Safely storing massive amounts of data just got easier

27 June, 2017
David Wohlford
IBM

A new Cisco Validated Design offers a cost-efficient on-premises cloud object storage solution. IBM Cloud Object Storage and Cisco UCS Servers are integrated to help clients easily store and manage cloud-scale application data.

Today, as companies take action to drive digital transformation – technologies like cloud, mobile, IOT, social, analytics and cognitive are generating content like we have never witnessed before.  This data is mainly unstructured content such as audio, images, video, scans, social media, office documents, machine, device and computer-generated data. Traditional on-premises storage is not designed or optimized for unstructured content at scale, and is expensive to own and manage, and does not support always-on operations without the addition of other complex technologies. A new storage architecture is needed, one designed to meet the changing needs of 21st-century business. IBM Cloud Object Storage provides the scale and simplicity required to store, manage and access today’s rapidly growing unstructured data in a hybrid cloud environment.

IBM and Cisco are driving even further with an optimized cloud object storage solution adding optimization, simplicity and management savings.   On Monday June 26 at Cisco Live, Cisco’s annual IT and communications conference, IBM announced that companies using Cisco UCS servers can now manage their data-intensive workloads securely and in a cost-efficient manner on premises with the IBM Cloud Object Storage System, now available as a VersaStack Solution for Cloud Object Storage. This pre-validated, tested and supported solution offers modern, flexible storage for unstructured data for use cases such as active archive, backup, content repository, enterprise collaboration and cloud application development.

welcome to versastack solutions for cloud object storage

IBM and Cisco have collaborated to simplify and speed object storage adoption for customers with the VersaStack Solution for Cloud Object Storage. The combination of the Cisco UCS S3260 Storage Server, C220 Rack Servers and Cisco Nexus 9K switches with the IBM Cloud Object Storage System is ideal for data-intensive workloads, supporting IT organizations with an easily scalable solution. The VersaStack portfolio is the only joint solution in the industry that addresses the latest IT trends such as data center modernization, hybrid cloud and software-defined storage.

Customers can use their same on-premises Cisco hardware and server management tools to add IBM Cloud Object Storage to their current IT environments, allowing them to manage their data – from petabyte to exabyte scale – with reliability, security, availability and disaster recovery – all without expensive replication. This new offering modernizes storage access, so that when clients are ready to extend their workloads into a hybrid cloud storage environment, the processing and tools are already in place for them to use their IBM Cloud Object Storage software, in either a private or a hybrid cloud environment.

Backed by a Cisco Validated Design (CVD), which provides guidance on design and deployment of the VersaStack solution for cloud object storage, Cisco customers and channel resellers can repeat the successful approach they have taken with other Cisco-validated solutions and seamlessly add object storage to their IT tool kit. It also simplifies the integration process for Cisco customers, who can now use their existing Cisco purchasing agreements and support structure to implement a flexible IBM Cloud Object Storage environment.

IBM Cloud Object Storage redefines the availability, security and economics of data storage, requiring less storage, power, floor space, personnel and cost than traditional storage options. It complements IBM’s high and medium-performance flash and disk storage options, available for Cisco customers using IBM VersaStack, by providing a different kind of storage environment – one that is built for cloud-native applications; unstructured data like video, audio, image and documents; and archive and other data protection needs.

The VersaStack Solution for Cloud Object Storage joins a growing family of VersaStack solutions jointly developed by IBM and Cisco. VersaStack solutions now have 19 validations (combined CVDs and Redbooks), helping our joint customers to address a wide range of workloads and use cases.

A modern storage approach with versastack solutions for cloud object storage

This fully-integrated on-premises solution on Cisco hardware is also available as a VersaStack Solution for Cloud Object Storage.  Creating storage for native cloud app data, active archives, large file and backup repositories or file collaboration has never been easier. By combining the massive scale that IBM Cloud Object Storage software provides with cost-effective hardware from Cisco, this solution delivers an enterprise scale-out storage architecture that is simple, fast, and extremely scalable.

The ability to safely store massive amounts of unstructured data with simplicity is here. Visit us at IBM Cloud Object Storage to learn more about our breakthrough cloud storage platform, or check out the new VersaStack Design Guide for IBM Cloud Object Storage with Cisco UCS S3260 Storage Server. You can find additional resources on VersaStack at the IBM VersaStack website or on the Cisco VersaStack website — and read more about what IBM is doing at Cisco Live with the hybrid cloud.

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