IBM unveils faster midrange storage array

IBM announced that its latest midrange storage array, the IBM System Storage DS5020 Express, will be available on Sept. 4.

The DS5020 Express will support all current IBM premium features, including partitioning, FlashCopy for point-in-time copies of logical volumes or data sets, VolumeCopy for data migration between arrays, and enhanced remote mirroring for disaster recovery and business continuity applications, providing enterprise-class storage capabilities for midsize organizations, IBM said.

The company said the new offering is designed for midsize companies in the retail, health care, insurance and manufacturing industries, among others, as well as government agencies that need to securely analyze an ever-increasing flow of data.

The System Storage DS5020 Express array comes with four 8Gbit/sec. Fibre Channel ports along with four additional ports that can be either Fibre Channel or 1Gbit/sec. iSCSI, and it supports up to 112 drives with EXP520 expansion units. Drive options include high-end Fibre Channel disk, self-encrypting Fibre Channel drives, and higher-capacity, lower-performance serial ATA drives.

IBM said that capacity can be added to the new storage array with no downtime for applications.

The system also supports a variety of virtualization technologies, including IBM's PowerVM, Microsoft's 2008 Hyper-V and vSphere 4 from VMware.

“Midsize businesses are no different than their larger counterparts, as they are facing relentless data growth and shrinking budgets, which is why they're seeking storage solutions that will help reduce costs through efficiencies,” Bob Cancilla, IBM's vice president for disk systems, said in a statement. “The IBM System Storage DS5020 Express addresses those needs, while its full-disk encryption also makes it ideal for hosting business-critical applications.”

The System Storage DS5020 Express, along with IBM service support and a three-year warranty, is priced from $22,500.