Our consultants have over 5 years experience managing companies small, medium and large scale storage requirements. Specialising in IBM TotalStorage systems from the Enterprise Storage Server (ESS) to the newer DS family (including the DS4000 range formally known as FAStT), we can help you install new storage systems as well as manage your existing environment.

IBM TotalStorage systems do more than simply enable shared storage across enterprise platforms - they can improve the performance, availability, scalability and manageability of enterprise-wide storage resources through a variety of advanced copy options such as FlashCopy® (point-in-time copy function designed to help reduce application downtime through near instantaneous internal copies of data) and Peer-to-Peer Remote Copy (synchronous remote data-mirroring technique designed to constantly maintain a current copy of the local application data at a remote site).

IBM TotalStorage DS family
The DS family range start with the DS300 featuring iSCSI host connection. It is an entry-level, cost effective workgroup SAN storage for IBM eServer® xSeries® and BladeCenter™ servers. The DS300 provides an exceptional solution for workgroup storage applications, such as file, print and Web serving, as well as remote boot storage for diskless servers. The DS300 scales to 4.2TB of physical storage capacity using new 300GB Ultra320 SCSI drives.

The midrange is the DS4000 range (formally known as FAStT). These are designed to give cost-conscious enterprises an entry-level server that can help address storage consolidation and near-line application storage needs without undue expense, while leaving them room to grow. With up to 28TB of Serial ATA (SATA) physical disk storage—provided by up to 14 internal 250GB disk drives inside the controller—the DS4100 can provide ample yet scalable storage without the cost of extra expansion units. The DS4500 offers up to 32TB of fibre channel disk storage capacity with the EXP700 expansion unit and coupled with the EXP100, it allows you to configure RAID protected storage solutions of up to 56TB. These disk systems are designed to help consolidate direct-attached storage into a centrally managed, shared or storage area network (SAN) environment. With four Fibre Channel ports to attach to servers, the need for additional switches is reduced or eliminated for additional potential cost savings.

IBM TotalStorage ESS
IBM's Enterprise Storage Server (ESS) provides large-scale storage consolidation while providing ease-of-management and attractive total cost ownership. The ESS is designed to be self-optimizing, dependable and provide advance functions for your data storage.

The ESS attaches directly to a wide variety of IBM and non-IBM servers, using ESCON, FICON, Fibre Channel, 2 Gigabit Fibre Channel/FICON or Ultra SCSI. Disk sizes include 18.2GB, 36.4GB, 72.8GB and 145.6GB providing up to 55TB of raw capacity. All disk drives are RAID-protected, and multiple spare drives are used to automatically restore fault tolerance in the event of a drive failure. System upgrades to add disk capacity, add host attachements and increase cache size can all be made concurrently with the ESS online.

If you feel that your business could benefit from our services then please do not hesitate to contact us for a free consultation.