IBM readies Storage Tank software

Hardware vendors who once saw big money in faster servers are beginning to turn to high-margin storage devices in search of profits. The latest example is IBM, whose long-awaited Storage Tank storage management software is reportedly being readied for a 2003 release. According to the company, the new software virtualizes enterprise storage by adding an installable file system to Windows 2000, Linux, and Unix clients (servers that are storage system clients). The file system connects with a Fibre Channel or iSCSI SAN over the regular IP network. A new Storage Tank protocol carries metadata information about file attributes and locations, and enables the locking that makes file sharing by multiple clients possible. Clients won’t have to specify the physical location of a disk volume or a particular server.

The Storage Tank server software can run over Linux, AIX, or Windows operating systems. Organizations can use a single Storage Tank server, a cluster of servers, or multiple clusters. Servers in a cluster can be interconnected over a SAN or the IP network.

By using the new protocol in conjunction with the Storage Tank clients and server, enterprises should be able to bring the policy-based allocation, volume management, and file management familiar in the mainframe world down to less expensive, more commonly deployed systems. Virtualizing network storage makes it easier to manage actual devices without affecting users, thus promoting high availability.

So will Storage Tank catapult IBM to the top of the storage heap? It certainly appears that IBM is in the forefront. Back in February, Sun announced its N1 project for accomplishing the same ends. But N1 remains a concept, not a product, and Sun hasn’t yet announced a solid date when we can expect to see N1 products. While IBM’s Storage Tank is not yet close to delivery, it appears to be further along than Sun’s initiative.

EMC isn’t exactly quaking in its boots. The company’s press rep, Mike O’Malley, notes that EMC’s HighRoad multiplex file system has been offering similar storage virtualization to customers on EMC’s Celerra DART file servers for two years, and the EMC AutoIS storage management environment provides a wide variety of additional management tools.

Just as using Linux is helping IBM sell high-margin hardware, so Storage Tank should help the company roll out more storage devices (though the product can be used with any vendor’s hardware). IBM will also release an API to let other companies take advantage of Storage Tank management.

Because faster servers, which can handle more operations in a given amount of time, allow organizations to buy fewer new machines and consolidate older existing servers, sales of servers are stagnating. The need for more storage, however, is constantly growing, and as the volume of storage resources grows, the need to manage it better grows, as well. As a result, Storage Tank is a strategic weapon against IBM’s high-end competitors.

These storage products bear watching, but if your storage network is already unmanageable, don’t wait for these products. Check out EMC’s AutoIS, or, if you don’t need a comprehensive storage management architecture, look into applications that promote high availability, facilitate data recovery, enhance security, and improve performance.