IBM Storwize With 16Gb FC Connectivity

IBM Storwize products deliver expanded connectivity, enhanced security, and increased scalability.

Select Storwize family products offer the following new features and functions:

16Gb FC connectivity
SVC Storage Engine Model DH8 and Storwize V7000 Control Enclosure Model 524 support 16Gb FC connectivity with an optional two port 16Gb FC adapter card. Both models support up to four 16Gb FC adapter cards providing a total of eight 16Gb FC ports per SVC engine and eight 16Gb FC ports per Storwize V7000 control enclosure (four ports per node canister).

These offerings fulfill statements of direction found in the following announcement letters:

114-077, dated May 06, 2014, New IBM SAN Volume Controller Storage Engine Model DH8 supports IBM data architecture with enhanced flexibility and performance
114-046, dated May 06, 2014, New IBM Storwize V7000 delivers improved performance, scalability, and efficiency

Encryption
Storwize V7000 Model 524 supports encryption for data at rest. Encryption is performed by the Storwize V7000 control enclosure for data stored within the Storwize V7000 system (the control enclosure and attached expansion enclosures) and does not require the use of special disk drives.

Encryption is enabled through the acquisition of the Encryption Enablement feature.

System scalability
Storwize V5000 systems can scale up to 480 drives with the attachment of 19 Storwize V5000 expansion enclosures. A Storwize V5000 two-way clustered system can scale up to 960 drives.

Disk drives
Storwize family products support the following disk drive options:

6TB 7,200rpm 12Gb SAS 3.5-inch disk drive
1.8TB 10,000rpm 12Gb SAS 3.5-inch disk drive Storwize V3700 and Storwize V5000 only)
1.8TB 10,000rpm 12Gb SAS 2.5-inch disk drive

These drives are dual-port, hot-swappable, and support data transfer rates of up to 12Gb/s when installed in Storwize V7000 Models 524, 12F, and 24F. They support data transfer rates of up to 6Gb/s when installed in all other Storwize models.

Key prerequisites
All items in this announcement require Storwize Family Software version 7.4, or later, or Storwize licensed machine code level 7.4, or later.

Planned availability date

December 12, 2014: All features except as noted below
January 23, 2015: 6TB 7,200rpm 12Gb SAS 3.5-inch disk drive (Machine type 2076 feature number 3305), 1.8TB 10,000rpm 12Gb SAS 2.5-inch disk drive (Machine type 2076 feature number 3544)

The Storwize V7000 Encryption Enablement feature and the Encryption USB Drive Pack feature (Machine type 2076 feature numbers ACE1 and ACEA, respectively) are not available in the following countries: Belarus, Kazakhstan, People’s Republic of China, Russia