IBM Corp.'s (NYSE: IBM) Shark will be swimming faster -- and farther -- soon. Big Blue today announced several enhancements to its TotalStorage Enterprise Storage Server (a.k.a. Shark), including Fibre Channel support for its Peer-to-Peer Remote Copy (PPRC) disaster recovery software (see IBM Boosts Shark's DR Features).
By replacing its Escon technology with Fibre Channel, IBM claims the new Shark will improve data recovery by transferring data up to eight times faster and reducing channels by a factor of four. IBM said it would introduce the PPRC-over-FC capabilities when it last refreshed its array-based software for the Shark this May (see IBM Pushes Shark's Copy Buttons).
IBM also announced a new API for Copy Services -- based on the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA)'s Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S), which gives third-party management tools access to its copy services -- and a Turbo II processor option that the company claims will offer a performance increase of up to 30 percent over the base ESS 800 model. The company also has a new configuration option called Arrays Across Loops, which it says can nearly double the performance for sequential applications on a single array. IBM says each of the new enhancements will be available Nov. 21.
While IBM was merely playing catch-up with competitors EMC Corp. and Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) with Fibre Channel over PPRC, it claims its new enhancements give it a genuine performance advantage.
"We think our collapse rate and performance is significantly better than our competitors'," says Jim Tuckwell, marketing manager for Shark. "We do not see a situation where a customer will need more than two Fibre Channel links. What we've seen from our competitors is, they offer a minimum of four Fibre Channel links."
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