News
IBM Expands 4-Gbit/s & Backup
According to Harold Pike, IBM product manager for midrange storage, the new enclosure is part of IBM’s transition to end-to-end 4-Gbit/s systems. IBM will add 4-Gbit/s dual-controller HBAs from Emulex and QLogic for its pSeries servers in April and begin rolling out 4-Gbit/s hard drives in May or June. By the end of the year, Pike expects to offer 4-Gbit/s support for IBM’s higher-end midrange system, the DS6000, and the DS8000 systems.
We said all along our move to four-gig will be an evolution, not a revolution,” Pike reports. “By June we will have a complete end-to-end four-gig solution. To me, end to end is starting at the server and going out to the disk system, expansion unit, and the hard disk drives.”
Most of its competitors claimed IBM was too early with its 4-Gbit/s system last year because the other components — switches, HBAs, and disk drives — weren’t widely available.
That resistance is evaporating. Hitachi has been shipping 4-Gbit/s midrange FC systems since last July. (See Hitachi Plans Midrange Rollout.) Hewlett-Packard last week announced 4-Gbit/s and iSCSI connectivity for its midrange EVA systems. (See HP Plans HW/SW Upgrades and Brocade Enables 4-Gbit/s SAN.) EMC, perhaps the loudest 4-Gbit/s critic until now, is expected to follow with 4-Gbit/s and iSCSI connectivity for its midrange Clariion SANs by June. (See EMC, NetApp Ready New Wares.)
The market seems ripe for 4-Gbit/s FC. The DS4800 is considered a major reason that IBM’s midrange storage system revenue grew 40 percent year over year last quarter. Brocade claims 72 percent of its switch revenue last quarter came from 4-Gbit/s gear, and Emulex and QLogic forecast strong growth in 4-Gbit/s HBA sales in coming months.
