IBM’s new low-end tape libraries and SAN solution for SMEs

Akhtar Pasha / Bangalore

IBM is entering the low end of the tape market for the first time, targeting large Intel server installations with a slew of offerings—Linear Tape Open-based (LTO) tape drives and autoloaders and low-cost SAN storage appliance targeted at small and medium enterprises (SMEs) through its volume drive initiative.

Shailesh Agarwal, country manager-Storage, IBM India says, “We have not addressed the low-end tape market segment in the past due to lack of structured channel partners. But that’s the past. We want to address the opportunity in the xSeries as we are seeing an increasing need for automated back-up by customers across Intel servers.”

IBM is addressing the low-end tape market with three new products based on LTO technology—3580, 3581 and 3582 autoloaders and libraries. These products are ideal for handling the back-up, save/restore, and archival data storage needs of a wide range of small systems. The half-inch tape drive features a native data capacity of 100 GB and a compressed data capacity of 200 GB. Customers can start low with the 3580 and as the need grows move to the 3581 tape autoloader, which is a single drive with seven cartridges. As the data storage requirement grows further customers can move to the 3582 tape library featuring two drives in a 24-cartridges library. All the products are rack-mountable with SCSI interfaces and support a bar-code reader. Based on configuration the starting price of these products could range from Rs 3.5 lakhs to Rs 4.5 lakhs.

IBM will be focusing on increasing its Tier-2 channel presence in the country. Of the 90 odd premier storage partners, IBM has identified 45 partners to sell low-end autoloaders and libraries. These channel partners will be specifically trained in implementing these products. Agarwal says, “Our aim is to close one transaction with each of the partners in the next two months and we are targeting 45 deals per month for the next few quarters.” LTO Ultrium tape libraries can enable multiple servers to share a single tape library, helping to reduce costs and tape handling damage. The automobile vertical is seriously looking at investing in low-cost tape drives.

Customer value

Agarwal points out that there is true value for money— the products that were affordable only for the enterprise market have now become affordable to SMEs and are easily deployable with the range of products IBM is bringing to the market—LTO-based tape libraries and entry-level SAN solutions for the SME. Increasing cartridge capacity and performance can help reduce the amount of equipment, space, and human intervention required for daily tape operations. In addition, reducing the number of cartridges needed for back-up and restore operations can lower operational costs.

Focus on low-cost SAN

IBM is also betting on its low-cost SAN leadership for its FAStT200 and FAStT400 and recently launched FAStT600 storage appliance servers. The FAStT200 Storage Server provides RAID (Redundant Array of Independent Disks) solutions for workgroups and departmental Intel-based servers. It comes with 2 SVC engines with 250 GB storage in a compact 3U size with a maximum system capacity of 2.1 TB. It is available in single and dual controller models and is priced at Rs 6 lakh. FAStT600 comes bundled with an 8-port switch priced at Rs 8 lakh. It is well suited for customers requiring an external server solution for workgroup and departmental servers. Thomson Electronics, Aviva, Jet Airways, Pidilite Industries, Huawei, Astra Zeneca, Essar Lottery Division, Sanmar Engineering, ILPS and Kolkata Port Trust are some of the customers using the FAStT 200 products in India. Agarwal says, “Between FAStT200 and FAStT600, we are expecting to sell 50 units per quarter.”