In a nutshell: What is IBM Storage Defender?
In March last year, IBM launched a new product, IBM Storage Defender, IBM has launched a new product that takes a new approach to storage products.
With Storage Defender, IBM is now pursuing a Cyber Resilience approach, which is intended to go beyond the limits of IBM Storage products.
Other manufacturers are already included in IBM Storage Defender portfolio. Others will be added over the course of the year, true to the motto: ‘When everyone contributes their best, it becomes more powerful.
But IBM itself has also integrated a wide range of products into this portfolio that cover various areas of Cyber Resilience:
Protection and Recovery
- IBM Storage Protect Suite
- IBM Storage Protect for Container
- IBM Copy Services Manager
- IBM Storage Defender Data Protect
- IBM Storage Defender Replica
Secure and Discovery
- IBM Storage Virtualize
Recovery and Discovery
- IBM Storage Sentinel
Secure
- IBM Storage Archive
Backup as a Service
- IBM Storage Protect for Cloud
Simplicity and Automation
- IBM Storage Defender Data Management Service
Do you have questions about IBM Storage Protect and licensing?
Andreas Wagener, Head of Data Protection Consulting
Phone +49 172 761 94 15
IBM Storage Defender is designed to enable customers to assemble a customised approach using various products from the Storage Defender portfolio.
The licence challenge
However, this also presents a certain licensing challenge: Different products and manufacturers with their different licence models have to be reconciled. IBM has now opted for a rather atypical approach for storage products.
IBM Storage Defender is licensed according to the subscription model. This is a rental model for services that is familiar from many cloud areas. The customer receives the right to use this product for the duration of the subscription. This can be based on a short-term basis (monthly) or long-term use (1-5 years).
The IBM Storage Defender Data Management Service package is always licensed as the basis. This is the management interface and serves as the central core for linking all other products.
In order to standardise the various metrics (PVU, Backend Terabyte, FrontEnd Terabyte, etc.) , IBM Storage Defender now uses Ressource Units (RU). IBM has transferred the respective metrics to a corresponding number of RUs for each product. Corresponding metrics, as known from Storage Protect, have also been transferred - with the familiar terabyte limits. For example, IBM Storage Protect uses 17 RUs per terabyte for the first 100 TB and only 15 RUs per TB for the next 250 TB.
Customers who already have products in other licence models can continue to use them and integrate the products into IBM Storage Defender.
Exceptions to the rule
However, this does not apply to third-party products, IBM Storage Defender Data Protect and IBM Storage Defender Replica. These can only be licensed via the subscription model.
There is also a trade-up programme for some products, i.e. the customer can transfer the products from the original licence model to the IBM Storage Defender subscription model.
However, the customer must carefully consider whether this makes sense and consult with the respective IBM business partner.
Conclusion
With the subscription model, IBM is taking the path of simplification in order to clear the forest of different models. The fact that this model can be used in parallel with existing contracts simplifies the transition to the new model.
In the near future, we can hopefully expect further simplifications that will increase the transparency of costs. After all, this is also a resilience factor.
