IBM Assimilates Crimson Hat Storage Expertise Into Personal Storage Enterprise

October 05, 2022, 07:00 AM EDT

IBM, which three years in the past acquired Crimson Hat, is now transferring Crimson Hat OpenShift Information Basis and Crimson Hat Ceph, together with their improvement groups, into IBM Storage as a part of a transfer to make an even bigger play within the software-defined and open-source storage worlds.

IBM Tuesday stated it has absorbed storage expertise and groups from its Crimson Hat enterprise to mix them with IBM’s personal storage enterprise unit as a manner to assist shoppers benefit from the 2 with out requiring additional integration or having to take care of a number of gross sales groups.

IBM is integrating Crimson Hat OpenShift Information Basis with its IBM Spectrum Fusion and can provide Crimson Hat Ceph-based storage applied sciences to its shoppers in a transfer to proceed Huge Blue’s software-defined storage management, stated Brent Compton, senior director of Information Basis for Crimson Hat’s hybrid cloud enterprise.

For IBM, which in mid-2019 acquired Crimson Hat in a $34-billion deal, the transfer ensures most assist for Crimson Hat OpenShift Information Basis and Ceph, Compton informed CRN.

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“OpenShift Information Basis and Ceph will turn into a giant a part of IBM Storage,” he stated. “IBM has been in search of a solution to benefit from Ceph and ODF, and now it could possibly.”

Ceph is an open-source software-defined object storage expertise with interfaces for object, block and file storage. Crimson Hat OpenShift Information Basis is a software-defined container-native storage that gives cluster knowledge administration capabilities as a part of the OpenShift container platform.

Scott Baker, chief advertising officer and vp of IBM hybrid cloud portfolio and product advertising, informed CRN the transfer to mix Crimson Hat and IBM storage applied sciences units the stage for development within the mixed software-defined storage portfolio.

“Clients not solely get a selection of the place storage runs—on the edge, within the cloud, or on-prem—however will discover storage software program releases will now not be tied to the timing of storage {hardware} releases,” Baker stated. “As an illustration, IBM usually enhances its Spectrum Virtualize or Spectrum Scale with new variations of the IBM FlashSystem. However with software-defined storage, we are able to drive adjustments faster in the event that they’re not tied to {hardware} releases.”

By bringing Crimson Hat OpenShift Information Basis and Ceph into IBM, prospects get the chance to entry unified block, file, and object storage with out regard to the precise underlying {hardware}, Baker stated.

“They will use Ceph so as to add the fitting kind of storage relying on the protocol they want,” he stated. “Ceph and ODF additionally simplifies how IBM supplies knowledge storage and safety. To do all that with IBM’s storage portfolio takes time. With CEF and ODF as a part of IBM Storage, this will get finished instantly.”

It truly is the most effective of each worlds, as Crimson Hat prospects will even see robust advantages from IBM Storage, Compton stated.

“It’s vital to notice that IBM will proceed to supply OpenShift Information Basis contained in the Crimson Hat OpenShift Platform Plus hybrid cloud platform,” he stated. “So if a buyer will get pre-integrated OpenShift Information Basis inside Crimson Hat OpenShift Platform Plus, it accelerates their time to market. There’s no must combine the storage. This won’t change.”

Additionally, Crimson Hat OpenShift prospects have used Ceph to speed up their time to scale for years, and Crimson Hat will proceed to promote Ceph, Compton stated.

“However by transferring Ceph to IBM Storage, IBM will speed up improvement of the storage-specific options,” he stated. “Crimson Hat shouldn’t be a storage firm. So this may speed up improvement of unified capabilities.”

IBM’s storage transfer makes good on the potential many noticed with the corporate’s acquisition of Crimson Hat, stated John Teltsch, chief income officer at Converge Expertise Options, a Gatineau, Quebec-based answer supplier and channel accomplice to each IBM and Crimson Hat that ranked No. 36 on CRN’s 2022 Answer Supplier 500.

“That is one thing the channel has been ready for ever since IBM acquired Crimson Hat,” Teltsch informed CRN. “IBM has been doing lots round software-defined storage. And if you add in Crimson Hat, it provides us an built-in options play. It lets us construct an built-in gross sales crew. We don’t must first speak about IBM storage capabilities, after which herald our Crimson Hat crew to speak about Crimson Hat.”

Converge Expertise Companions’ IBM and Crimson Hat gross sales groups are at present two separate groups, stated Teltsch, who joined the corporate in March from IBM, the place he held quite a few gross sales management roles, together with two years as Huge Blue’s channel chief.

“As soon as IBM and Crimson Hat storage are collectively, it will get extra easy to promote,” he stated. “And it simplifies our coaching whereas IBM could have one built-in set of choices for its shoppers. This lets us convey the most effective of Crimson Hat open-source capabilities with IBM storage. We’re dwelling in a data-driven world. This transfer simplifies our go-to-market, in addition to simplifies the shopper expertise, shopper engagement, and shopper adoption.”