In the late 1970s, one of the first backup units that I worked with was an IBM (News - Alert) tape backup system. We have all seen them as rows and banks of tape drives in old movies, and IBM still uses high-end disk systems and tape. Unfortunately, as seen in IBM’s last quarter results, this has also led to IBM systems storage revenue decreasing 19 percent year-over-year.
It seems that the time is right for a change. Earlier this month, IBM signed a deal to buy Cleversafe, a company that specializes in the hybrid storage arena. This means that it mixes speedy flash drives and slower but less pricey disk drives as a method to store data in an appropriate manner.
According to a statement released by IBM, “Cleversafe uses unique algorithms to slice data into pieces and reassemble the information from a single copy, rather than simply making multiple copies of the data, which is how storage traditionally has been done. As a result, Cleversafe can store data significantly cheaper and with greater security.”
During a recent earnings call, IBM CFO Martin Schroeter said “There is a future in storage and it’s all about flash. It’s all about software-defined and it’s all about object storage. The faster we can move to flash and the faster we can build out our high-value software-defined storage platforms, the sooner we’ll see a return to growth in storage.”
It seems that flash storage is everywhere these days, as you will find it in phones, tablets, cameras, laptops and desktops. Flash storage has already made its way into the datacenter, where you will find it in flash arrays, servers or as a cache in a rotating disk drive.
Even though storage revenue had a significant decrease, IBM is not giving up. Schroeter does not deny that storage will continue to be a difficult market, but the hope is that the IBM FlashSystem all flash arrays will add strength to that part of its business.
Flash storage has become a mainstream option and its use will continue to increase for active data as costs continue to drop. Research shows flash storage is becoming widely understood and will represent the future. Since IBM is pushing storage software, which it rebranded under the Spectrum (News - Alert) umbrella earlier this year, we can see that IBM is looking to rebuild its storage business around flash.
Edited by Rory J. Thompson