storwize virtualization v7000 puresystems

Configuring IBM Storwize V7000 and SVC  for Optimal Performance Part 1 I've been involved in a quite a few pre-sales, proof of concept and after-sales accounts where people have setup their V7000 and then wondered about the performance they are achieving, is it optimal, can they do better...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  optimization svc performance v7000

Hi all,   Yet again, been a few weeks since i last posted, but we've been busy, and all will become clear soon. Meanwhile, in-case you didn't know some of the benefits SVC, V7000 and inband virtualization can provide, click on the image below to have a listen, or download the first part my chat with...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  v7000 virtualization techtalk storage svc

Tags:  ibm expert storage integrated systems

Tags:  systems integrated expert

Tags:  storage systrems expert integrated virtualization

just a quick one...   In every day life, we have appliances, or white goods, simple and easy to use, they do the job we need of them... In IT... most things are custom... not any more   Please do take the time to sign up to the April 11th webcast - it may not be going to crash live blogging,  but...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  integrated storage virualization systems appliance

A couple of weeks back I got together with Nigel and Rick over at Infosmack , spending some time discussing what got me into computing, how I ended up in storage and what its like to work in IBM. I have to admit that I did go and get my old BBC Model B out the attic and have a night or too messing...   [Continue Reading]

Well, i guess I should first wish, any readers I still have left a Happy New Year. Not only are we now into 2012, but hey its February too, where did January go... must be some kind of temporal locality thing going on (private joke - sorry, all will become clear all too soon) For those of you that...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  virtualization v7000 spc scp1 storwize svc performance

Its just about year to the day since IBM announced the IBM Storwize V7000, today we've announed the next major step in the evolution of the product, and the SVC code base at its heart. The IBM Storwize V7000 Unified. This integrates IBM's Common NAS software which is used in the enterprise level...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  v7000 unified nas storage svc v7000u virtualization

While catching up on some old and new posts out here I came across an interesting article from Chris Mellor discussing a report about various PCIe card benchmarks performed by the Swiss National Computing Centre (CSCS).   I was going to reply to his post but as I started typing realised I had a...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  pcie svc ssd virtualization v7000 storage stowize nand flash

 I am still alive.  I know I've been crap at posting for the last year or so, and really when it comes to it, I'm not going to say I'm sorry...  for those of you that like sci-fi, and are of a certain age... those of you that watched Star-Trek Voyager when it first aired, will remember the half...   [Continue Reading]

Greetings this week from the  Storage Buddhist  as I do a guest spot on this blog for Barry. I'm wondering if he's a little sensitive about  Nigel Poulton 's recent Infosmack jibe about how often this blog gets updated, so I'm stepping in while Bazza contemplates possible topics for his next blog...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  virtualization infiniband storage

I mentioned in the summary for 6.2 that we now fully support the VMware VAAI protocols, check out Anthony's blog for a great write up and some real life customer experience using vMotion and SVC offload.  ...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  vaai virtualization svc v7000 storage vmware

  Its been a while since I opened up this blog.forum for anything you wanted to ask.... IBM has been in the tape and disk market for more than 60 of its 100 years... so where do we think its going? What do you think? and where do you see SVC and the new V7000 fit in your needs? What do you want from...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  storage disk questions virtualization

 As I previewed back on the 9th May, the new 6.2 version of the SVC software is now generally available (GA in IBM speak). This software not only supports the latest generation of SVC CG8 node hardware, but the new Model 300 versions of Storwize V7000 - 8x 8Gbit Fibre ports, 4x 1Gbit iSCSI and now...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  storwize clustering v7000 svc virtualization

When Nigel asked the question about IBM's age in Infosmack 101 I was initially amazed hat everyone didn't instantly know that IBM is 100 this years young this year, next week infact. I guess internally we've had a lot more press about this than there has been externally. Anyway, on 16th June 2011...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  storage innovation ibm

I’ve been traveling quite a bit over the last couple of months, both business and pleasure. Large amounts of this, especially the business travel has been in the car where I’ve been enjoying the use of the USB port in the glove box to upload mp3 files to the inbuilt flash drive in the car. Yes even...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  ramac infosmack v7000 vsp disk storage virtualization svc

 As hinted by my last post, the next release of SVC software is on its way, available in early June, along with the new optional 10Gbit iSCSI support. Since SVC, and V7000 are essentially the same thing, just packaged in different hardware vehicles, all of the software updates apply to both...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  v7000 storage svc virtualization iscsi

 Yes, I am still in the land of the living. I promise (to myself as much as anything) that I will blog a whole bunch in the coming weeks, but in the meantime, coming to an SVC, or V7000 GUi near you...

Tags:  v7000 storwize virtualization storage performance svc

  For those of you in the UK, a chance to come along and see us at the SNIA Datacenter Academy event on 19th May in the QEII conference Centre. I've provided a link (the image) to the IBM customer / end user registration page, please register and come along on the day. This event is aimed at end...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  virtualization svc storage v7000 snia

At the risk of re-gurgitating recent Storage benchmarketing scars and rumblings, its probably escaped most people that we just published another Storwize V7000 SPC-1 benchmark. Why another I hear you ask, well the first one we published was back in November when the product first GA'd. However, we...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  performance storage spc virtualization v7000 svc

 Greetings one and all! I am still alive, some months have passed, but I'm still here and should be back to regular posts now! The main reason for this post is to alert UK and European (and of course anyone further afield that would like to attend) to the first 2011 SVC and Storwize V7000 User Group...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  svc v7000 virtualization user_group

 It was nice to have a day back in the office today, the last couple of weeks have gone by in somewhat of a blurr, with several offsite customer visits, several more visiting Hursley, my vLab sesson at IP expo in London , then last week in Germany at the SVC User Group in Mainz and finally all...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  storage benchmarking storwize spc performance v7000 svc

Just a quick one today to let you know the Storwize V7000 Infocenter is now online, including the online eLearning videos that are embedded in the new GUI. http://publib.boulder.ibm.com/infocenter/storwize/ic/index.jsp For the eLearning, click on the "Learning" tab in the main window.

Tags:  virtualization svc storwize v7000 storage

There are two reasons that my blogging this year has been sporadic at best. One, the sheer volume of work, its become the norm at the moment for the whole team to be spending evenings and weekends working on our baby.Why have we been all so dedicated over the last year or so, mainly because we've...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  v7000 storage storwize svc virtualization

 Just a quick post to provide a link to the first batch of ISV Storwize V7000 deployment papers available for download now : Deploying Oracle 11g RAC Release 2 with IBM Storwize V7000 on Red Hat Enterprise Linux Practice guide: Backup and restore of native Oracle Database solutions using IBM Tivoli...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  storwize storage virtualization isv svc v7000

Well I'm almost recovered from the hectic day yesterday. My day started with the train from Southampton at 6:30am to get up to London in time to prep before the first session of the day. Before I get too far, thanks to all that came along to the UK Launch event at Tate Britain - it was great to see...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  svc v7000 storwize virtualization

 Well as you have probably read, or heard, the Storwize V7000 is why the SVC team has been so busy over the last 18 months, and why my blogging has been sporadic at best. Hopefully the point of this series of posts is clear, although this is a brand new modular storage box - organically developed by...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  storage virtualization storwize v7000 svc

2008-2010 plus... ??? With all that history of ground breaking products, real innovation, first to market with a real working virtualization solution - I guess the question is... What next??? Hopefully I'll see some of you in London on Thursday for the UK Launch event... if you haven't yet...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  svc midrange storage virtualization

 2000-2007 The "Virtual" Storage - SAN Virtualization Appliance Years First of all thanks again for all the feedback regarding this series of posts, great that people are enjoying a bit of a history lesson, or even a reminder into your own histories! So where was I... The Hursley team...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  svc ds8000 fc-al virtualization

 The "Shark" and FC-AL Years - 1998-present Last time I briefly covered the Hursley Storage team's work on the 7133 - Serial Storage Architecture products. Thanks for all the emails about this, and I'm glad people still remember it - fondly?! Those screwdrivers - and Martin, i think most...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  ess hursley svc storage virtualization ssa

The Serial Storage Architecture Years - 1990-1998 Its been a crazier than ever year. All will become clear soon. But one of the things I wanted to discuss with you all is just what kind of history comes with the team of ~150 storage people that I work with on a daily basis. Of course there are a...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  storage ibm ssa virualization svc

I knew it had been a while, but I wouldn't have guessed it was 14 weeks since I last posted. Nothing much changes thought, the NetApp fan boys are being just as defensive as ever, EMC (well Mr Symm) are still spending as much time writing about IBM and its dieing products, if DS8000 had died as many...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  storage ds8000 virtualization svc

 After a couple of weeks of car hell, that resulted in the entire removal of the intake manifold, just to get to the darn crappy sensor that had packed up (and Land Rover informed me was the 3rd re-design - in any other business that would mean ' 2x faulty design) but anyway, thanks Geoff for the...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  v-plex storage emc svc ibm

 I just wanted to post a quick thanks to everyone that took the time out of their day jobs to come to Hursley yesterday for the User Group sessions. I'm hoping that everyone got as much as we did out of the day and it was great to see so many (not just UK) visitors. I've already started pushing...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  svc performance storage virtualization

 Just a very quick post to remind anyone who hasn't yet registered for the first UK based SVC User Group Meeting in Hursley on the 11th May to get yer finger out. There are just a few places left for your chance to hear whats coming, and more importantly for us to hear what you want. See my original...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  hursley storage virtualization svc

So after all the EMC hype, and all the claims that the DS8000 was "pushing up daises" it seems that IBM have managed to announce the GA of ship our sub-lun hot-spot management, aka Easy Tier before EMC have shipped their FAST function. Now, before you all jump and say EMC have been...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  storage virtualization ds8000 svc easy-tier ds8700

I wrote this a few weeks back - was waiting for the right time to post - and for once it seems Hu and I are coming from the same place! Its likely a lot of my regulars have heard of Yotta Yotta. To all extents and purposes they produced and interesting SAN cache prototype. It used lazy writes to...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  svc invista storage virtualization emc

I still haven't finished sorting out the photos from the German SVC User Group session I attended last month, but here is your chance to come and visit us in IBM Hursley, the home of SVC development. This event is open to SVC users, primarily in the UK, however if you fancy a trip to the UK in May...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  storage virtualization svc

There has been a lot of twitter banter, and blog posts about Tiering. Netapp claiming you don't need to tier, EMC and IBM saying tiering is important and 3Par Farley going so far as to say that Netapp can't do tiering easily, hence their response, and discussion of PAM being the way to resolve. I...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  performance svc ibm storage virtualization

Almost a month gone by, now we are in week 9 and 7 posts, so I'm already lagging behind my resolution to post once a week at least! I do have a post in draft covering a recent trip to Mainz in Germany to meet up with the German SVC User Group. Meanwhile, pop on over to Valeries "Yin meets...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  storage svc

You may have already seen that SVC has yet again set a new world record benchmark when it comes to the Storage Performance Council's SPC-1 benchmark. The initial planning called for a full eight node test - as we normally do, and the manufacturing requests were put in to setup the 4000+ HDD...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  performance ds8000 storage spc virtualization svc

 Looking back through my posts its been some months since I last opened the floor to you all, so here is you chance, a free floor. Ask anything you like, about SVC of course, but if I don't know I'm sure I know someone that will. Recently I've heard some quite elaborate FUD from the usual suspects,...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  virtrualization storage svc ssd

I've just been through some of our detailed results for 4Q, given that we only announced availability of the new CF8 hardware back in November and exceeded expectations with their adoption. Over the quarter Tivoli Storage Software, which SVC comes under, saw double digit growth. The up-take of the...   [Continue Reading]


Tags:  virtualization storage ibm svc cf8 ssd