IBM, Cisco Team Up On Storage

IBM modified the controller so it can be hosted by Cisco's MDS 9000 Caching Services Module thereby creating a single control point for important features including volume provisioning, data migration, data replication, and point-in-time snapshots -- all directly from the network.

"Customers will gain additional benefits," said Soni Jiandani, marketing vice president for Cisco's Storage Technology Group, "such as the ability to dynamically add or delete storage capacity on demand without having to take devices offline. Essentially, it'll give customers the ability to move data among devices without worrying about what device it's coming from and what device it's going to, and with the best performance possible."

In teaming up, IBM's volume controller represents the intelligent storage while Cisco delivers the multiprotocol -- highly available and offered with intelligent switching capabilities. Jiandani also noted that the package developed by the two companies enables users to copy data across "disparate storage resources."

This story courtesy of TechWeb