IBM Spectrum Virtualize Previous Solutions

MD
Senior Systems Engineer at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

We have looked at Hitachi Data Systems products and HP's product line, but it is ageing and old. In 1998, I worked for the U.S Department of energy with a couple of federal people and myself. We architected a solution that essentially matches what most people do today, except that it's moving into the cloud. All current data centers use a similar design and architecture that we conceived back in 1998 and implemented using IBM's. It wasn't called spectrum virtualize; it was called San volume controller, and it still is. It is the same in that sense as it was back then, but it's grown tremendously in capability and functionality. We chose it at the time because it did what we needed it to do. We did not want to be constrained by having to purchase storage from one single vendor. We wanted to be able to purchase from IBM, EMC, Hitachi data systems, HP; whoever we felt at the moment had the best price and product, we want them to be able to purchase it without disruption.

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it_user672432 - PeerSpot reviewer
Media Storage Services Manager at a media company with 5,001-10,000 employees

We were using something very similar previously. It was competitor unit that was a little bit more complex. It did some of the same things, but it was just a lot more complex in its usability and where we were going with our future storage requirements.

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LH
Solutions Architect at ABF Data Systems, Inc.

Nine times out of 10, customers are looking to invest in a new solution because their previous/existing solution is at the end of life of its existing storage.

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Buyer's Guide
Software Defined Storage (SDS)
March 2024
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CO
Storage/SAN Administrator at a insurance company with 1,001-5,000 employees

We used to have the Shark ESS, where you had to actually go in through their GUI manually to apply and create volumes at that level. You then had to have them mapped. It was more cumbersome and time consuming.

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it_user672423 - PeerSpot reviewer
Storage Administrator at a tech services company with 5,001-10,000 employees

Basically, we had different islands of storage from different vendors. We wanted a product to integrate all of them together. So that is why we found, IBM Spectrum Virtualize, as the product.

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it_user672441 - PeerSpot reviewer
Storage Chief Architect at Unisys

We did a fairly extensive industry search about five years ago, when we were deploying this call initially. We were not using a different product. It was a new offering; Greenfield. We looked at all the major players in the industry and selected IBM.

When selecting a vendor, first the product has to meet future functionality. It needs to have some stability in the industry. It needs to have some past performance proof-points. Our client is somewhat risk averse, so they don't want to be first. That's very important.

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it_user672420 - PeerSpot reviewer
Senior Storage Analyst at a financial services firm with 10,001+ employees

We were using Direct Attached DS8000 before and we switched for scalability.

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it_user672438 - PeerSpot reviewer
Technical Specialist at a tech services company with 11-50 employees

I have had this storage platform for 10 years. I saw the progress of IBM stepping away from conventional hardware storage and going to software. IBM did pretty good research and development on it.

When selecting hardware, I look for technical experience.

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it_user672414 - PeerSpot reviewer
Storage Admin at a financial services firm with 1,001-5,000 employees

We did not use any previous solutions that I am aware of, but this one has been lacking since we first brought it in. It's a wide matrix of considerations. Performance, price, support, availability, and scalability. It's a wide matrix.

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it_user672330 - PeerSpot reviewer
Storage Administrator at a university with 10,001+ employees

It's been a long time now, about twelve years. I forgot about previous solutions.

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it_user694704 - PeerSpot reviewer
Principal Specialist and Solution Consultant at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

Going back to the SVC edition of Spectrum Virtualize, I do not recall any comparable alternative storage virtualisation solution.

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it_user672342 - PeerSpot reviewer
Team Lead for Storage and Backup at a tech services company with 501-1,000 employees

Eight years ago, we had a different product that was not very well designed. It is no longer on the market. It was LSI Storage, but we switched.

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it_user672405 - PeerSpot reviewer
IT Architect at a tech services company with 51-200 employees

I'm not the one who invested in this solution, but multiple clients have invested in it. There were business requirements from a technology standpoint, there was performance that they needed, and there were different degrees of availability that they needed.

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it_user187272 - PeerSpot reviewer
Manager of Infrastructure at a tech services company with 10,001+ employees

No previous competing products. The challenge was to consolidate islands of storage arrays.

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it_user672411 - PeerSpot reviewer
Storage Engineer at a healthcare company with 10,001+ employees

This solution was actually chosen before I got there. I wasn't a part of the decision making. I was a part of the implementation, but not the decision making.

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Buyer's Guide
Software Defined Storage (SDS)
March 2024
Find out what your peers are saying about IBM, DataCore, Dell Technologies and others in Software Defined Storage (SDS). Updated: March 2024.
765,386 professionals have used our research since 2012.