HDS Speeds IBM z/OS Applications

Hitachi Data Systems Corporation continues in mainframe storage with new technologies that improve the performance of customers’ mainframe applications.

The company will spotlight the Hitachi Tiered Storage Manager for Mainframe and a mainframe flash storage offering at SHARE 2013, August 11-16, at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston.

The new technologies align with IDC results that in 2012, HDS shipped more storage capacity into mainframe environments than any other supplier (IDC WW Quarterly Disk Storage Systems Tracker, 1Q2013).

"Demand for mainframe attached storage has been strong for much of the past year and a half," said Eric Sheppard, research director, IDC Storage. "In fact, worldwide investments in enterprise storage supporting mainframe environments outperformed the total external disk storage systems market five of the seven most recent quarters tracked by IDC. Hitachi’s long trusted presence within this portion of the market and its continuous investments in storage technologies like Hitachi Tiered Storage Manager for Mainframe are important reasons why the company is shipping so much capacity into this market."

Technologies Speed Mainframe Applications
Hitachi Tiered Storage Manager for Mainframe is a native management product for IBM z/OS and is for Hitachi Dynamic Tiering for Mainframe. The product controls storage service levels for critical mainframe applications and uses Hitachi Dynamic Tiering to automate optimum performance and utilization with tiered storage. Online control of storage service levels helps customers improve their performance, avoid problems before they happen, and drive efficiencies throughout the environment.

Hitachi Tiered Storage Manager for Mainframe is integrated with DFSMS, which is familiar to the mainframe administrator, does not require additional interfaces, and minimizes training. It automates control of application storage service levels through automated tiering policies for application datasets aligned to SMS storage groups or to individual devices. At the same time, it provides reporting and control for ongoing management and monitoring of Hitachi Dynamic Tiering for Mainframe.

Hitachi Data Systems also solidified its mainframe storage performance lead with new mainframe support for the latest flash acceleration microcode enhancements for Hitachi Virtual Storage Platform (VSP) that improve speed flash media performance within VSP. Mainframe performance has been boosted by as much as 26% for reads and 46% for writes with flash acceleration and the Hitachi VSP microcode releases. This complements the Hitachi Accelerated Flash storage and will benefit customers using all-flash volumes as well as those using hybrid configuration with Hitachi Dynamic Tiering automated page-based tiering.