With its “ILM Made Simple” offer, Fujitsu Siemens Computers makes it easier for SMEs to implement information lifecycle management (ILM). In the terms of the offer, businesses buying a FibreCAT SX60 or SX80 will receive a free 500 gigabyte SATA hard drive, and those buying a FibreCAT SX88 will receive two 300 gigabyte SAS drives – savings of between 18.5 and 43 percent. This program makes it affordable to keep business information on the most appropriate storage, whether high performance SAS or high capacity SATA disk drives.

Managing the business data explosion with ILM

Especially in small and medium-sized enterprises, data volumes are growing constantly. To manage this growth, Fujitsu Siemens Computers recommends that SMEs use information lifecycle management solutions. With ILM, information is classified according to its business importance or time-sensitive nature, and placed on the most appropriate storage.

From an SME perspective, it is generally sufficient to divide storage media into three classes. Class 1 is fast and offers the highest reliability and availability. Here, SAS hard drives are often the best choice. Class 2 offers high storage capacities for a lower capital outlay. Here, SATA hard drives are the perfect fit. In the third class, automatic tape storage solutions are still the simplest and most affordable media for backing-up and archiving data.

FibreCAT systems to suit every data class

Because ILM stores information in a way that best matches its service level requirements for availability, performance, access speed and service life, a well-designed ILM strategy can help businesses save money. But enterprise ILM products are not designed to meet SMEs’ needs and are often too costly or large for the task. With its FibreCAT SX storage systems, Fujitsu Siemens Computers offers an optimum solution for small and medium-sized enterprises. FibreCAT SX systems allow SAS and SATA drives to operate together in one system – even on the same shelf.

This flexibility means a business uses drives that meet its specific requirements and can reassign information to other storage media easily and inexpensively when needed. The “ILM made simple” offer gives customers three configurations to choose from. If they opt for a FibreCAT SX60, they will receive a third 500GB SATA drive in addition to the two 500GB SATA drives fitted as standard. If they purchase a FibreCAT SX80, they will receive a 500GB SATA drive in addition to the two 300GB SAS drives already fitted to the basic version. And FibreCAT SX88 buyers will get two 300GB SAS drives in addition to the six SAS drives already shipping as standard.
 
FibreCAT TX tape storage systems are the perfect complement to FibreCAT SX online storage solutions. Based on the industry-standard LTO format, these tape systems are ideal for data backups and long-term data archiving. FibreCAT TX models are designed specifically with the needs of small and medium-sized enterprises in mind, while also being exceptionally power efficient and supporting simple, automated operation.

“FibreCAT-supported ILM enables SME businesses to fine-tune their entire storage environment to optimise speed, access times, capacity, availability, cost and data management,” says Sean Haffey, FSC UK’s storage expert. “With the ‘ILM made simple’ programme, Fujitsu Siemens Computers offers all these benefits to small and midsize enterprises.  FibreCAT storage is perfect for easy and inexpensive structured information lifecycle management.”