HDS upgrades its mainframe-friendly VSP G1000 enterprise storage array

Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) has upgraded and re-named its Virtual Storage Platform (VSP) enterprise storage array to boost performance and capacity, as well as offering a claimed six-year product lifespan via the ability to replace individual controller components.

HDS has also upgraded its Storage Virtualization Operating System (SVOS) to allow for active-active clusters of VSP hardware across widespread geographical locations.

In the change to its hardware storage platform the existing VSP becomes the Hitachi VSP G1000 with upgraded hardware specs that include: IOPS boosted fourfold to give 4 million IOPS from eight VSP pairs as a result of a move to Intel Ivy Bridge processors; cache doubled to 2TB per controller; connectivity via 192 Fibre Channel ports (up from 176) plus 176 Ficon mainframe ports and 176 Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE).

Overall VSP G1000 capacity grows to 1,152 3.5” drives or 2,304 2.5” drives internally. Its storage virtualisation capability can virtualise other HDS or up to 500 other suppliers’ storage arrays to a theoretical total capacity of 280PB.

HDS claims its VSP devices will double the existing industry standard of a three-year upgrade cycle to six years, which is brought about by the ability to replace controller components without disruption, said HDS EMEA CTO Bob Plumridge.

He said: “At present the internal architecture is not robust enough to allow this, but the VSP G1000 will have boosted capacity and bandwidth much higher than any before.”

HDS’s VSP arrays already have flash capability, which came with the addition of the Hitachi Accelerated Flash storage module to its VSP subsystems in 2012.

Meanwhile, HDS’s Hitachi Storage Virtualization Operating System (SVOS) has also undergone an upgrade, the chief change to which allows for two active-active instances of VSP G1000, to be known as a single Global Active Device.

This is a move from the previous iteration that only allowed active-passive configuration, and is an upgrade based on customer demand, said Plumridge.

He said: “In active-passive setups the passive node is usually only used for disaster recovery, which many customers feel is a waste of resources. With active-active capability in the Global Active Device feature there is totally transparent failover. It’s becoming a requirement for large organisations and looks likely to become mandatory for financial organisations in the Asia-Pacific region.”

Groups of Global Active Devices will be able to be grouped into Virtual Storage Machines, between which customers will be able to migrate data.

Plumridge added that eventually all HDS storage arrays will run the Storage Virtualisation Operating System.

“It’s another step down the road to storage becoming about virtualisation in a cloud environment, and we’re pushing towards that,” he said.