IBM Engages Nirvanix to Supply High-End Enterprise Cloud Storage

Under the terms of the five-year OEM deal between IBM and Nirvanix, IBM will incorporate cloud storage IT that will enable enterprises to upload a file of any size from anywhere in the world and access it anywhere.

IBM, looking for just the right partner to supply its enterprise cloud storage service for the next few years, completed its legendarily exhaustive vetting process and announced Oct. 12 that it has selected Nirvanix for the job.

Under the terms of the five-year OEM deal between IBM and San Diego-based Nirvanix, IBM will incorporate cloud storage IT that will enable enterprises to upload a file of any size from anywhere in the world and access it anywhere.

Automatic file update capability also is built into the Nirvanix IP; whenever a file is changed anywhere in the Nirvanix cloud, it's updated in like fashion in every other instance throughout the worldwide system.

The conventional method now is to upload the same file multiple times in multiple geographic regions and impose strict file size limitations. When changes are made to a file, they are not reflected automatically anywhere else.

Continuous Access to Data With Multiple Options

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 IT 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 centers 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 centers 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 startups 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 customers with 500, 600 terabytes or 2 or 3 petabytes of data for a single customer. Others don't know what they don't know, because they haven't been there."

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 make its cloud storage technology ideally suited to IBM's global customer base," Jackman said.

Nirvanix Helped Map the Moon for NASA

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 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.