IBM INCREASES PERFORMANCE AND CAPACITY OF OPEN STORAGE NETWORKS.

IBM has announced new enterprise storage products and enhancements including FICON support for IBM's TotalStorage Enterprise Storage Server (code named Shark) and two models of IBM's TotalStorage Virtual Tape Server (VTS) that for the first time incorporate IBM's patented copper chip technology.

With this announcement, IBM becomes the first storage vendor to offer mainframe customers a Fibre Channel-based connection (FICON) to their high-end disk systems. FICON provides peak data transfer rates almost six times faster than the current ESCON technology employed by competitors. In addition, the implementation of FICON relieves constraints that previously limited customers' ability to grow their configurations, as it supports disk storage configurations up to six times larger than those supported by ESCON. Easier management capability is also enabled because FICON configurations typically use one-fourth the number of channels.

On the tape side, the new higher-performance Model B20 VTS provides up to a 100 percent increase in the peak write data rate when compared to older models of the VTS. Both the B20 and the new B10 VTS model are also available for use in a peer-to-peer configuration.

"We're increasing the speed, reliability and capacity of storage networks with new products and solutions that take advantage of technologies pioneered by IBM," said Linda Sanford, senior vice president & group executive, IBM Storage Systems Group. "IBM's ability to integrate industry-leading technologies from our research labs into our storage products, coupled with the momentum of our business results, confirms that we are on a path to leadership in the open storage networking marketplace."

IBM led all companies with over 400 storage patents in the year 2000.

In December 2000, IBM was the first company in the storage industry to support native FICON for tape with the Magstar 3590 A60 Tape Controller. With the FICON support in both its tape and disk products, IBM offers a total FICON storage solution that helps customers enhance the performance, extend the distance, improve the sharing, and reduce the costs of their storage infrastructure.

The availability of FICON-based storage for mainframes allows customers for the first time to connect mainframes directly to the same open storage area networks (SANs) used by UNIX and Windows servers. This common SAN infrastructure can ease the administration of storage networks and enable customers to make rapid changes to their configurations to address business requirements.

"FICON will deliver a significant boost to the performance of many mainframe applications," said John McArthur, vice president of storage research for IDC. "IBM's leadership in delivering FICON support, not only for Shark but also for its Magstar 3590 offering, will provide yet more drivers for IBM's fast-growing storage business."