Taneja Group: Midrange Redefined – the IBM Storwize V7000 Analyst Paper

P R O D U C T I N D E P T H

Midrange Redefined – the IBM Storwize V7000
November 2010

The marketplace for mid-range storage arrays has long been a battlefield with
victory too often declared solely on the basis of low price and high volume. Such
is small wonder, given that the cost and demand for storage has long increased
price sensitivity among customers. But such victories have too often been
pyrrhic for the storage administrator on whose backs they have been won. Those
storage administrators must bear the burden of the very things that let vendors compete on
price - minimal storage features, uncertain performance, aging architectures, and limited
flexibility.

We’ve long observed that this trend in price-driven capability-compromise is poised to change,
despite the resistance of some vendors. A handful of vendors long ago heard the call for
change. Across the board, their innovations under the banner of next generation storage have
inevitably been built upon virtualization – typically homogeneous virtualization that can be
turned to the purpose of aggregating disks in new ways, distributing data across more disks to
enhance performance and management, and masking underlying complexity while aligning
storage capabilities to the needs of applications. Without a doubt, there is only growing
demand for next generation storage today – consolidation, virtualization, more data, and
growing workloads simply demand next generation capabilities.

So it is little surprise that IBM has recently turned their attention to building next generation
capabilities within a mid-range storage array. But they’ve done it starting with a secret weapon
– the most widely adopted and successful heterogeneous virtualization engine in the market,
their SAN Volume Controller (SVC). For our part, we can think of few better places to start. The
capabilities of this new platform suggest that the battle over price may well shift to be instead a
battle over right-priced capability, or in other words, one of total value. In this product in
depth, we’ll take a look at this platform – the IBM Storwize V7000 Array.

The Legacy of Mid-range Storage complexity in storage products, limitations in
storage system performance and features,
There are few among storage practitioners intolerable impacts during storage
around the world who can read this profile maintenance and migrations, and more.
and not immediately relate to a story of
storage pain. Variations of any given story Unfortunately, the stories are only getting
have likely been experienced by most better known, and told with greater
administrators, and such stories are sprung frequency. The problem is the infrastructure
from the legacy of traditional storage: is changing – there are more applications,

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Copyright© The TANEJA Group, Inc. 2010. All Rights Reserved
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and they each demand more. Today, the is that the typical task for today’s storage
typical business has many different administrator. Today, a more commonplace
applications sitting inside of individual VMs, task of a virtual host replacement may touch
and on top of a layer of hypervisors, making multiple systems and volumes. This can
it easier to isolate and spread out more spawn a project of hundreds of steps, just for
workloads than ever before. But those primary storage changes: configuration
workloads use the same storage reviews, disk group creations, capacity
infrastructure, and force storage staff and allocations, parity settings, thin-provisioning
technology alike to operate with more decisions, snapshots and replicas, thin
servers, more connections, more IO, and conversion, LUN masking, synchronization,
more complexity. Throw in the idea of policy duplication, and more. While tools like
workload mobility – servers and storage that Storage VMotion promise to ease the
easily move to and fro with tools like coordination of actual data movement and
VMotion and Storage VMotion – and a change over, the provisioning and
disaster seems to be in the making. configuration of often complex storage
volumes and policies still must happen first.
Even just a moderate change in storage
demands can outstrip the capabilities of Built to crumble. With commodity pricing
many storage arrays. Moreover, today’s in mind, storage systems are too often built
rapidly shifting storage demands are without sufficient power to perform under
outpacing the ability of vendor innovation full load, and with far insufficient power to
when their storage products are tied to be extended in capabilities or performance in
custom hardware. the future. In the mid-range, designs instead
are too often for “typical” or “average”
In our view, nowhere else is this legacy more customers. The problem is the use case isn’t
true than with mid-range storage. It’s a so average anymore – 500 VMs don’t interact
legacy that as storage practitioners ourselves, with storage in the same way as 50 app
we simply can’t be proud of. The legacy servers. Moreover, throw in a little SSD, as
began from looking too often upon storage as many vendors and customers are wont to do,
an exercise that was only about optimizing and the real limitations of cost-optimized
$/GB, at the cost of too few capabilities, and storage controllers will show up in a
too much complexity. This has left in its wake heartbeat. Ultimately, this is a recipe for
several notable shortcomings. Let’s take a waste: it is why we see many storage
look. customers today set their standard practices
upon provisioning to no more than 50% of
Death by a thousand clicks. Sprung the capacity or performance of an array.
from vendor competition over $/GB, ease of
use has too often fallen by the wayside. A Built to be the single car in the
difference of a few clicks may not seem like garage. When storage decisions happen
much when considered in the context of with only $/GB top of mind, the bigger
provisioning a single static LUN, but seldom picture implications are easily missed at

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acquisition. The idea of managing more than Minimize storage system complexity
one system, or leveraging the initial Reduce storage waste and inefficiency
investment under changing business Provide a platform for extending
conditions is seldom considered. Like a car storage capabilities as business
with doors too long and too hard to open, a demands change
storage system might look great in
capabilities when it is the only storage array This is no less than a major shift for vendors
in the data center, and supporting a who have been on a $/GB competitive
minimum number of workloads. Add a battlefield. While several years ago a handful
second car, and a whole bunch of passengers, of early innovators brought systems to
and that car will soon be out in the cold. With market with such capabilities, they today
commodity in mind, mid-range storage has make up less than 20% of the market share
seldom been fully surrounded with the among mid-range FC storage systems. The
features and capabilities of enterprise challenges have proven a few. First, they’ve
storage, yet many businesses today are lacked broad storage solution portfolios as
building highly consolidated IT shops on top well as the reputation and delivery support of
of mid-range storage and enterprise numbers a major vendor. Second, they’ve many times
of workloads, and their demands and scale clung to proprietary array controller
will only increase in the future. architectures that at best, imply there will
eventually be limited performance
Building it better constraints, and at worst suggest obstacles in
Today we’re seeing a trending shift in storage front of future feature evolution – neither are
perspectives – one rooted in starting to look tolerable shortcomings from a vendor who is
at total infrastructure system value rather a fledgling in the market. Finally, these
than just $/GB. The root of this shift rests in vendors too often carry forward a single
a battle against complexity, where the array fixation that offers little in the way of
problems of the $/GB mindset surface in solving scalability challenges beyond the
clear. While value is an entirely subjective single array.
characteristic, for mid-range storage
customers struggling with complexity in the IBM: Virtualizing-in-depth
tide of these consolidation and virtualization
trends, the end goal is clear: value means a There have for some time been a number of
storage platform that is easy to use and long- vendors delivering heterogeneous storage
term sustainable in a scaling, and virtualization solutions to the market that do
increasingly complex environment. We far more than homogeneous virtualization in
clearly see that for a mid-market storage an array. Such solutions are used to reach
array to deliver these capabilities, it must do across Storage Area Networks and virtualize
several more fundamental things: mid-range and enterprise-class storage
Preserve consistent storage systems alike, with the scalability,
performance under changing demands performance, low latency, and reliability
Simplify management

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required to truly be a storage management from mid-range to enterprise – SVC has long
system in the middle of a fabric. bragged of performance and latency
characteristics that make even primary array
In a move clearly designed to further leverage controllers look a bit shaky in comparison.
what is already a key and widely adopted Today, performance numbers for multi-way
IBM technology, IBM recently launched a SVC clusters include certified benchmarks in
mid-range array driven by their SAN Volume excess of 380,000 IOPS and 7GB/s
Controller (SVC) technology. The throughput under real world workload
implications are subtle but far reaching. simulations, while other more theoretical lab
Heterogeneous virtualization technologies demonstrations have shown single pairs of
have been paired with an array controller SVC controllers alone can support more than
before, but only in the largest and most 250K IOPS using solid state media. An
expensive of enterprise systems; systems that untold story is that the large SVC cache
IBM SVC has quite effectively competed with. coupled with a kernel latency that is
Mid-range storage built with such a system measured in microseconds rather than
must in turn be substantially enterprise like milliseconds can actually increase storage
in performance and scalability. Moreover, infrastructure performance by removing the
with a heterogeneous foundation, the SVC host-side impact of disk controller cache
technology will undoubtedly make an array misses as well as in-the-array
controller more “outward facing” than read/modify/destage write cycles. It seems to
typically homogeneous solutions. This subtle us that no other vendor could have sitting in
shift in orientation seems undoubtedly the wings such suitable technology with
poised to bring simplification to the storage which to build a new mid-range array.
foundation that must simultaneously scale
and support more complex environments. With that ambition in mind, in October of
2010, IBM introduced the Storwize V7000
Spotlight on the Storwize V7000 array – a joining of SAS drive shelves, and
the blazing controller technology from IBM’s
In the clarity of hindsight, perhaps it is only tried and tested SAN Volume Controller. The
left to most in the industry to wonder why result is an array that carries forward all of
IBM waited so long to make this move. the software integrations and maturity of the
Delivered to the field in 2003, IBM’s SVC technology, but takes a few additional
heterogeneous storage virtualization steps to boot. Next, we’ll turn to a brief
appliance is after all one of the most notable unwrapping of some of those features and
storage success stories of this decade. SVC capabilities.
today can boast of over 22,500 engines
deployed in the field, running in more than Enterprise wrapped in simplicity
7,200 SVC systems. Carrying forward SVC’s IOPS and low latency
optimized software and hardware – now
Moreover, built for the virtualization of packaged as a pair of Storwize V7000
storage pools from many storage systems – controllers – IBM has integrated what are for

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all purposes fully enterprise-class features Factor (SFF) drives each; enabling a minimal
behind a blanket of hardware simplicity amount of hardware to support a significant
appropriate for the mid-range. number of disk spindles (240). Furthermore,
with simple connectivity, the SAS
To get here in a product that also includes architecture unlocks the door on SFF high
disk, IBM first integrated their advanced performance media that before has more
software RAID code that has long run across often been seen in enterprise ranks. This is
the distributed processors of a DS8000 important because it lets customers get more
storage array. Individual disks anywhere in performance in a smaller footprint, and with
the array are selected and configured as more simplicity than internal spiderwebs of
RAID 0, 1, 5, 6 or 10 to create “managed Fibre Channel connections. In fact, the
disks”, across which individual volumes are correspondent drive count density is a
distributed. Administrators configure stripe notable achievement that reduces floor space
sizes (or “extents” in IBM parlance) for a and power/cooling per unit of performance,
ranging from 16MB to 8GB. The individual although a lower spindle density 3.5-inch
extents for a volume are then striped and SAS drive shelf can optionally be attached to
RAID protected across all spindles within a these same SAS ports, without increased
managed disk group. cabling complexity.

IBM then preserved existing SVC Harnessing SVC as an array controller has
architecture for direct host connectivity into allowed the IBM team to integrate this level
the controllers with their 2nd Generation of capability and hardware into the
PCIe bus connected 8GB FC adapters (four controllers, and this pays off in terms of
ports per controller for host connectivity), simplifying the storage system, as well as
and two iSCSI Gigabit Ethernet ports per simplifying the approach to availability.
controller node. But when it came to directly
attaching disk, IBM turned to a similarly Availability Simplified
PCIe integrated SAS interface that is daisy The integration of a handful of select IBM
chained to a series of SAS drive shelves. technologies into the Storwize V7000’s
controller has elegantly simplified the other
The resulting Storwize V7000 array places parts of the array and allowed IBM to
almost every IO component within the architect Storwize V7000 redundancy,
Storwize V7000 controllers and simplifies availability, and serviceability almost entirely
external connectivity. Since the two around the controllers. With simplified
controllers are active-active clustered, hardware, the Storwize V7000 has no need to
storage fabrics as well as drive shelves are protect multiple levels of drive interfaces and
redundantly attached with straightforward controllers, internal switches, or other
simplicity. Using that approach to disk miscellaneous componentry. Instead,
attachment, the Storwize V7000 comes Storwize V7000s are backed with redundant
configured with up to 9 hyper-dense drive batteries, and contain redundant paths,
shelves containing 24 2.5-inch Small Form controllers and power supplies. This

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redundant controller complex singularly response to changes in IO performance, write
caches and controls all of the data path down performance smoothing and optimization
to the write to a spindle, with no additional algorithms adjust how the 8GBx2 global
components to fail other than standard drive cache in the controllers is used to slow,
shelves and drives. accelerate, or further batch writes to disk.
Simultaneously, mechanisms like Zero
Moreover, the Storwize V7000 continues to Detect behind thin provisioned volumes trim
leverage SVC’s clustering architecture where write data within the Storwize V7000
reads make use of the full cache memory controller, and use the controller’s greater
across an active-active controller pair, but front-end and internal bandwidth
write protection is elevated by mirroring each (14.4GB/s+48GB/s full duplex aggregate
write into the local cache of each controller respectively) to avoid the consumption of
using a dedicated PCIe controller precious spinning disk IO where there is no
interconnect. Finally, IBM’s Subsystem real data.
Device Driver, and native multipathing
drivers such as MPIO, provide multi-pathing Second, a number of years ago IBM SVC
IO functionality for all common operating implemented an advanced caching feature
systems. called cache partitioning. Cache partitioning
allocates guaranteed cache memory for each
Cached like enterprise managed disk group. Such allocations
But write cache mirroring is just the start of reserve a baseline amount of caching for all
caching functionality with the Storwize disk volumes even in the face of poorly
V7000. Notably distinct among mid-range behaving workloads or storage subsystem
controllers, and as of yet not broadly problems that might cause run-away cache
observed in the industry, is that the Storwize consumption. Without cache partitioning, it
V7000 array controllers carry forward the is not uncommon to find that storage
SVC team’s approach to caching. The systems with errors or failures can stack up
fundamentals of Storwize V7000 caching use cached writes to the limits of controller
a large cache space – 16GB across the memory, and create a storage breakdown for
controller pair – and a fairly standard every host instead of the one or two hosts
assortment of Least Recently Used and connected to the problem. While cache
streaming data optimized Sequential Detect / partitioning is a common feature in
Pre-fetch algorithms. But moving beyond the enterprise arrays, it is unusual in the mid-
fundamentals, the Storwize V7000 cache is a range, and with Storwize V7000 attached
serious foundation for Storwize V7000 disk, it lays a foundation for providing
performance. consistent, sustainable performance under
the most contentious of workloads.
First, the Storwize V7000 controllers
monitor the IO path and leverage cache to Designed for unified management
take adaptive action to optimize the Backed by SVC’s performance and resilient
performance of underlying disk groups. In architecture, the Storwize V7000 also retains

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all of the virtualization capabilities of the asynchronous, and multi-way replication
SVC controller from which it was birthed. possibilities (IBM Metro Mirror and Global
This means alongside up to 144TB of internal Mirror), and integration with various DR
SFF storage (or 240TB of 3.5-inch storage), tools and suites. But going beyond the basics,
the Storwize V7000 array can virtualize this also includes a broad array of
external arrays as well. While capacity complementary storage solutions, like IBM’s
limitations are driven by the granularity of Continuous Data Protection toolset FastBack
disk extents from which internal and external that can perform delta-by-delta deduplicated
volumes are constructed, the Storwize V7000 data capture to a second storage system over
in theory can address multiple petabytes of an IP network, locally or remotely, and
external storage in addition to internal immediately make that captured data
capacity. accessible as an Any-Point-In-Time recovery
system. Name the feature, and there is good
While we think petabyte-sized enterprises chance that the Storwize V7000 is equipped
will continue to turn to bigger multi-way out the gate with integration. For the most
dedicated SVC clusters instead, the part, the broad range of core storage features
virtualization functionality within the are included, although a few features named
Storwize V7000 paves the way to migration here come at an additional charge. And for
simplification: perform a simple volume many users, one of the more interesting
import and in a few clicks hosts can connect integrated functions will be Easy Tier.
to any external storage through the Storwize
V7000. Administrators can then use Storwize Easy Tier optimized
V7000 tools to migrate the volume, non- Introduced in early 2010 as a feature on
disruptively, at their leisure. Moreover, that IBM’s DS8000 series arrays, Easy Tier is
methodology can be used to fully optimize a IBM’s sub-volume automated data tiering
volume by mapping it to any new desired technology that works within such arrays to
disk group configuration, and/or convert move data from low performance disks to
external data into thin-provisioned volumes high performance Solid-State Devices (SSD).
during a migration. For this purpose, any Easy Tier has also been turned toward
external volume can be virtualized through optimizing data within the Storwize V7000
the Storwize V7000 on a 45-day basis for by harnessing the rich metadata foundation
free. that was already in place for heterogeneous
storage volume virtualization and
IBM storage portfolio integrated augmenting it with the performance data
The Storwize V7000 also carries with it all of necessary to perform intelligent data
the enterprise storage management features placement optimization. Using this metadata
and add-ons that were available with SVC. At layer, an IO Monitor running on the Storwize
the most basic level, this includes IBM’s gold V7000 aggregates and records performance
standard storage features like FlashCopy, data on individual extents once every 5
thin-provisioned FlashCopy, thin- minutes. Every 24 hours, a data placement
provisioned volumes, various synchronous, advisor function of the Storwize V7000 then

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examines the load upon individual extents separating database table spaces and log files
and models a data placement/migration onto space limited and costly appliances.
plan. Following the construction of a plan, a Moreover, in conjunction with Easy Tier, this
data migrator function running on the flexible number of devices allows customers
Storwize V7000 controllers begins to deploy nearly any optimized mix of
background relocation of extents across performance and capacity, while reducing the
slower and faster disks in the same managed needless over-purchasing of capacity simply
disk group. Easy Tier can obviously be used to get performance.
to optimize internal storage but can also be
applied to virtualized external storage Simplified management
volumes, in either case operating across two Finally, simplification is not only to be found
types of media (SAS and SSD, or external in the subsystems and internals of the
volumes and SSD). And Easy Tier in turn Storwize V7000. On a path to alter the face of
leverages an unusually capable SSD mid-range storage, IBM has no less than
architecture within the V7000. significantly simplified complexity when
managing storage with the Storwize V7000.
A platform matched to SSD Taking their cue from the XIV storage GUI, a
Selected for high performance and the field tour through the Storwize V7000 interface
serviceability of an established drive form highlights a large number of automated
factor, the Storwize V7000 optionally workflows, wizards, and simple click
supports 300GB 2.5-inch Enterprise-MLC operations that will ease the life of any
SSD SAS media from STEC (ZeusIOPS model storage administrator. Moreover, not to be
drives). Highly unusual is the support for overlooked is the potential to extend this
unrestricted numbers of SSD media within simplification to existing storage through
the Storwize V7000’s drive shelves, including external virtualization, and/or leverage this
in intermixed configurations, up to the single approach across many Storwize V7000
whopping maximum of all of the Storwize systems that for management purposes can
V7000’s 240 2.5-inch SAS drive slots. While easily act as one.
small numbers of these 30K IOPS or
240MB/s drives may exceed the performance Moving toward value:
of even Storwize V7000 controllers, Defining IT capability
unlimited device support grants customers
the opportunity to address large working The storage pedigree behind the Storwize
data sets, and unlocks flexibility. Customers V7000, comprehensive features, and a
with general performance challenges – competitive price point clearly set the bar at a
perhaps non-simultaneous but bursty new level for mid-range storage. But more
response time demands for massive importantly for today’s IT customers, we
performance. This is counter to past think with the Storwize V7000, IBM is taking
limitations in solid state technologies, where the conversation around mid-range storage
limited capacities have required painful and well beyond one of pure price competition.
perhaps even impossible exercises in

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We can only be stating the obvious to say that spiraling out of control performance and
IT has long been on a quest for increasing capacity mismatch that inevitably occurs in
cost efficiency in the infrastructure. Whether the face of changing business demands.
it is virtualization, consolidation, public Earlier we stated that the conversation
clouds, outsourcing, IT process automation, around storage should define value at a far
standardization, or any of a number of other more fundamental level than $/GB or
initiatives, all have at their heart an intent to $/IOPS. Value for storage should be defined
increase efficiency and lower costs in the IT upon delivering ease of use and long-term
infrastructure. But efficiency and capability sustainability in a scaling, and increasingly
go hand-in-hand – and a mis-match between complex environment. The Storwize V7000
the capabilities of mid-range storage and stands on a three-legged stool in the course
today’s changing business demands has long of delivering on this mission: simply put, it is
undercut the quest for efficiency. built to be simplified, perpetually efficient,
and extensible.

Simplified. The Storwize V7000’s unique
combination of GUI automation, self-
optimization (Easy Tier, zero detect), and
internal/external virtualization technology
paints a clear picture of simplification. With
out of the box simple click functionality and
external virtualization the Storwize V7000
will undoubtedly deliver on IBM’s promise of
“Rapid Time to Value” by speeding Storwize
V7000 implementation and then easing
migration of existing data. On an on-going
basis, self-optimization should massively

Figure 1: Increasing complexity complicates storage and reduce the LUN level attention that burdens
brings an end to IT efficiency improvements, and quickly so many shops, and free storage
leads to detrimental OPEX impacts that detract from administrators to concentrate on macro-level
efficiency savings realized to date. Only a value‐driven operations such as load and capacity
strategy that focuses on capabilities rather than $/GB can balancing across even bigger pools of storage.
extend efficiency increases beyond this point.
Moreover, the Storwize V7000 breaks this
paradigm shift in management out of a single
As complexity increases in the infrastructure, array box, and promises to extend efficient
increasing storage system complexity can management across additional Storwize
readily counteract other IT infrastructure V7000 systems – unlocking the potential for
improvements and reverse previously a scale-out storage infrastructure, or even the
realized gains. Storage platform “value” is a heterogeneous storage infrastructure still
total sum game, and is about how storage sitting on the data center floor. In our view,
tackles increasing complexity and the

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this looks like a recipe for simplicity today, Extensibility Enabled. Mid-market
and simplicity tomorrow. storage has too often suffered from excessive
commoditization and price warfare – a trend
Perpetually efficient. With traditional that has driven ever less capable hardware
storage, existing approaches to per-LUN into the controllers of mid-range arrays. It is
optimization lead organizations down a path not going too far to conclude that some
of deteriorating utilization as they seek to vendors have even been forced to equip their
cushion capacity and performance in times of mid-range arrays with additional features
increasing complexity and uncertainty. As through integration of external componentry
systems multiply, the effects are amplified – add-on iSCSI gateways, storage feature
across an increasing number of systems and appliances, and the like. IBM is clearly no
LUNs. Ensuing second order effects then less than declaring war on this trend. The
heighten per-LUN firefighting in attempt to Storwize V7000’s software is no less than
mitigate worsening costs, and this creates independent from the underlying
unsustainable storage practices that collapse standardized hardware, but demonstrates
under scale. No efficiency gains in media just what is possible from well-designed
density or performance can tackle this alone. independence in terms of performance. This
The Storwize V7000 takes technologies frees the Storwize V7000 to rapidly evolve
designed to increase storage efficiency, and into the future without hardware constraints,
wraps them in a layer of enhanced just as SVC has been doing for the past 7
functionality and automation that begins to years. Meanwhile, hardware innovation is
deliver on what we see down the road as fully simply unrestricted, and can keep up with
auto-adaptive storage. The associated insight leaps forward in x86, memory, and media
and auto-adaptive qualities remove the need architectures. The Storwize V7000 is clearly
for LUN-level optimization that encourages poised to stay current with best in class
reaction to uncertainty. High performance hardware evolutions, with no underlying
headroom, scalability and self-optimization hardware complexity, custom ASICs, corner
promise performance confidence. dwelling MIPS processors, or other unique
Meanwhile, the Storwize V7000’s ability to hardware to hold it back. Such a platform
enfold external storage and/or move data to enables easy feature innovation that can keep
and from other Storwize V7000 arrays pace with changing business demands – or
promises to free storage administrators from competitors – without today’s rapid
confinement to the performance or capacity obsolescence and forklift replacements.
limits of single storage silos; in turn they
should be able to provision close to capacity Taneja Group Opinion
and performance limits with confidence. We
have little doubt that we’ll hear tales of There is little doubt at Taneja Group that
distinctly higher utilization patterns among IBM has seriously shifted the playing field for
Storwize V7000 customers that are far mid-range storage through their integration
beyond the norm for traditional storage of SVC into the Storwize V7000 array. While
system customers. the individual components and features

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found within the Storwize V7000 by Value is driven by cost competitiveness, but
themselves mark a number of industry firsts determined by total capabilities. With this
for the mid-range (controller performance platform in tow, IBM is sure to price compete
levels, unlimited SSD, automated tiering, with the best of solutions. But in their
enterprise storage management features, terminology, “value” will be something
enterprise cache sophistication), the sum of altogether different – where the investment
the parts roll up into storage infrastructure in a Storwize V7000 is leveraged many times
capabilities that stand poised to deliver on a over through their enterprise features,
vision. That vision is one of a unified, well superior density and performance, and
managed, and horizontally integrated storage superior ease of use that works to a
infrastructure that extends a single approach customer’s advantage in the consolidating,
to manageability across multiple systems, for virtual infrastructure. We think they’re onto
a unified approach to storage that can be well something, and we expect this next year will
scaled indefinitely. undoubtedly see a growing IBM customer
base tell the story of how IBM has just
IBM marketing clings to a tag line of driving redefined the storage landscape for the mid-
more “value” into their solutions – but to market.
most in the marketplace, this story of value .

might be too easily glossed over and missed.

This paper is sponsored by IBM. IBM Document # TSL03020USEN-00
.NOTICE: The information and product recommendations made by the TANEJA GROUP are based upon public information and sources
and may also include personal opinions both of the TANEJA GROUP and others, all of which we believe to be accurate and reliable.
However, as market conditions change and not within our control, the information and recommendations are made without warranty of
any kind. All product names used and mentioned herein are the trademarks of their respective owners. The TANEJA GROUP, Inc. assumes
no responsibility or liability for any damages whatsoever (including incidental, consequential or otherwise), caused by your use of, or
reliance upon, the information and recommendations presented herein, nor for any inadvertent errors which may appear in this document.

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Taneja Group: Midrange Redefined – the IBM Storwize V7000 Analyst Paper

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Taneja Group: Midrange Redefined – the IBM Storwize V7000 Analyst Paper