Smooth Upgradability

Upgrading hardware in the XIV system is seamless, effortless, and non-disruptive, whether the task at hand involves scaling the system or phasing out old components. This capability gives users the opportunity to capitalize on the market's latest technologies.

• Scales to any configuration with no need to reconfigure. The system's single architecture approach enables flexible, cost-effective scaling on an as-needed basis. IT teams can add disk capacity, external bandwidth, and cache and processing power, according to their needs. None of these options is limited by any initial decision taken at Day One. The smallest system can always be upgraded to the largest system with respect to capacity, bandwidth, or performance.
• Automates the transfer of data to new hardware, automatically load-balancing all the data across new and existing hardware When new capacity is added, the system automatically load-balances all current data on old and new hardware by migrating part of the data to the new hardware. This upgrading process is smooth, with no management effort, and fully transparent to hosts and administrators. The XIV system's unique distribution algorithm ensures that only the minimal amount of data is migrated, minimizing performance overhead.
• Designed to capitalize on latest advances in storage component technologies. The system's grid architecture and use of standard components enable the upgrading of components to the most up-to-date technologies, allowing the system to stay current and the enterprise to benefit from the best the market has to offer at any point in time. By incorporating the latest disks and processors, the system offers users the greatest densities and power savings. It also supports a mix of hardware technologies.
• Easily remove out-dated hardware non-disruptively. The system transparently handles phase-out of old hardware, automatically moving data to the new hardware. All hardware upgrade activities can be performed without interrupting production, with the process fully transparent to hosts and administrators. This capability provides a simple and hassle-free way of getting rid of outdated, power-expending and space-consuming hardware.

Smooth sailing! The ancient Greek paradox, "Ship of Theseus," asks if a ship whose planks are replaced one by one stays the same ship or becomes another. Applying the same line of thought to the IBM XIV Storage System, we can replace all system components one by one, and the system will still be considered the original system by the hosts and administrators.