IBM FlashCore technology refers to the IBM innovations that enable FlashSystem storage to deliver extreme performance, IBM MicroLatency®, enterprise-grade reliability, and a wide range of operational and cost efficiencies. These technologies and innovations are represented in the FlashCore hardware-accelerated architecture, IBM MicroLatency modules, and many other advanced flash management features and capabilities.
The IBM FlashCore® innovations that power IBM FlashSystem 900 include a hardware-accelerated NVM architecture with essentially no software in the data path. This drives consistent ultra-low latency, high I/O’s per second, and high bandwidth even while compressing data. For business-critical applications this means lower response times, faster batch processes, and highly scalable analytics solutions.
IBM FlashSystem 900 utilizes innovative inline data compression technology implemented below the RAID level in each Microlatency module. The hardware-accelerated compression provides more consistent data reduction than ever before across an even wider range of workloads, without negatively impacting performance.
FlashSystem 900 includes up to 12 MicroLatency modules and can scale usable capacity from 14.4 TB to 180 TB (440 TB effective) in a single system. MicroLatency modules also support an off load AES-256 encryption engine, high-speed internal interfaces, and full hot-swap.
Five-nines availability
Utilize fully redundant, hot-swappable components and multiple RAID layers. The IBM FlashSystem 900 offers concurrent code upgrades to help maximize uptime and availability and supports tool-less front access to all components.
FlashSystem 900 uses enterprise-class, two-dimensional flash RAID technology, leveraging both Variable Stripe RAID and system-level RAID 5 to deliver five-nines availability. Variable Stripe RAID maintains system performance and capacity in the event of partial or full-flash chip failures, helping reduce downtime and delay system repairs. System-wide RAID 5 also helps prevent data loss and improves availability.
ENERGY STAR® certified
The IBM FlashSystem 900 is Kroll Ontrack certified and ENERGY STAR certified. ENERGY STAR, managed by the U.S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), is a voluntary program which sets energy efficiency and labeling requirements for different product types to identify and promote energy-efficient products.
NVMe over Fabrics (NVMe-oF) overcomes the limitations of the PCIe bus by extending the benefits of low latency and high efficiency of the NVM technology across network fabrics to support sharing of NVMe storage at a large scale (100s or 1000s of devices) and over distance.
Intelligent support
IBM Storage Insights can help you better understand trends in storage capacity and performance and expedite resolution when support is required. Storage Insights monitors the health, capacity and performance for IBM block storage and external storage under management on a single pane of glass. Using AI-based analytics, it helps identify potential issues before they become problems. When support is needed, Storage Insights helps speed resolution by simplifying tickets and automating log uploads.
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Each MicroLatency module at the heart of FlashSystem 900 supports an off-load AES-256 encryption engine for high performance, always-on data protection. The encryption technology includes a centralized backwards-compatible security key lifecycle manager (SKLM) that simplifies and automates the encryption key management process to help you meet regulations and data security standards, while minimizing risk and reducing the operational costs of encryption key management.