IBM DCS9900 Storage System Delivers IB Host Connectivity

The IBM System Storage DCS9900 Storage System, supporting Fibre Channel host connectivity, adds Infiniband host connectivity capabilities and a new DCS9900 Model 3S2 Disk Expansion Unit that utilizes high-performance SAS disk drives.

Also new is the addition of a DCS9900 Sleep Mode option that is designed to put ‘idle’ tiers of SATA drives into standby mode. In standby mode, the mechanical head assembly is parked within the disk drive, and the spindle is stopped, saving energy and helping to reduce power consumption within the data center.

The DCS9900 Storage System is designed to help address the storage needs of highly scalable, data streaming applications served by Deep Computing systems, System p High Performance Computing (HPC) systems, Broadcast Video, and System x 1350 Linux Cluster systems.

The DCS9900 Storage System offering now consists of the DCS9900 Controller Model CP2, DCS9900 3S1 SAS/SATA Storage Expansion Unit, and the DCS9900 3S2 SAS Storage Expansion Unit. The DCS9900 controller attaches to the DCS9900 storage expansion units using twenty 3 Gbps SAS v1.0 disk expansion ports.

The DCS9900 Controller Model CP2 attaches to the DCS9900 Model 3S1 SAS/SATA Storage Expansion Units and is designed to scale up to 1,200 disks, providing up to 1,200 terabytes (TB) storage capacity in one DCS9900 controller system. Likewise, the DCS9900 Controller Model CP2 also attaches to the DCS9900 Model 3S2 SAS Storage Expansion Units and is designed to scale up to 320 disks, providing up to 144 TB storage capacity in one DCS9900 controller system.

The System Storage DCS9900 Storage System
attaches to the following host systems:

• Blue Gene and Deep Computing
• IBM System p High Performance Computing (HPC) systems
• Broadcast video applications
• IBM System x 1350 Linux Cluster

Planned availability date: December 5, 2008