Without knowing how much storage is being used, where it is used, and who is using it, IT cannot effectively allocate storage resources.

By Sean Derrington

Managing storage resources has never been more challenging or critical. After all, storage is growing at an estimated 60 percent or more annually for the average company, even as storage utilization rates remain at an alarmingly low 30 to 40 percent. At the same time, storage resources are often spread across multiple geographic sites as well as virtual environments, making end-to-end visibility difficult.

IBM's sale on tape library configurations is so good, you'll think you're on a game show.

By Chris Smith

There is nothing like a sale to get your juices flowing, but for the sale to be exciting, it has to be on something you need and want.

Let's say, for instance, that you've been dreaming about something really sweet-- something like a tape library storage solution! This could be your lucky day, because, through June 10, IBM is having a sale on specially configured tape library packages.

Though a real cloud is a bit amorphous, cloud computing has several specific elements.

By Chris Smith

There has been a lot of talk recently about cloud computing, and with the PowerVM virtualization engine being released with the Power 520 and 550 Express models, the IBM i world is moving ever closer to the day when IBM users will have the benefits of cloud computing.

The System i has been at the forefront of virtualization for a long time. Now it's time for the platform to adopt some new virtualization tricks.

By Kurt Thomas

You use virtualization every day. One of the core concepts of the System i is virtualization: the use of a simulated CPU, implemented as the TIMI interface, originated in the System/38. Other virtualization and associated concepts, such as single-level storage, have formed the platform from its conception to the present and will continue to shape it.

System virtualization just got a whole lot easier.

By Tony Erwin and Dan Moravec

Virtualization is one of the most discussed topics in enterprise management today. The promises are great, but the prospect of managing the technology can be daunting to systems administrators. Those scared to jump into the world of virtualization can rest easier with the release of IBM Virtualization Manager 1.2. IBM Virtualization Manager is an extension to IBM Director that allows users to discover, visualize, and manage both physical and virtual systems from a single console. It provides a Web-based user interface that you reach via a well-known port on a running IBM Director server. Ease of use was one of the top priorities during development, and that attention to user needs can be seen in such features as these:

IBM announces new 3-D technologies that promise to reduce costs and help better manage energy resources.

By Chris Smith

One of the greatest compromises humans have had to accept (other than our inability to fly) is having to watch replicated images in two dimensions (i.e., pictures, movies, and TV).

For some reason, which may date back to the Spanish Inquisition and threats of expressing our deeper beliefs, we have told ourselves that two-dimensional images are just fine and, if we could just see them in color, or just see them a little sharper, then we would feel quite happy-perhaps even blessed.