IBM announced the availability of its next release of storage virtualization software designed with expanded support to virtualize and manage the complete line of currently available EMC disk storage systems. This latest storage breakthrough helps enable EMC clients to simplify and automate the management of their storage environments through a centralized view. The company also announced that it has submitted Storage Performance Council (SPC-1) benchmark results demonstrating record performance for a storage virtualization solution. IBM's Virtualization Engine Suite for Storage, part of the TotalStorage Open Software family of products, is designed to help clients simplify their infrastructures by aggregating computing resources from multiple vendor systems to increase the utilization and availability of system resources. This virtualization layer integrates the storage technology infrastructure and can help increase automation, reduce costs and provide greater control of the systems. By virtualizing resources, clients can manage and mask the complexity inherent in the technology infrastructure. "IBM's Virtualization Engine Suite for Storage truly disrupts the storage industry by freeing technology and purchasing managers to leverage a multi-vendor disk hardware strategy without suffering many of the traditional management costs associated with heterogeneous storage," said Jens Tiedemann, general manager of IBM TotalStorage Open Software. "With this announcement, IBM's SAN Volume Controller takes its place as the killer application in the storage industry and as the leading virtualization solution whether measured by performance, scalability or device interoperability." Comprehensive Vendor Support IBM's fifth release of the IBM TotalStorage SAN Volume Controller boasts powerful new features and increased device support. Based on open, industry standards, IBM's SAN Volume Controller is the first virtualization product to pass SNIA's Conformance Testing Program (SNIA-CTP) for the Storage Management Initiative Specification (SMI-S). The SNIA-CTP process was developed by SNIA to provide end-users with a 'trusted' verification process to ensure that vendors followed the interpretation of SMI-S accurately and in a common manner. Before EMC has delivered their promised storage virtualization solution to clients, IBM's latest release of the SAN Volume Controller supports EMC's entire current line of Symmetrix DMX Series and CLARiiON products, with the latest addition of EMC's CLARiiON CX Series, including the CX300, CX500 and CX700 disk arrays. IBM has already demonstrated and announced support for a wide range of Hitachi and HP disk arrays. The latest release of the SAN Volume Controller also provides enhanced scalability of FlashCopy and Metro Mirroring to help clients manage business continuity in larger, heterogeneous storage environments. Benchmark Champion In addition, the company announced its submission of SPC-1 benchmark result to the Storage Performance Council. Those results show an IBM TotalStorage SAN Volume Controller-based solution setting a new world record of 100,128 IOPS for storage virtualization performance, easily doubling the previous virtualization performance record of 50,003 IOPS by DataCore SANsymphony. The SPC-1 storage virtualization benchmark is the storage industry's leading storage virtualization benchmark. The Storage Performance Council's benchmarks are designed as tools to evaluate real-world storage performance. The IBM storage virtualization benchmark with the IBM SAN Volume Controller, managing IBM TotalStorage DS4300 storage servers and EXP700 expansion units, handled more than 100,120 IOPS. The SAN Volume Controller, apart from its inherent value, can also give a performance boost to existing storage devices in the Storage Area Network. With this new result, IBM is only one of four companies to join the exclusive Storage Performance Council's "100K SPC-1 IOPS Club." IBM Business Partner and Client Momentum Clients across the world are rapidly adopting IBM's storage virtualization technology. China Construction Bank, the City of Saskatoon in Saskatchewan, Canada, First National Bank of Omaha, Resolution Performance Products, Star (a leading provider of technology services to mid-sized businesses and public sector organizations in the United Kingdom), and TransAction Solutions (a major supplier of IT services to Australian credit unions), are a few clients who have recently implemented IBM's SAN Volume Controller. Additionally, IBM Business Partners and IBM TotalStorage Solution Centers continue to help clients exploit the value of IBM's breakthrough storage virtualization products through centers operated by Champion Solutions Group, MSI Systems Integrators and Sirius Computer Solutions. First National Bank Omaha implemented the IBM TotalStorage SAN Volume Controller in June with the help of IBM Business Partner MSI. The bank is virtualizing more than 30 terabytes of corporate data on both a Hitachi Thunder system and an IBM TotalStorage Enterprise Storage Server. "IBM's SAN Volume Controller has helped us simplify our heterogeneous storage management and allowed us to easily move data between the Hitachi and IBM storage systems," said Mike O'Neil, vice president of enterprise systems for First National Bank Omaha. "Through this storage software implementation we have centralized our disk storage to have a single view of the infrastructure." IBM Business Partners like Sirius Computer Solutions are helping educate clients on storage virtualization benefits through testing capabilities at IBM TotalStorage Solutions Centers. Already, Sirius has helped dozens of clients deploy the IBM TotalStorage SAN Volume Controller. "We are seeing great customer demand for IBM's SAN Volume Controller, especially with SAP customers who are seeking to create non-production environments on less expensive disk," said Chris Lusk, manager of open systems and storage for Sirius Computer Solutions. "IBM's SAN Volume Controller provides the ability to dynamically move workloads across disk subsystems without an interruption in service. Our customers have benefited from a simpler infrastructure because the technology provides a common device driver for path fail-over and load balancing for no additional charge." Additionally, recent independent analysis conducted by TheInfoPro, based on more than 150 in-depth interviews with Fortune 1000 storage executives, found that IBM's SAN Volume Controller was ranked first as having the "Most Exciting New Product And Technology" offered in the storage market today. TheInfoPro, an independent technology research firm, published its Wave 4 Storage Study in the Fall of 2004. The findings also highlight that IBM surpassed EMC in customer mindshare, with twice as many interviewed customers considering IBM storage virtualization solutions. IBM's latest release of the TotalStorage SAN Volume Controller is available today through IBM and IBM Business Partners. IBM's list price of the SAN Volume Controller begins at $60,000. IBM SAN Volume Controller is an integral part of the IBM TotalStorage Open Software portfolio which also includes integrated solutions for business continuity, information lifecycle management and storage management and provisioning.