Nirvanix To Supply IBM’s High-End Cloud Storage
A five-year OEM deal with Nirvanix gives IBM’s a cloud service that will enable ubiquitous access to data
IBM, looking for a partner to supply its enterprise cloud storage service for at least the next few years, has completed its exhaustive vetting process and announced the selection of Nirvanix for the job.
Under the terms of the five-year OEM deal, IBM will incorporate the storage service with its own cloud to enable enterprises to upload a file of any size, from anywhere in the world, and access it from anywhere.
Ubiquitous, Flexible Access To Data
Automatic file update capability is also built into the Nirvanix service; whenever a file is changed anywhere in the Nirvanix cloud, it is replicated in every other instance throughout the worldwide system. Current practice for most services is to upload the same file multiple times in multiple regions and impose strict file size limitations. When changes are made to a file, they are not reflected automatically anywhere else.
This new feature is designed to provide users with continuous access to data at multiple, redundant locations for optimal performance and business continuity, IBM said. By integrating Nirvanix’s storage into its SmartCloud, IBM said its enterprise cloud storage now will be able to provide an efficient service that can support millions of users, billions of objects and exabytes of data.
All of Nirvanix’s carrier-class data centres are fully redundant, including diesel generator power backups and UPS to maintain full power at all times – even during rolling blackout periods – to ensure the company’s data centres are running 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
“This is a huge deal for us. It indicates that we are truly enterprise-grade,” Nirvanix vice president of Marketing Steve Zivanec told eWEEK. “IBM looked at a multitude of companies, from start-ups to established companies, and they acknowledged that the technology they required was necessary to service the enterprise.
“They picked us for a number of technical reasons, but the biggest overall reason was that we have the experience with these massive-scale, business-critical production environments. We’re talking about customer with 500, 600 terabytes or two or three petabytes of data for a single customer. Others don’t know what they don’t know, because they haven’t been there.”
Reaching For The Moon
Nirvanix’s cloud storage services offer the advanced, production-grade cloud storage capabilities that are built on experience with hundreds of enterprises, said Jan Jackman, IBM vice president of Global Cloud Services.
“The company’s presence and strong adoption in leading Fortune 500 corporations makes its cloud storage technology ideally suited to IBM’s global customer base,” Jackman said.
In 2009, as NASA began looking for potential sites for new moon bases, the space agency selected Nirvanix to hold and protect thousands of digital images that were used in mapping the moon.
Nirvanix was the archiver of new high-definition digital photos of the moon that transmitted from NASA’s Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), Nirvanix is currently storing a large number of 2GB-size photos transmitted from the moon.
No specific date was given about the availability of the new Nirvanix services in the IBM cloud, but it is expected that they will become available early in 2012.
