IBM has really stepped up their game this year, and they will highlight all this at their upcoming storage technology conference, Edge2012. I’m really looking forward to seeing what IBM Edge is all about, and I’ll be attending and speaking at the event in June.
Introducing IBM Edge2012
IBM Edge2012 is divided into 3 tracks: TechnicalEdge is targeted at IT professionals; ExecutiveEdge is for business and IT executives; and WinningEdge is sales training for IBM partners. I’ll obviously be focusing my time at TechnicalEdge, as I imagine most of my readers will, though I’m curious about ExecutiveEdge as well.
As you may know, I have been working with IBM since early 2011, contributing content to the Storage Community blog that they sponsor. I have also been strengthening my relationship with the company through other work, including a recent webinar, and will continue all this in the future.
IBM’s storage organization is really trying to step into the “big leagues” of thought leadership in enterprise storage. Of course, IBM invented enterprise storage in previous decades, but it seems that many customers overlook their products, contributions, and technology when considering storage purchases. This is a shame, because the company has some great products like SVC and the new, improved XIV array.
I’ll also be hosting a “Tweetup”/#Storagebeers at Edge! Sign up now!
My Session: VMware vSphere Integration
IBM has really gone all out in supporting server virtualization lately. The company recently announced a standard platform for VMware VAAI across all major storage products, giving them the technical chops to compete with EMC, NetApp, HDS, HP, and Dell. VMware integration is the topic of a session I will be presenting at TechnicalEdge in June, as a matter of fact.
Introducing VMware vSphere Storage Features – This introductory-level session discusses the challenges created by server virtualization, focusing on VMware vSphere. We will begin with an overview of the issues of data format (SCSI LUNs and NFS shares vs. vmdk files) as well as I/O patterns (“the I/O blender”) and what can be done to address them. We will then proceed to discuss the advances in VMware vSphere 4 and 5 with regard to storage integration, specifically the VAAI and VASA APIs. Attendees will come away with knowledge of the special requirements of virtual servers and the integration points with enterprise storage arrays, including IBM’s offerings.
Wednesday, June 6 at 1 PM
Come to IBM Edge (Cheaper!)
If you are an IBM storage customer, you really must come to IBM Edge in June. Even if you aren’t already an IBM customer, you might consider coming along to the technical sessions. I’m sure you’ll learn something (as will I), and you might even come away with a new appreciation for IBM’s products.
Registration is open now, and I’m happy to announce that readers of my blog are eligible for a special discount! Just enter the code, “A2Z” when you register!
If you do come to IBM Edge2012, come find me and say hello. I’ll probably be in the sessions, the social media lounge, and the bar for most of the event!
One more thing: IBM is hosting Edge2012 at a wonderful resort in Orlando. My family vacation last year was at the same resort, and my kids just loved the water park at the Hilton. It’s extremely close to Epcot Center, too, so you can take your family on vacation while you go to the technical sessions. If you can stand being outside in Orlando in June, that is!
SVC and XIV are good products, but their new Storwize v7000 solution is their new best selling product and that for a good reason since it has inherited features from both XIV and SVC and it’s increasingly getting more and more features.
I saw some sales figures for Storwize and it’s one of their few products that is selling well to non-IBM customers.
Lars
I assume this is when they will be announcing the next release of FCoTR.
I was actually including the Storwize v7000 in my use of “SVC” – it’s my favorite IBM storage product! And it seems to be the market’s favorite, too!
I think they just extended the GUI interface from the XIV into the v7000, the functionality in the v7000 has not fundamentally changed. The bigger addition to the Storewize line is the new v7000U which adds NAS capabilities, which IBM has had to rely on reselling Netapp as their N-Series in the past.
IBM will be carying over the XIV GUI into their entire enterprise storage line, though it may not reach all the way into the DS8K line due.
As a longtime XIV user, I really like where they are going with that line. Its somewhat away from what Moshe had originally envisioned, but that’s not all bad. It’s not a perfect fit for every workload, but the new 7.5TB of read cache will really turn some performance heads.
Watching your vmware vsphere/storage integration presentation at IBM Edge now… excellent choice in using a Ford RS200 pic to illustrate “acceleration” in your first slide. I’m guessing that wasn’t by accident… true?