May 29, 2006

IBM announces that it has introduced a set of enhancements to its storage virtualization software engine. The improvements are meant to extend its reach to new distances, speeds and platforms.

According to IBM, the IBM System Storage SAN Volume Controller 4.1 includes a varitety of new technologies, including one designed to help organizations virtualize infrastructures more efficiently over longer distances.

The company says the need for disaster recovery solutions is still growing, and IBM's new global mirroring function is designed to help customers virtualize data at locations farther than 100 miles faster than before.

Along with the business continuity enhancements, SVC 4.1 supports 4Gbps environments and has includes capabilities for virtualizing data on nearly 80 varieties of disk system.

"IBM continues to expand the reach and capabilities of its storage virtualization software by incorporating features that will help customers achieve their business goals and bottom-line targets," says Kristie Bell, vice president of system storage marketing at IBM.

"Compared to the previous version, our enhanced storage virtualization software provides increased flexibility, ease of management and improved business continuity and disaster recovery capabilities", said Bell.

Kristie went on to say: "empowering customers to architect their information on demand environments to be more resilient, dynamic and flexible, regardless of where the data resides."

Source: The WHIR