In an effort to make enterprise-class storage accessible to businesses of all sizes, IBM has revealed several new high-speed, entry-level flash storage systems as well as hybrid cloud and container-centric updates.
IBM's new FlashSystem 5200 looks to be one of the company's most powerful storage systems yet and the device has been designed to provide enterprise-class storage capabilities to organizations of any size. While the new storage system offers greater performance and capacity than its predecessor the FlashSystem 5100, the new 5200 has a base price that is 20 percent less expensive on average.
Just like with the rest of IBM's flash storage portfolio, the FlashSystem 5200 supports Red Hat OpenShift, Container Storage Interface (CSI) for Kubernetes, Ansible automation, Kubernetes and VMWare and bare metal environments. It also comes equipped with IBM Storage Insights to provide users with visibility across complex storage environments and IBM Spectrum Virtualize which enables users to consolidate and manage storage as if it were one pool.
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IBM FlashSystem 5200
As the amount of data created worldwide is expected to rise to 143 zettabytes by 2024 according to a report from IDC, the need for high capacity and cost-effective storage is on the rise.
Added to this is the fact that many organizations have accelerated their digital transformation efforts during the pandemic.
The FlashSystem 5200 starts with 38TB of data capacity but the storage system can grow to deliver 1.7PB in a compact 1U form factor. For organizations with more room in their server racks, IBM also announced the FlashSystem 5015 and 5035 which are both 2U systems.
Finally, IBM revealed its plans to continue advancing hybrid cloud capabilities across its storage portfolio. When the FlashSystem 5200 becomes generally available in March, the company will add support for IBM Cloud Satellite to the FlashSystem portfolio, IBM San Volume Controller, IBM Elastic Storage System and IBM Spectrum Scale.
IBM Cloud Satellite will enable organizations to build, deploy and manage cloud services in any public cloud, on premises and even at the edge. It will be made available as-a-service delivered through the IBM Public Cloud and is currently in beta.
"As the world moves more rapidly to hybrid cloud, modernized data storage is at the foundation," noted general manager of IBM Storage Dennis Kennelly.
"Systems that provide global data availability, data resilience, automation, and enterprise-class data services are more critical than ever. Today's announcement is designed to bring these capabilities to organizations of any size."
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