New cloud-scale, high performance storage
appliance for unstructured data to power the most demanding AI and
capacity-intensive workloads
ARMONK,
N.Y., Oct. 31, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- Today, IBM
(NYSE: IBM) introduced the new IBM Storage Scale System 6000, a
cloud-scale global data platform designed to meet today's data
intensive and AI workload demands, and the latest offering in the
IBM Storage for Data and AI portfolio.
For the seventh consecutive year and counting, IBM is a 2022
Gartner Magic Quadrant for Distributed File Systems and Object
Storage Leader, recognized for its vision and
execution.1 The new IBM Storage Scale System 6000 seeks
to build on IBM's leadership position with an enhanced high
performance parallel file system designed for data intensive
use-cases. It provides up to 7M IOPs
and up to 256GB/s throughput for read only workloads per system in
a 4U (four rack units) footprint.2
To leverage the economic value of both foundation and
traditional AI models, businesses must focus on the data –
their current capacity and growth forecasts, where the data
resides, how it's secured and accessed, and how to optimize future
data storage investments.
"The potential of today's new era of AI can only be fully
realized, in my opinion, if organizations have a strategy to unify
data from multiple sources in near real-time without creating
numerous copies of data and going through constant iterations of
data ingest," said Denis Kennelly,
general manager, IBM Storage. "IBM Storage Scale System 6000 gives
clients the ability to do just that – brings together data from
core, edge, and cloud into a single platform with optimized
performance for GPU workloads."
The IBM Storage Scale System 6000 is optimized for storing
semi-structured and unstructured data including video, imagery,
text, instrumentation data, etc., that is generated daily and
accelerates an organization's digital footprint across hybrid
environments. With the IBM Storage Scale System clients can:
Expect greater data efficiencies and economies of scale with
the addition of IBM FlashCore Modules (FCM), to be incorporated in
1H 2024:
- New maximum capacity NVMe FCM will provide capacity efficiency
with 70% lower cost and 53% less energy per TB vs. IBM's previous
maximum capacity flash drives for IBM Storage Scale
System.3 This can help clients realize the full
performance of NVMe with the cost advantages of Quad-level Cell
(QLC).4
- Powerful inline hardware-accelerated data compression and
encryption to help keep client data secured even in multi-user,
multi-tenant environments.
- Storage Scale System 6000 with FCM will support 2.5x the amount
of data in the same floor space than the previous generation
system.5
Accelerate the adoption and operationalization of AI
workloads with IBM watsonx:
- Engineered with a new NVMeoF turbo tier, new parallel
multi-tenant data isolation and IBM patented computational storage
drives, this is designed to provide more performance security and
efficiency for AI workloads.
- Storage Scale software, the global data platform for
unstructured data that powers the Scale System 6000, connects data
with an open ecosystem of multi-vendor storage options including
AWS, Azure, IBM Cloud and other public clouds, in addition to IBM
Storage Tape.
Gain faster access to data with over 2.5x the GB/s
throughput and 2x IOPs performance of market leading
competitors6:
- High-processing throughput and access speed with multiple
concurrent AI and data-intensive workloads that can be run to meet
a range of use cases.
The Benefits of IBM Storage Scale in Applied AI at the
University of Queensland
The University of Queensland (UQ) is
a world-class research institution that has significantly
accelerated a wide range of workloads providing faster access to
data and improved efficiency and capabilities using the IBM Storage
Scale global data platform and IBM Storage Scale System. Examples
of some of the research where IBM Storage is used include applied
AI for the characterization of neurodegenerative diseases and in
the search for more effective and flexible vaccine
technologies.
"With our current Storage Scale Systems 3500, we are helping
decrease time to discovery and increase research productivity for a
growing variety of scientific disciplines. For AI research
involving medical image analysis, we have decreased latency of
access by as much as 60% compared to our previous storage
infrastructure. For genomics and complex fluid dynamics workloads,
we have increased throughput by as much as 70%," said Jake
Carroll, Chief Technology Officer, Research Computing Centre, The
University of Queensland,
Australia. "We get all the benefits of a high-speed parallel
file system inside our supercomputing resources with the data
management transparency and global data access that the IBM Storage
Scale software provides."
Carroll added, "IBM's Storage Scale System 6000 should be a
gamechanger for us. With the specs that I've seen, by doubling the
performance and increasing the efficiency, we would be able to ask
our scientific research questions with higher throughput, but with
a lower TCO and lower power consumption per IOP, in the
process."
Accelerating AI with the IBM Storage Scale System and NVIDIA
Technology
The Storage Scale System 6000 has the ability to create an
information supply chain from an NVIDIA AI solution to other AI
workloads independent of where they are located. IBM's new NVMeoF
turbo tier has been engineered for small files like those collected
from remote devices or to provide access to smaller transactions
like data lake or lakehouse analytics so they can be integrated
into an NVIDIA solution.
The Storage Scale System 6000 supports NVIDIA Magnum IOTM
GPUDirect® Storage (GDS) with a direct path between GPU memory
and storage. It has also been designed to increase performance with
data movement IO when GDS is enabled. Utilizing NVIDIA
ConnectX-7™ NICs, the Scale System 6000 supports up to
16 ports of 100Gb RDMA over Converged Ethernet (RoCE), 200Gb/s
and/or 400Gb/s InfiniBand, or a combination of both to increase
performance between nodes or directly to NVIDIA GPUs. To learn more
about how IBM Storage can accelerate access and provide a global
data platform with NVIDIA AI solutions, visit
https://www.ibm.com/storage/nvidia.
For more information on IBM Storage Scale System, please visit
our website here.
Clients can select the level of desired support at the time of
sale through IBM Expert Care with a choice between Basic and
Advanced tiers. Read here for more.
Statements regarding IBM's future direction and intent are
subject to change or withdrawal without notice, and represent goals
and objectives only.
About IBM
IBM is a leading provider of global hybrid cloud and AI,
and consulting expertise. We help clients in more than
175 countries capitalize on insights from their data, streamline
business processes, reduce costs, and gain the competitive edge in
their industries. More than 4,000 government and corporate entities
in critical infrastructure areas such as financial services,
telecommunications and healthcare rely on IBM's hybrid cloud
platform and Red Hat OpenShift to affect their digital
transformations quickly, efficiently, and securely. IBM's
breakthrough innovations in AI, quantum computing,
industry-specific cloud solutions and consulting deliver open and
flexible options to our clients. All of this is backed by IBM's
long-standing commitment to trust, transparency, responsibility,
inclusivity, and service.
Visit www.ibm.com for more information.
1 Gartner disclaimers: Gartner, Magic Quadrant
for Distributed File Systems and Object Storage, 19 October 2022, Julia
Palmer, et. Al. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product
or service depicted in its research publications, and does not
advise technology users to select only those vendors with the
highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications
consist of the opinions of Gartner's research organization and
should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims
all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this
research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness
for a particular purpose.
GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark, and MAGIC
QUADRANT is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its
affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and are used herein with
permission. All rights reserved.
2 The performance considerations were obtained by
running sample programs in a controlled environment with standard
hardware/software configurations and testing procedures.
Performance for IOPs is obtained using non protected tier for
capability supported via special request. Since performance varies
with configuration, program characteristics, and other installation
and environment factors, results obtained in other operating
environments may vary. IBM® does not represent, warrant, or
guarantee that a user will achieve the same or similar results in
the user's environment.
3 Capacity efficiency improvements based on comparison
of new 38TB Flash Core Modular (FCM) drives with up to 2:1 inline
compression vs. previous 30TB max capacity drives. Cost per
TB based on standard list price of drives (list pricing available
upon request) and energy usage based on specification of drives
(https://www.ibm.com/downloads/cas/JBVQYVXB).
4 Adshead, A. (2023, March
14). QLC edges into mainstream, but what are its advantages?
ComputerWeekly.com.
https://www.computerweekly.com/feature/QLC-edges-into-mainstream-but-what-are-its-advantages
5 The 4 rack unit Storage Scale System 6000 capacity is
based on a configuration using the 38PB FCM drives with up to 2:1
inline compression supported in 1H 2024 with 900 TB / rack unit of
floor space vs previous generation 2 rack unit Scale System 3500
using 30TB Flash drives with 360 TB / rack unit of floor space.
6 The performance considerations were obtained by
running sample programs in a controlled environment with standard
hardware/software configurations and testing procedures.
Performance for IOPs on IBM Storage Scale System 6000 is obtained
using non protected tier for capability available via special
request. Competitor comparisons are extrapolated from publicly
available information comparing market leading vendors/competitors
defined by Gartner magic quadrant
(https://community.ibm.com/community/user/storage/blogs/david-wohlford1/2022/10/21/ibm-is-a-leader-in-2022-gartner-magic-quadrant)
Since performance varies with configuration, program
characteristics, and other installation and environment factors,
results obtained in other operating environments may vary. IBM®
does not represent, warrant, or guarantee that a user will achieve
the same or similar results in the user's environment.
Media Contact
Alexandra
Demetriades
Alexandra.Demetriades@ibm.com
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SOURCE IBM