IBM XIV STORAGE SYSTEM Supplementary Manual page 6

The XIV system is designed to comprehensively tackle each storage TCO factor, in
multiple ways, as delineated below:
Backup/Restore
 Snaps with no
performance impact
 Differential snaps
 VSS support
 Simple migration
 Consistency groups
Acquisition
 Single-tier architecture
 Commodity hardware
 Lower hardware costs
 Just-in-time purchasing
 Efficient thin provisioning
 Optimal capacity use
 All key aspects scalable
 All software included; no licensing
Figure 2: How XIV storage reduces TCO
The result is that the XIV system succeeds in dramatically improving each TCO factor
(with the exception of fixed factors, such as hardware maintenance) while other storage
systems typically focus on reducing only one or two cost factors. For example, even if a
system's upfront cost is largely discounted, its TCO will still be high due to ongoing
administration and maintenance costs; a system with improved performance often has
higher environmental costs.
By taking a balanced and comprehensive approach to reducing all cost factors, the XIV
system succeeds in dramatically reducing TCO where other systems fail.
Copyright IBM Corporation 2009
Environmentals
 Reduced power and cooling
 Minimized space footprint
Downtime
 Less hardware to fail
 Integral UPS
 Less human intervention
 Easy to monitor
 Rapid self-healing and scrubbing
 All components redundant
 Free and flexible volume replication
3
TCO Reinvented
Administration
 Fast deployment
 Simplified storage
management
 Space reclamation
 Self-tuning
 Rolling upgrade
 Transparent scaling with
no hidden costs