I.B.M. Returns to the Storage = Market - Bits Blog

September 9, 2008, 4:01 = pm

I.B.M. Returns to the Storage Market

You would be forgiven for thinking that after I.B.M. sold off its = storied=20 disk drive business to Hitachi in 2002 for $2 billion, Big Blue was out = of the=20 storage business. Not so, I.B.M. said at the time, we=E2=80=99re just = getting out of the=20 low-margin hardware side of storage, disk drives. But most people,=20 understandably, watched the deal and the heritage =E2=80=94 I.B.M. was a = pioneering=20 innovator in disk drive technology =E2=80=94 being sold off to the = Japanese.

On Monday, I.B.M. trotted out a series of new computer storage = products and=20 services that it says are the culmination of $2 billion in investment in = the=20 last few years, in a string of acquisitions and the labors of 2,500 = I.B.M.=20 researchers and developers. It was a cluttered bulk announcement, with = what the=20 company called =E2=80=9C30 new and upgraded information = infrastructure technologies=20 and services unveiled.=E2=80=9D

The announcement presented I.B.M.=E2=80=99s vision, and marketing = pitch, for data=20 center storage in the next wave of Internet computing =E2=80=94 all the = data created by=20 e-mail, wikis, blogs, social networking, video (from YouTube-style = entertainment=20 to police surveillance), all the user-generated content in companies. = Much of=20 this involves Web-based services, delivered from the computing = =E2=80=9Ccloud=E2=80=9D =E2=80=94 modern,=20 flexible data centers =E2=80=94 to consumers and corporate = customers.

=E2=80=9CTo support the cloud and rich content delivered in an = efficient way to=20 consumers is going to require a massive set of changes,=E2=80=9D said = Andy Monshaw,=20 general manager of I.B.M.=E2=80=99s storage group.

The early customers for I.B.M. new-age storage offerings, Mr. Monshaw = said,=20 will include Internet companies, banks and insurance companies,=20 telecommunications companies, retailers and government agencies.

=E2=80=9CThis is I.B.M. saying we=E2=80=99re in this business and = trying to present an=20 approach that makes sense of all this complexity,=E2=80=9D said Roger = Kay, president of=20 Endpoint Technologies Associates, a research firm.
The I.B.M. storage = move is=20 part of its larger strategy, announced a few months ago, which it calls = the New=20 Enterprise Data Center, which includes servers, energy management and = automated=20 management.

=E2=80=9CThis is not a single product, but a collection of things, a = theme,=E2=80=9D said=20 Clay Ryder, president of the Sageza Group, a research=20 firm.