IBM Corp. has updated its storage array line up with all-flash versions that offer increased capacities and support for cognitive and other demanding workloads.

IBM announced the original DS8880 storage arrays last year, with a choice of three systems, each of which now has an all-flash variant. The company said in a release the new arrays are designed to provide storage for its mainframe z Systems and POWER mid-range servers.

The DS884F is IBM’s entry-level array, which comes with a 256-gigabyte DRAM cache and up to 154 terabytes of raw flash, and is designed for applications such as running databases, CRM and human resources information systems, ERP and OLTP workloads.

The DS886F is the mid-range system, sporting a 2 terabyte cache and up to 614.4 terabytes of flash, and is designed for a similar variety of workloads and applications as the entry-level array.

Last but far from the least, the DS888F is a high-end system that offers better performance and capacity for jobs such as cognitive systems, machine learning, natural language speech and video processing, predictive analytics and real-time optimization. This beast sports a 2 terabyte DRAM cache and up to a whopping 1.22 petabytes of flash storage.

IBM said the expanded all-flash array line up also provides users with “true high availability.” The company is touting “six nines” or 99.9999 percent uptime, which equates to five seconds of downtime per year.

IBM also took the opportunity to play its “cognitive” marketing card once again, saying the arrays are “ideal for cognitive workloads requiring the highest availability and system reliability possible for mainframe and Power Systems.” Ed Walsh, general manager of IBM’s Storage and Software Defined Infrastructure unit, talked up the cognitive capabilities of the new systems: “In the coming year we expect an awakening by companies to the opportunity that cognitive applications, and hybrid cloud enablement, bring them in a data driven marketplace,” he said in a statement.

The company also claims that the DS8880F arrays are based on “the same fundamental system architecture as the innovative Watson solution.” But they clearly less powerful. IBM Watson uses a cluster of 90 Power 750 systems, each with four POWER7 chips sporting eight cores, making a total of 2,880 cores, and 16 terabytes of RAM. That suggests the DS8880Fs are built on a slimmed-down version of Watson’s architecture. The DS8880Fs also lack the DeepQA software and the Apache UIMA framework that’s found in Watson.

Even so, Scott Sinclair, senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group, said he was impressed with the DS8880F series, especially with its performance gains and the move to offer flash across the portfolio.

IBM said its new arrays will be available starting Jan. 20.

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