Originally posted by: TonyPearson

Next week, May 11-15, I will be in Las Vegas, Nevada for the [IBM Edge 2015 conference], covering IBM System Storage, z Systems and POWER Systems. Is this your first time going?

We have sold out, with over 6,000 registrants, that is way more than the 4,200 we had last year. If this is your first time to Edge, then I thought I would get some of my colleagues to help set some expectations.

So, I asked several of my colleagues a few questions, to help provide a variety of viewpoints. Here were my questions:

• What should new attendees expect at Edge?
  
  
• What are the trends that IBM is focused on? How is IBM differentiating themselves in the marketplace?
  
  
• Why does it matter to our attendees? What's in it for them?
  
  
• What is the call to action for my readers?

What should new attendees expect at Edge?

"IBM Real-time Compression technology is field-proven and allows seamless scaling as demand for data storage capacity expands. The wave of new applications and data flowing from systems of engagement create a data management challenge. With Real-time Compression, which compresses data in-line and can store up to five times more data in the same physical space, IBM can help to address these challenges. Compression performance is optimized for enterprise-level and cloud workloads. Expect some exciting announcements in regards to this technology!"

-- Ori Bauer,
Director, WW Development and IBM Systems Israel Development Center

"They should expect Demonstrations and Exhibits! One featuring the capabilities of the FlashSystem V9000 through its slick and easy to use graphical user interface. The other featuring breakthrough technology from IBM Almaden Research.

A 'Digital Rack' introducing five configurations of the FlashSystem V9000 and 900 models that address five pain points customers face. A FlashSystem V9000 module showcasing its rich Tier-1 storage features and virtualization capabilities. A full rack / full configuration FlashSystem V9000 deployment illustrating over two Petabytes (2 PB) effective capacity."

-- Bill Bostic
Manager, FlashSystem Development and Exploitation

"The attendees can expect to see how the IBM DS8870 leadership allows clients to achieve the most value from the latest generation of IBM Mainframe, the z13!

Together, the DS8870 and z13 deliver end-to-end FICON speeds using 16Gbps Fibre Channel. These faster links have industry leading reliability as they are protected by new IBM-led standards to make 16 GB FC 300x more reliable. Using z Systems High Performance FICON (zHPF) protocols, DB2 utilities and Log writes can be reduced by up to 68 percent at 100 KM distances and 7 percent at machine room distances. This capability complements the GDPS and TPC-R HyperSwap function for continuous availability by mitigating the distance penalty when the secondary disks are in a send site up to 100 KM away.

Along with better performance and reliability the DS8870 extends the autonomic I/O management function of the z/OS work load manager into the SAN fabric with Fabric I/O Priority Management. For write operations the fabric priority is applied to the Metro Mirror traffic to provide a consistent policy across FCP and FICON sharing the same ISLs."

-- Harry Yudenfriend,
IBM Fellow, Storage Development

"There will be a VersaStack demo at the Cisco booth in the solutions center. There will be a client and IBM Business Partner giving testimony to the value of VersaStack."

-- Eric Stouffer
Director, IBM Storwize Business Line Executive

"Attendees can expect technology previews of exciting new features, like a highly flexible active-active solution for Storwize, next generation of cloud management integration technology for VMware, providing policy-based storage controls to cloud infrastructures that can take full advantage of advanced storage system features, and for integrating cloud storage into your traditional storage infrastructure."

-- Tommy Rickard,
Director, IBM Systems Development, United Kingdom

What are the trends that IBM is focusing on?

"Accelerating applications. The IBM FlashSystem 900 is designed for uncompromising performance, macro efficiency and enterprise reliability.

Radically improving data center efficiency, economics, and performance by exploiting the rich set of FlashSystem V9000 features including virtualization, dynamic tiering, real time compression, thin provisioning, snap shots, cloning, replication, high availability, with the performance of FlashSystem technology."

-- Bill Bostic
Manager, FlashSystem Development and Exploitation

"VersaStack Integrated Infrastructure Solution combines Cisco Network MDS & Nexus, Cisco UCS compute, and Storage with IBM Storwize V7000K, with Cisco UCS Director for single point of management, to address one of the most rapidly growing markets. Storwize improves integrated infrastructure in three key ways - 1) by virtualizing storage to transform utilization, including older or other less capable storage; 2) optimizing speed and cost of devices automatically using EasyTier; 3) squeezing the most data in to the least space with no performance penalty using real time compression. No other integrated infrastructure from the likes of Dell, HP or Oracle has the value of VersaStack."

-- Ian Shave,
Global Business Unit Executive for VersaStack & BD&A, IBM Storage

"Increasing performance of ethernet networks, especially in new cloud deployments, that increases the importance of iSCSI as an enterprise, high-performance storage network. IBM provides rich support for iSCSI and is continuing to invest in this area. Increasing dominance of cloud infrastructures, including private, hybrid, and public forms, that is driving the need for delegated policy-based management to take advantage of storage system features for the software defined environment. IBM provides the most mature, capable, and flexible storage infrastructure, with leading integration into Openstack. VMware and other key cloud infrastructures. Increasing opportunity for Cloud storage to satisfy traditional storage needs."

-- Tommy Rickard,
Director, IBM Systems Development, United Kingdom

Why does it matter to our attendees? What's in it for them?

"Leading the way in helping the industry and clients exploit flash technology. IBM FlashSystem 900 is the acknowledged technology for application acceleration. That foundation is extended in the FlashSystem V9000 with a rich set of features to enable replacement of disk in the data center. The IBM Data Engine for NoSQL, released last year, uses FlashSystem technology to leverage flash as memory. Now, IBM will be demonstrating the next step to expand to exploitation of flash beyond flash as memory. This technology will dramatically expand flash applicability for NoSQL use cases. It will simplify storage management and accelerate node recovery, while dramatically improving availability and reliability.

Flash technology promises the advantages of better performance, better economics, and better environmentals. More important is the opportunity to radically reshape IT and the ability to deliver new customer value. IBM R&D is focused on delivering leading edge extensible technology as well as blazing the trail to enable the industry and customers exploit it. "

-- Bill Bostic
Manager, FlashSystem Development and Exploitation

"The end-to-end value that only IBM can provide improves resilience, lowers costs and is better able to handle the demands of the emerging Cloud, Analytics, Mobile and Social (CAMS) workloads."

-- Harry Yudenfriend,
IBM Fellow, Storage Development

"Integrated infrastructure speeds time to value with much of the integration and customization laid out in a recipe called a Cisco Validated Design (CVD). This saves time and money for clients and partners. It also provide confidence for these clients in the implementation and use in their environments. Cisco provides a single solution support offering for VersaStack, too, simplifying the technical support for clients and partners."

-- Eric Stouffer
Director, IBM Storwize Business Line Executive

"Cloud architectures are driving the technical agenda for infrastructure. Many clients are making use of cloud technologies, either to satisfy storage needs using public cloud, or to streamline their processes using private cloud. The largest clients, such as some financial clients, are building new data centers modelled on cloud infrastructure, and the growth of cloud investment is defining the technical agenda for these installations."

-- Tommy Rickard,
Director, IBM Systems Development, United Kingdom

What is the call to action for my readers?

"Come to the demonstrations and exhibits at the Solution Center, which runs Monday lunch to Wednesday lunch, including Monday and Tuesday night receptions! This will be your opportunity to see these solutions live, and get to talk to the experts about them."

-- Bill Bostic
Manager, FlashSystem Development and Exploitation

"Check out my session cSY1467: DS8870 Exploitation of the z13 and z/OS I/O Enhancements, which I will present twice on Tuesday.

In the mean time, read the latest IBM Redpapers: [Enhancing Value to Existing and Future Workloads with IBM z13 (REDP-5135)] and [Get More Out of Your IT Infrastructure With IBM z13 I/O Enhancements (REDP-5134)], or watch our latest videos on YouTube: [DS8870 and z13 FEC Demo] and [IBM DS8870 and z Systems]."

-- Harry Yudenfriend,
IBM Fellow, Storage Development

"See the VersaStack demo, go to the various sessions on VersaStack, some of which from IBM and the others from Cisco, visit the [IBM on VersaStack" and/or [Cisco on VersaStack] web sites for more information, or watch the YouTube video [New VersaStack Solution by Cisco and IBM]. If you are seller or IBM Business Partner, find a VersaStack Academy near you for more detailed education in person with experts from IBM and Cisco."

-- Ian Shave,
Global Business Unit Executive for VersaStack & BD&A, IBM Storage

If you didn't get into Edge, we are going to have a LiveStream of some of the keynote sessions on our [Digital Event Center] that you can watch from the comfort of your home or office. Go to the [Registration page] for details.

I arrive this Sunday afternoon. If you see me, stop and say "Hi!"

technorati tags: IBM, #edge2015, #ibmedge, #ibmstorage, Ori Bauer, William Bostic, Bill Bostic, Harry Yudenfriend, Real-time Compression, FlashSystem, FlashSystem 900, FlashSystem V9000, DS8000, DS8870, z13 System, IBM Mainframe, FICON, zHPF, Fabric I/O Priority Management, NoSQL, IBM Almaden Research, Solution Center, VersaStack, Storwize, Tommy Rickard, Eric Stouffer, Ian Shave