The document discusses how the IBM XIV Storage System architecture and simplified management help reduce total cost of ownership (TCO) for enterprise storage. Key points: 1) The XIV system addresses major TCO factors such as acquisition costs, management overhead, environmental costs and downtime through its single-tier design, use of commodity hardware, thin provisioning, and self-managing capabilities. 2) It offers simple pricing based on cost per terabyte and includes rich software features like snapshots and replication at no extra charge. This contrasts with complex pricing models of other systems. 3) The XIV architecture optimizes capacity utilization through automatic load balancing, space reclamation, and thin provisioning, allowing

1. IBM Systems and Technology September 2011
Thought Leadership White Paper
Driving down enterprise storage TCO
with the IBM XIV Storage System
Architecture and simplified management diminish ownership costs

2. 2 Driving down enterprise storage TCO with the IBM XIV Storage System
Introduction Given the various cost factors involved, it is evident that a thor-
A high-end storage system’s total cost of ownership (TCO) ough TCO assessment should take into account the cost of:
includes more outlays than the obvious ones of box price and
capacity. Taking a holistic look at the factors impacting IT G Buying, implementing, running, cooling and expanding the
budgets over a storage system’s lifetime yields an accurate TCO system.
assessment and, ultimately, a more informed buying decision. G Managing, integrating and testing the system.
G Ensuring the system’s reliability and availability.
The chart below shows a full set of storage cost elements and G Incurring downtime caused by routine maintenance or
their relative impact on a system’s overall cost. unexpected equipment failure.
G Being locked in to a system that uses proprietary components.
Figure 1: Typical storage cost factors G Licensing software at time of purchase and upon each capacity
increase.
Hardware management
3% The IBM® XIV® Storage System series is designed to address
each of the above cost issues. An independent study by ITG has
Backup/restore found that XIV storage can save an organization 69 percent on
23%
TCO over a three year period.1 This paper explains how the
Environmentals XIV system’s unique architecture and approach to storage enable
18%
it to accomplish this feat.
Administration
18%
Acquisition
20%
Downtime
18%

3. IBM Systems and Technology 3
The XIV Storage System: Designed for XIV Storage System: Reducing acquisition
low TCO costs
Designed to deliver high performance and reliability at excep- The IBM XIV Storage System is designed to be cost-efficient in
tionally low TCO, the IBM XIV Storage System series is: aspects related to system acquisition, while delivering consistent,
predictable high performance by its:
G Priced in a simple manner that is based on cost per terabyte,
without additional costs for software features such as differen- G Single-tier architecture, which supports all types of storage
tial snapshots, remote mirroring and thin provisioning. in one environment and makes scaling easy.
G A fully virtualized, self-managed, self-healing system that G Use of off-the-shelf components, making customized hard-
automatically balances loads at all times, optimizing capacity ware unnecessary and allowing the integration of newer, state-
use and minimizing human intervention and error. of-the-art hardware as it becomes available and cost-effective.
G Easily managed through a simple graphical user interface G Innovative use of highly economical disk drives, offering
(GUI) that minimizes storage management overhead. excellent capacity-for-cost value while meeting enterprise
G Built entirely of state-of-the-art, yet standard, cost-effective performance standards.
components that can significantly reduce power consumption. G Built-in thin provisioning, which allows the acquisition and
G Fully hardware-redundant, lowering risk of failure to negligi- installation of additional capacity to be delayed until needed.
ble levels and enabling disks to be added and replaced on the This makes it possible to take full advantage of future hard-
fly without a performance hit or downtime. ware and price-point improvements not currently available.
G A single-tier platform based on a grid architecture, eliminating G Automatic load-balancing, self-healing capability and other
the need to tune and configure the system for each workload architectural features that provide Tier-1 enterprise-level
and reducing management costs. performance while using lower priced disk drives and, ulti-
mately, optimizing usable capacity compared to traditional
The XIV system is designed to comprehensively address each architectures.
storage TCO factor, whereas other systems typically address G Simple price per terabyte and inclusion of a rich set of
only a few elements, at most. The chart on the next page illus- software features such as snapshots, remote mirroring and
trates how the XIV system addresses cost factors to dramatically thin provisioning that are available for all system capacities.
reduce TCO.

4. 4 Driving down enterprise storage TCO with the IBM XIV Storage System
Figure 2: XIV Storage System benefits by TCO category
Hardware management
Automatic hardware monitoring
Quick disk rebuild
Backup/restore
Snapshots with no performance impact Environmentals
Differential snapshots Reduced power and cooling
VSS support Minimized space footprint
Simple migration
Consistency groups
Administration
Fast deployment and migration
Simplified storage management
Easy monitoring
Acquisition Thin provisioning and space
Single-tier architecture reclamation
Commodity hardware Self-tuning
Lower hardware costs Hot, non-disruptive upgrade
Just-in-time purchasing Transparent scaling
Efficient thin provisioning with no hidden costs
Optimal capacity use
All key aspects scalable
Robust software features included
Downtime
at no extra cost
Less hardware to fail
Integral UPS
Less human intervention,
averting human errors
Rapid self-healing and scrubbing
All components redundant
Free and flexible volume replication

5. IBM Systems and Technology 5
Single-tier architecture Commodity hardware
Most IT centers today use information life cycle management Traditional enterprise-class storage systems are usually built
(ILM) and similar practices to cut costs. These efforts involve from proprietary hardware. This typically makes them costly due
multitiering, adding a substantial degree of complexity and cost to the huge investment in their development and version testing.
to system management. A multitier storage solution typically More importantly, the use of proprietary components creates
includes a number of different architectures, each requiring a a built-in rigidity that makes such systems unable or slow to
different kind of expertise. Moving the data between tiers integrate new technologies.
requires effort and planning and involves hardware and operat-
ing expenses for each tier. As each environment grows at its XIV minimizes costs and provides exceptional flexibility by treat-
own pace, equipment must be added to one tier or another. ing hardware as an interchangeable commodity. Built entirely
Since this growth is typically unpredictable, acquisitions are of off-the-shelf hardware components, XIV storage is designed
often not cost-efficient. to integrate the latest disks, motherboards, CPUs, memory,
interconnects and other components. This empowers organiza-
The single-tier XIV architecture eliminates the complexity and tions to capitalize on market advances in capacity and cost while
cost of migrating data from tier to tier and maintaining different meeting their dynamic performance and budget requirements.
architectures for different tiers. It also does away with the cost
of using expensive hardware for higher tier data; in other words, Very high density disk drives
XIV provides Tier-1 performance for data at Tier-2 costs. As Enterprise storage systems are traditionally configured with
such, XIV storage helps organizations curtail and minimize Fibre Channel (FC) drives generally known for speed and relia-
hardware costs while offering the ability to grow at any time, bility and, consequently, high cost. XIV storage, on the other
and only as much as needed. hand, uses only very high density drives that offer three primary
advantages over FC drives: they cost less, they are more energy
efficient and they offer more memory per physical footprint.

6. 6 Driving down enterprise storage TCO with the IBM XIV Storage System
The XIV system’s combination of high density drives with Optimal capacity use
innovative caching, load balancing, massive parallelism and It is commonly recognized that a large amount of a storage
advanced algorithms provides Tier-1 performance, reliability system’s total storage capacity is not utilized. Whether
and availability. economic times are good or bad, that is a troublesome
scenario of capacity waste.
The IBM XIV performance white paper provides more informa-
tion on the XIV system’s high-end performance resulting from XIV storage is designed to optimize capacity use in many ways.
the use of commodity hardware such as very high density drives. These include self-management, ongoing space reclamation
and powerful native features such as thin provisioning and
Built-in thin provisioning differential snapshots, which save space as they are applied. The
Most enterprise systems offer thin provisioning—the ability to XIV system is able to meet the same storage needs as traditional
define a system’s logical capacity which is larger than its physical systems with many fewer net terabytes of capacity. This can
capacity—so as to defer physical capacity purchases. However, in translate into less spending on physical capacity; it also can
many systems this feature has been added to the existing archi- mean fewer outlays resulting from a system that operates with-
tecture, making it harder to manage and of limited scope. out hotspots and without system down-time or performance
degradation during maintenance or scaling.
The XIV Storage System provides thin provisioning as a core
feature of its design, managed at the simple click of a button. Figure 3: Comparison of typical capacity utilization
Organizations can leverage the system’s easy-to-manage thin
provisioning capability to significantly reduce capital and 100%
operating expenses. This allows the organization to postpone
capacity purchases by acquiring physical capacity for only the 80%
total space actually written rather than the total space allocated.
60%
40%
“ Drag-and-drop thin provisioning lets us
deliver new storage volumes while still on 20%
the phone with the user!” 0%
Traditional Tier-1 system IBM XIV system
—International stock exchange, Europe Lost Full Thick Effective
space snapshots provisioning capacity

7. IBM Systems and Technology 7
Self-management: Core to the XIV system’s optimization Hotspot-free: XIV storage is fully virtualized, distributing data
of capacity use is its self-management of data. The system’s automatically and maintaining load balance at all times, without
automated volume distribution mechanism optimizes the use hotspots. The lack of hotspots eliminates the need to reallocate
of capacity across system disks at peak times and regardless volumes to achieve specific performance requirements.
of IT activities, application size or user demand. Its automated
approach to volume distribution, including automated load Hands-free scaling: Whenever new physical capacity is added,
balancing, avoids onerous and error-prone manual allocation XIV storage automatically integrates the new capacity across the
tasks. The system also automatically performs space reclamation, disks and modules and swiftly redistributes the load to maintain
further maximizing capacity use. perfect balance. For more information on IBM XIV volume
distribution and load balancing, see the IBM XIV performance
Differential snapshots (full backup volumes): XIV snapshot white paper.
technology uses a differential implementation, copying only the
data that differs between source and snapshot. This dramatically Instant space reclamation (thin reclamation): Integrating tightly
and efficiently minimizes the space otherwise consumed by with Symantec Storage Foundation and similar tools, XIV
copies and keeps system performance unaffected. storage performs instant space reclamation automatically for
NTFS or VxFS file systems and offers simple management for
In addition, XIV snapshot and replication mechanisms take the leveraging this capability to the fullest. The XIV system recog-
required storage space from a single, general pool. Traditional nizes “zeroed out” space as not being in use; it releases any space
systems typically require the allocation of separate storage pools marked by zeros into the general pool, thus reclaiming it. XIV
for snapshots and replication. The downside to the traditional management tools enable administrators to easily zero out space
approach is that when the pools are from different tiers, spare no longer in use so that the system can automatically reclaim it
space is taken from all over the system, increasing the overhead and allow its reuse. This ability, inherent to the XIV architec-
needed to track where the data resides. ture, allows the system to reclaim more space than traditional
storage systems can, thus making its capacity utilization superior.
More information on the benefits of thin reclamation is available
in the IBM XIV thin reclamation white paper

8. 8 Driving down enterprise storage TCO with the IBM XIV Storage System
Simple pricing Not charging software license fees for this rich set of function-
Simplicity is a key virtue of XIV storage; this simplicity applies ally differentiates XIV storage from the vast majority of systems
to pricing, as well. Buying an XIV system is a simple matter of on the market. Most traditional Tier-1 storage systems have
specifying the desired capacity. complex pricing models that, by nature, inflate system cost
and complicate attempts to assess true TCO. Such enterprise
The XIV Storage System takes a bundled approach to features, storage pricing schemes commonly involve itemized hardware
with every system including the following software functionality and infrastructure costs, itemized license fees for software
built-in, at no extra charge: features—including for their initial purchase, upon capacity
increase and annual license renewals—as well as other software
G Thousands of snapshots fees for version compatibility.
G Remote mirroring
G Storage management Moreover, the XIV system’s native self-healing and load balanc-
G Thin provisioning ing mechanisms spare or minimize the need to purchase periph-
G Self-tuning eral software enhancers, such as performance optimization tools.
G Host attachment kits (HAKs)
G Data migration
G Special host features, such as MS VSS and SCOM support
G Native multipath support of the host operating system “ The 50 percent reduction in utilized capacity
G QoS Performance Classes
and lack of additional licensing costs through
Performance monitoring
the mirrored infrastructure meant we
G
G Consistency groups
also had an impressively low total cost
of ownership to look forward to.”
—Banking institution, Europe

9. IBM Systems and Technology 9
XIV Storage System: Lowering Floor space
environmental costs High density drives offer capacities that are greater than those
The IBM XIV Storage System is an extremely “green,” environ- of disks used by competing systems. This allows XIV customers
mentally advantageous system, offering upfront and ongoing to consolidate and use significantly fewer floor tiles for a given
savings in power, cooling and floor space. These savings are so capacity; on a rack level, XIV systems can provide 161 TB of
substantial that they alone can bring the TCO of XIV storage capacity in the same physical space that competing systems offer
lower than that of a comparable system. 40 or 80 TB.
Power and cooling consumption The Appendix to this white paper provides formulas for
The XIV Storage System can offer power and cooling savings calculating the floor space savings provided by XIV storage
of more than 65 percent over comparable high-end enterprise in a given scenario.
systems.2 There are two primary reasons for substantially lower
power consumption: Savings may also accrue by avoiding costs associated with
IT facility renovations required to accommodate more physical
G Due to its use of high density drives and inherent capacity storage and the related organizational disruption that would
optimization, XIV storage requires substantially fewer drives take place. While these indirect savings are often overlooked
for a given gross capacity when compared to traditional and/or underestimated, the simple fact is that if physical space
systems. is not available, a data center must expand or be relocated.
G High density disks consume less power and emit less heat than
disks used by traditional storage systems. XIV Storage System: Lowering
administration and management costs
The Appendix of this white paper contains formulas that can The XIV Storage System can dramatically reduce storage
be used to calculate the energy saved by XIV storage in a given management effort and related costs by automating performance
scenario. For more information on how XIV reduces power tuning and other traditionally manual management functions.
usage, see the IBM XIV power consumption white paper. This automation can simplify daily administrative tasks and offer
capacity efficiencies that reduce the overall amount of physical
capacity that needs to be managed. With the necessity of exten-
sive training and fine tuning eliminated or reduced, the XIV
“ We’ve shrunk our floor footprint from system’s simplification of storage management brings further
10 tiles down to two… we’re seeing a great cost reductions.
reduction in cooling and power consumption.”
—Leading regional medical center, US

10. 10 Driving down enterprise storage TCO with the IBM XIV Storage System
Less management overhead resize volumes, create storage pools and even take snapshots—in
The XIV Storage System is designed to manage itself as much most cases, a reduction from hours and days to a few minutes or
as possible and be managed with minimal effort. Its easy and less. Training to use the XIV system is also quick. Exceptional
intuitive user interface is an outward reflection of a smart, ease of use helps organizations reduce costs by making storage
efficient and well-structured architecture. administrators more productive and allowing them to focus on
high value tasks.
Easy, rapid deployment and migration
XIV storage obviates the traditional need to intensively plan Simple XIV GUI
the layout of application volumes on physical storage units.
Its automated, optimized approach to volume distribution and
load balancing can significantly reduce storage migration and
deployment time.
“ The XIV data migration was the most
impressive aspect of the whole implementa-
tion phase … the migration ran in the
background, with no perceptible effect on
the performance.”
—Large bank, South Africa
The XIV Storage System’s interface allows managing up to 64 systems with
the ability to define groups.
Simple-to-scale capacity
Adding capacity with XIV storage is similarly seamless. The
The system’s ease of use, in fact, combines with XIV role-based
new capacity is available immediately, without the need to
access and authorization to offer a new IT paradigm in which
reconfigure and without performance degradation.
any staff member, including one without special storage skills,
can provision and manage storage. It is conceivable, for example,
Ease of use
that database administrators might handle provisioning, without
The XIV system’s highly intuitive GUI greatly simplifies day-
external assistance, controlling only those volumes they are
to-day storage administration, enabling most tasks to be exe-
authorized to handle based on role. The XIV system’s ability
cuted in just a few clicks. The result is a dramatic reduction in
to enable lesser skilled personnel to manage ongoing growth
the time required to, among other things, provision storage,
can translate into substantial savings in overall TCO.

11. IBM Systems and Technology 11
Easy monitoring hotspots. In addition, XIV storage maintains optimal
The XIV Storage System dramatically simplifies the monitoring performance, with no need for performance optimizing
and maintenance of system health—including through alerts sent software products.
to select personnel via automated email, SMS and SNMP that
clearly identify a problem and its source. The result is a highly Single-tier platform
transparent system with speedy mechanisms for easily and XIV storage spares IT teams the administrative efforts otherwise
efficiently handling maintenance and issues as they arise. required to support additional architectures or migrate data from
one tier to another in an attempt to keep up with changing
XIV Storage System monitoring needs or trim storage costs.
Unified integrated platforms
XIV storage provides certified, enterprise-proven, no-charge
integrations and high levels of partner support across leading
platforms, applications and storage productivity products.
The ability to integrate with IBM Tivoli, VMware vCenter,
Microsoft SCOM and Symantec CommandCentral, among
other management products, empowers users to monitor
and manage storage end-to-end with a unified interface.
Views of virtualized pools and arrays
System monitoring provides alerts and information that enable users to iden-
tify a problem and its source.
Self-tuning
The XIV system automates performance tuning, removing the
complexities of load balance, location of mirrored data and data
distribution. With XIV storage, consistent high performance is
Used in a VMware vCenter environment, XIV storage provides visibility into
achieved without the need for labor-intensive manual tuning to
virtualized pools and arrays
monitor, reconfigure or rebalance performance or disperse

12. 12 Driving down enterprise storage TCO with the IBM XIV Storage System
XIV Storage System: Reducing downtime engage in the rebuild, keeping the burden on any one disk to the
costs minimum. Furthermore, only the data actually written is rebuilt,
Downtime is expensive. The loss or lack of access to mission- making rebuild time proportional to actual written data.
critical data can harm an enterprise directly and indirectly. XIV
storage is designed to operate continuously over its installed life- In addition, online support is available through IBM 24×7 global
time with no interruption to data access. It keeps data availability support and service, which can:
continuous and minimizes the extent and cost of downtime
through redundant hardware, automated and proactive mainte- G Monitor customer system health
nance and efficient hardware repair with minimal administrator G Alert customers regarding past or imminent issues
intervention. G Offer immediate remote assistance to solve issues
Less failure to manage Reduced intervention and human error
Through ongoing automatic monitoring of hardware and data, The XIV Storage System can further reduce system downtime
XIV storage in most cases can enable detection of imminent by helping prevent human errors that could lead to equipment
failure in time to prevent data loss or data unavailability. The or system failure. Its self-management of volumes can eliminate
system performs data scrubbing continuously, comparing data the traditional need for manual configuration planning—a task
copies and correcting inconsistencies quickly and efficiently. that not only consumes much time, but often increases the risk
System components are redundant and constantly monitored of data unavailability or data loss due to human errors. The
to minimize downtime from physical failure. Upon detecting automatic self-healing feature, which returns the system to full
signs of failure, the system creates a third copy of the data on the data redundancy upon hardware failure, precludes the need to
at-risk disk immediately, and it automatically alerts operations rush to repair a failed component, avoiding the kind of human
personnel. The system is designed for component replacement error that can take place when parts are replaced under pressure
on the fly, without downtime or even a perceptible degradation and at odd hours of the day. Furthermore, XIV storage calls for
in system performance. maintenance tasks to be performed only when the system is fully
redundant, thus helping to prevent data loss caused by human
Should a component fail without warning, the XIV system’s error during maintenance activities, such as removal of a work-
rapid self-healing features can restore complete system ing disk rather than the faulty disk.
redundancy in minutes, without disruption to vital
enterprise functions. High availability and nondisruptive changes
In most enterprise storage systems, planned downtime for data
Should a disk failure occur, the system can complete a disk migration and maintenance is costly—and a major inconven-
rebuild in 60 minutes or less (for a 2 TB drive, with the system ience for the IT team and end users. Minimizing downtime
at 100 percent utilization), with minimal impact on system involves extensive planning. Multiple teams are involved to
service. The system is able to do this since all system disks represent the interests of end users, management, vendors and
service personnel.

13. IBM Systems and Technology 13
Negotiating downtime for maintenance is another inevitable Online code upgrades
source of friction, as maintenance must compete with other, XIV storage allows hot code upgrades and patches within and
higher priority demands. In traditional systems, rolling out a outside a code family. This eliminates the need to schedule
business application may also require system downtime, with downtime, while ensuring ongoing access to application data.
similar costs and conflicts. The capability also allows storage teams to proactively imple-
ment critical fixes rather than wait for scheduled downtime
The IBM XIV Storage System is designed and implemented windows, ensuring continuous availability and preventing
to grow, shrink or change without the need to reconfigure or costs resulting from escalation of issues left untreated.
shut down the system at any time. The administrative headaches
enumerated above have been significantly reduced or eliminated XIV Storage System: Lowering
through the XIV system’s single-tier, constantly balanced backup/restore costs
architecture. With traditional enterprise systems, backup and restore
processes are costly. Traditional backup processes involve
The XIV architecture allows hardware components to be added the writing of full volumes of data onto additional storage
to or removed from a new or existing, operational XIV system space, including the copying of unused space that has never
without downtime. XIV storage provides an easy and seamless been written to.
nondisruptive procedure for component changes with little
management effort and no disruption. Upon any physical The XIV Storage System handles backup by copying only the
capacity change, the system automatically redistributes blocks of data that have actually been written to—it does not
volume data, maintaining full system equilibrium. copy zeroes. In contrast to the high rates of unused space in
legacy systems, the XIV approach greatly reduces the time and
The XIV Storage System’s built-in, redundant UPS units space that backups require and, consequently, the costs involved.
provide ongoing protection against data loss while increasing
reliability by avoiding the wear and tear to electronic and In addition, XIV storage offers logical backup and low-cost
electromechanical parts caused by inevitable data surges. By recovery through thousands of snapshots. This innovative
sparing its hardware parts undue exposure to fluctuating power, mechanism allows organizations to expand and fortify their
XIV storage essentially lengthens the lifespan of these parts, backup practices without necessarily increasing their physical
saving costs by bringing their shelf life closer to their theoretical capacity needs.
lifespan.
XIV storage offers snapshots on demand, with no administrative
overhead or perceptible degradation in system performance.
Thousands of snapshots can significantly reduce storage

14. 14 Driving down enterprise storage TCO with the IBM XIV Storage System
requirements, contributing further to the system’s low overall Appendix: Cost savings formulas
TCO. The efficiency of XIV snapshots and the ease of restore The formulas below enable the calculation of environmental
enable the use of snapshots as a hot backup mechanism at almost savings that can be realized through the use of the XIV Storage
no cost. system. Examples are provided for Fibre Channel drives of dif-
ferent capacities that are typically used by traditional storage
XIV Storage System: Proven TCO savings systems, and in RAID-1 and RAID-5 (5+1) configurations. To
in the field make similar calculations for a RAID-6 (4+2) installation, simply
Analysts have demonstrated that XIV ownership costs are replace the 0.8 coefficient by 0.75.
69 percent lower than those of comparable systems.1 XIV
customer savings echo analysts’ findings, and below are a Floor space savings
few examples of how XIV storage has brought savings to With higher density drives, XIV storage can meet the same
organizations across various industries: needs as competing systems but with fewer drives. To determine
the savings in floor space that can result from using the XIV
Cnam (Education; France): TCO cut by 60 percent—Video system’s high density drives, input values relevant to your storage
Denbury (Chemicals and petroleum; US): Storage administration operation in the formulas below.
down by up to 80 percent
Luxembourg Stock Exchange (Financial Services; Europe): G To compare RAID-1 drives to XIV’s very high density drives,
TCO reduced by 70 percent—Video in English, French use the following formula:
and German % savings in floor space = {1 - (your FC drive capacity) /
Bluewater Power (Energy and utilities; Canada): 60 to 70 percent (XIV system drive capacity)} * 100
reduction in storage provision and management time and
50 percent reduction in rack space For example: Assuming you are comparing your existing 450 GB
drives to the XIV system’s 2 TB (2000 GB) drives, the floor
Conclusion space savings is calculated as follows:
A storage system’s total cost of operation is made up of a com- % savings in floor space = {1 - (450) / (2000)} *
plex blend of obvious and less evident factors. It is critical to look 100 = 77.5%
beyond superficial TCO components, such as initial cost and
power, and consider the indirect factors that incur costs over G To compare RAID-5 drives to the XIV system’s very high
time. The IBM XIV Storage System is designed to reduce both density drives, use the following formula:
direct and indirect costs, among other ways, by making storage % savings in floor space = {1 - 0.8(your FC drive
simple to deploy while keeping data protected from risk and capacity) / 0.5(XIV system drive capacity)} * 100
maintaining high availability.

15. IBM Systems and Technology 15
For example: Assuming you are comparing your existing For example: Assuming you are comparing your existing 146 GB
RAID-5 300 GB drives to the XIV system’s 2 TB (2000 GB) drives to the XIV system’s 2 TB (1000 GB) drives, the power
drives, the floor space savings is calculated as follows: and cooling savings are calculated as follows:
% savings in floor space = {1 – 0.8*(300) / 0.5*(2000)} * % savings in power and cooling = {1 – 0.75(146)/ (1000)}
100 = 76% * 100 = 89%
To calculate your actual savings, multiply the resulting percent- G To compare RAID-5 drives to the XIV system’s very high
age by the real cost of the floor space currently used by your density drives, use the following formula:
storage system. % savings in power and cooling = {1 – 0.75 [0.8(your
drive size)] / [0.5(the XIV system drive size)]} * 100
Your potential savings may be even greater should your data
center be at its physical limits. It should be noted that choosing G To compare 450 GB RAID-5 drives to the XIV system’s 2 TB
XIV storage may allow renovations or relocation to a larger (2000 GB) drives, use the following formula:
facility to be delayed or avoided, saving the expense and disrup- % savings in power and cooling = {1 – 0.75 * [0.8 *
tion of such a change. (450)] / [0.5 * 2000]} * 100 = 73%
Power and cooling savings As noted, to make similar calculations for a RAID-6 (4+2) array,
High density drives are more efficient to operate than Fibre simply replace the 0.8 coefficient in the formulas with 0.75.
Channel drives. The XIV system’s ability to meet the same
needs with fewer drives and through greater efficiency per drive Use your own figures to calculate your potential savings. Apply
creates corresponding cost savings in power and cooling. the percentage that you calculate to your data center’s current
utility bills to understand the significance that these savings can
To determine potential power and cooling savings resulting from have on your annual budget.
replacing your present drives with the XIV system’s very high
density drives, use values relevant to your storage operation in For more information
the formulas below. To learn more about IBM XIV Storage Systems, please contact
your IBM marketing representative or IBM Business Partner or
G To compare RAID-1 drives to XIV’s drives, use the following visit ibm.com/systems/storage/disk/xiv
formula:
% savings in power and cooling = {1 – 0.75 (your drive Additionally, financing solutions from IBM Global Financing
size) / (XIV system drive size)} * 100 can enable effective cash management, protection from technol-
ogy obsolescence, improved total cost of ownership and return
on investment. Also, our Global Asset Recovery Services help
address environmental concerns with new, more energy-efficient
solutions. For more information on IBM Global Financing, visit:
ibm.com/financing

16. © Copyright IBM Corporation 2011
IBM Systems and Technology Group
Route 100
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Produced in the United States of America
September 2011
All Rights Reserved
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1
ITG, Cost/Benefit Case for IBM XIV Systems: Comparing Cost Structures
for IBM XIV and EMC V-Max Systems, International Technology Group
Santa Cruz, California, July 2011
2
IBM Systems and Technology, Driving down power consumption with the
IBM XIV Storage System, IBM, July 2011
Please Recycle
TSW03091-USEN-01