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IBM Introduces Petabyte-Capacity 'Storage Tank'

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the just-squash-it-in-there dept.

statikuz writes "Wired is reporting that IBM's new data storage system, codenamed "Storage Tank", uses software to link servers in multiple locations over an IP network, creating a sort of mega-server capable of connecting thousands of computers and processing multiple petabytes of data. 'Storage Tank has the potential to become to an organization's data what the Dewey Decimal system is to a library,' said Dan Colby, general manager of storage systems at IBM. 'It reinvents the way information is filed, managed, shared and accessed within an organization.' CERN is currently using a beta version of the system to store data from the Large Hadron Collider particle accelerator, which is being used to recreate the first moments of the Big Bang. IBM expects Storage Tank eventually will be able to handle 10 to 20 terabytes of CERN data. Get your own 'starter configuration' for only $90,000!"

5 of 208 comments (clear)

  1. Dewey decimal? by chennes · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Quote:
    "Storage Tank has the potential to become to an organization's data what the Dewey Decimal system is to a library"

    Strange that he compares it to a system that few libraries use anymore. Yes, it revolutionized cataloguing. Right before it became obsolete (because it cost too much).

    Not too long ago Slashdot reported on the owners of the Dewey Decimal system suing a hotel in New York for using it as the theme for their room numbering. How long until IBM starts suing everyone with a storage tank?

  2. Re:Terabytes or Petabytes? by JDevers · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I'm betting that SHOULD be 10 to 20 petabytes. 10 to 20 terabytes isn't actually all that much, Maxtor has 300 gigabyte drives out. A very simple array could be built that is easily 10-20 terabytes.

  3. Storing Data on Beta Technology by Manhigh · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Hope they have lots of backup. Of course, how do you backup a system like this?

    --
    "Open the pod by doors, Hal" > "I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave" sudo "Open the pod bay doors, Hal" > alright
    1. Re:Storing Data on Beta Technology by SammyTheSnake · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Hope they have lots of backup. Of course, how do you backup a system like this?

      Backup isn't a concern. Think about it. The entire setup is 'beta' in that none of it has been done before (or at least on the scale they're working at) nearly everything at CERN is a one-of-a-kind prototype. As it is, they don't have the capacity to store more than a tiny fraction of their annual data output anyway, so even if the entire system got wiped, the proportion of data lost would still be relatively small. At the end of the day, if you're trying to do something that nobody else has done before, you have to consider the whole thing an experiment. One piece of beta software hardly figures in that environment...

      Cheers & God bless
      Sam "SammyTheSnake" Penny

  4. I doubt that's really what he meant! by Eric+Smith · · Score: 1, Insightful
    'Storage Tank has the potential to become to an organization's data what the Dewey Decimal system is to a library,' said Dan Colby, general manager of storage systems at IBM.
    So the Storage Tank is obsolete and irrelevant, like the Dewey Decimal System? In the US, most libraries other than those of K-12 schools have converted over to the Library of Congress system. Possibly at least partially because they have to pay $500/year to use the Dewey Decimal System!