IBM Touts Virtual Storage Optimizer

ARMONK, N.Y. -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced a powerful new solution to help organizations slash virtual desktop infrastructure storage requirements by up to 80 percent, allowing them to take advantage of new cloud computing models at significantly reduced costs while increasing energy efficiency.

The new phase of "cloud computing" gives end-users access to the critical information they need remotely, from any device, anywhere. IBM helps organizations benefit from this new model with its Virtual Infrastructure Access (VIA) services that give end users with internet enabled PCs and other devices the ability to access applications and data through a centrally managed computing environment. Until now, virtual desktop deployments have been hampered by the cost and complexity of managing storage, one of the most expensive hardware components of any virtual desktop environment.

Available beginning today, the new IBM Virtual Storage Optimizer (VSO) solution for VIA directly addresses this challenge, helping businesses further optimize their virtual desktop environments, while saving time and money on storage requirements. Based on an algorithm developed by IBM Research, VSO dramatically reduces the large physical storage requirements associated with storing virtual images. The solution also allows organizations to streamline operations by creating new desktop images in mere seconds or minutes, a process which previously could take up to 30 minutes -- a 75% reduction in the time required to create and deploy new virtual machines. This represents a tremendous operational savings for clients, and allows them to realize more immediate returns on their investments.

"IBM's Virtual Storage Optimizer is a great provisioning component in our virtual desktop infrastructure. The value of the VSO allows us to save money in storage requirements while scaling out our environment. We can deploy a number of fully customized desktops that are created in minutes instead of hours," said Lance Hundt, Computer and Network Support Specialist at Gainesville State College. "Our virtual environment experienced around 80% storage savings. IBM's VSO is a 'no-brainer' for anyone planning to offer a high number of virtual desktops."

In a separate release:

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) announced today that it has entered into a joint development agreement with Taiwans Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI) to further explore "Racetrack Memory," an entirely new approach to solid state memory. Racetrack Memory was conceived by IBM Fellow Dr. Stuart Parkin at IBM’s Almaden Research Center in San Jose, CA.

Racetrack Memory is an exciting and highly innovative concept that builds upon IBM’s significant accomplishments in the research and development of nanomaterials and nanodevices based on the manipulation of spin-polarized electrical current," said Dr. T.C. Chen, IBM Fellow and Vice President, Science & Technology, IBM Research.

In April of this year, IBM announced a milestone in its Racetrack Memory research that could lead to electronic devices capable of storing far more data in the same amount of space than is possible today, with lightning-fast boot times, far lower cost and unprecedented stability and durability. The joint development team, led by Dr. Parkin and ITRI’s Vice President Dr. Ian Chan, will study new materials and structures for Racetrack Memory that could lead to a paradigm shift in storage and memory technologies.

"We expect that our exploration of a wide variety of materials and structures will provide new insight into the dynamics of Racetrack Memory, making possible an entirely new class of information storage devices," said Dr. Ian Chan, Vice President of ITRI. "This could change the design of information processing systems."

IBM Corp.