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Terra Industries grows with the IBM Versatile Storage Server S
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A QUARTERLY PUBLICATION FOR IS PROFESSIONALS
B
ased in Sioux City, Iowa, Terra Industries Inc. is a leading pro-
ducer and distributor of nitrogen fertilizer, crop protection
products, seed, and services for a wide variety of agricultural
customersincluding farmers, other professional growers,
and dealers. Terra also produces and markets nitrogen products
and methanol for industrial customers. In fact, Terra is one of the
leading nitrogen fertilizer producers in the world and the largest
producer of nitrogen solutions in North America.
With 4,200 employees in the United States, Canada, and the
United Kingdom, Terra operates approximately 400 farm service cen-
ters, seven nitrogen fertilizer manufacturing plants, and two methanol
manufacturing facilities. Many of these operations are the result of
the companys recent business growth and acquisitions. To help
assimilate all of these new business operations, Terra has turned to a
comprehensive disk and tape storage solution from IBM.
RAPID BUSINESS GROWTH REQUIRES FLEXIBILITY
During the last five years, Terra has experienced tremendous
growththe result of rapid business expansion and a series of
acquisitions. With the new business workload and the addition of
manufacturing plants in Canada and the United Kingdom, the
company found itself having to integrate a wide variety of servers
and workstations into its existing technology infrastructure. The
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S T O R A G E S U C C E S S
www.ibm.com/storage
Terra Industries grows
with the IBM Versatile
Storage Server
Agribusiness consolidates a wide range of server
systems to facilitate rapid growth In this issue:
S T O R A G E S U C C E S S E S
6
CDS manages growth with the
IBM Virtual Tape Server
Significantly fewer tape
cartridges and tape mounts free
up valuable resources
8
Royal Bank of Scotland
marches into the Year 2000
RAMAC Virtual Array 2 Turbo
and SnapShot increase the
efficiency of Year 2000 testing
10
Fulton Bank cashes in with
Magstar technology
A new check imaging system
saves money and improves
customer service
12
Exabyte excels with IBM Serial
Disk Storage
IBM 7133 Serial Disk System
boosts server performance
N E W S
3
Extending the value of
Magstar Tape
The new Magstar 3590 E-Model
boosts performance and increases
tape capacity
5
IBM Fibre Channel RAID
Storage Server
IBM storage solutions lay the
foundation for SANs
T E C H N O L O G Y
4
The emergence of SANs
IBM SAN Initiative provides the
technology and infrastructure to
simplify storage management
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s most of you know all too
well, todays computing envi-
ronment is characterized by an
enormous amount of change.
This is especially true in the storage
industry, which has undergone a
dynamic transformation in recent
years. At IBM, we realize the neces-
sity of change and have taken bold
steps to ensure we continue to pro-
vide the types of solutions our cus-
tomers need and want.
One such solution is Storage
Area Networks, or SANs. We re-
cently articulated our SAN stra-
tegy in the IBM SAN Initiative,
which you can read more about on
page 4 of this newsletter. SANs
require a fully integrated storage, networking, software, services, and server
strategy. Through decades of experience in these areas, IBM is uniquely posi-
tioned to provide the range of business and technology expertise required to
successfully implement SANs.
In spelling out our SAN strategy, weve emphasized our commitment
to open standards and customer satisfaction. We realize our customers
have heterogeneous computing environments, and we will work to ensure
the smoothest technology path for anyone who wants to integrate prod-
ucts from IBM and other vendors in their computing environment, as well
as their SAN. Our aim is to provide anytime/anywhere universal access
to data, regardless of the platform, source, format, or application in which
it is stored.
Today, IBM offers a broader portfolio of storage technology, products,
and services than any other single supplier. A number of these offerings are
ideally suited to help build a SAN. Soon, we plan to introduce the next-
generation Seascape storage system. This product will make implementing
a SAN even easier, so you can leverage the power of SAN technology to
better support your mission-critical applications, like e-business.
Count on IBM to do whatever it takes to help our customers imple-
ment the best SANs possible.
Ron Kilpatrick
General Manager
Storage Systems Division
E X E C U T I V E V I E W P O I N T
2
STORAGE SOLUTIONS N E W S
ISSUE 1 1999
3
S
ince its first shipment in 1995, the Magstar 3590 has
been widely embraced by organizations that need a
fast, proven, and reliable data protection solution.
Today, organizations are still turning to Magstar tape
technology to help them achieve two common storage
goals: reduced backup windows and higher availability.
These goals are particularly important for organizations
conducting e-business or relying on data-intensive appli-
cations, which demand extremely high-performance
storage systems. With the new Magstar 3590 E-Model,
organizations now can double their current storage
capacity and increase data transfer speedsboosting
tape performance.
INCREASED CAPACITY AND PERFORMANCE
The new Magstar 3590 E-Model provides the benefits of
next-generation Magstar technology and investment pro-
tection. To combat obsolescence, the new Magstar 3590
E-Model drives are backward-read compatible with
Magstar cartridges that were written on previous
Magstar 3590 drives. Because the new E-Model drives
write and read data onto 256 tracks, they effectively double
the density of data tracks on current 3590 cartridges. As
a result, the E-Model drives can increase the capacity of
a Magstar 3590 tape cartridge from 10 GB to 20 GB
(uncompressed). The higher capacity reduces the num-
ber of cartridges needed, which in turn reduces backup
times and space requirements.
The new Magstar 3590 E-Model also provides sig-
nificant performance enhancements compared to previ-
ous models. Its data transfer speed of 14 MB/sec
(uncompressed) is 50 percent faster than the current 3590.
In addition, an UltraSCSI attachment capability provides
a standard maximum burst data rate of 40 MB/sec,
which enables much faster data storage and retrieval.
The IBM Magstar 3590 Tape Subsystem, the Magstar
3590 Silo Compatible Subsystem, and the Magstar 3494
Tape Library supports the E-Model drives with an
UltraSCSI attachment. IBM plans to provide ESCON
®
connectivity in the future.
IBM also plans several additional enhancements to
the Magstar 3590, including E-Model support for the
industry-leading Magstar 3494 Model B18 Virtual Tape
Server and a new, longer length 3590 cartridge that
would again double cartridge capacity.
IDEAL FOR SAN INTEGRATION
IBM Magstar products are proving ideal for developing
Storage Area Networks (SANs), since they connect to
major server platforms and are supported by leading
storage management software products. SANs are
becoming an important tool for simplifying storage
management and increasing application availability on
production networks. With the new IBM SAN Data
Gateway, users can connect Magstar products to Fibre
Channel-based SANs and benefit from centralized stor-
age management. For more information about SANs,
see page 4.
s
For More Information
s
www.ibm.com/storage
Extending the
value of
Magstar Tape
The new Magstar 3590 E-Model boosts
performance and increases tape capacity I
ts a new world out therea world in which storage
is moving to center stage. Today, information is the
foundation on which business is won or lost. And
that critical information must be perpetually avail-
ablenecessitating just-in-time scalability, heteroge-
neous server connectivity, secure transactions, and
round-the-clock data transfer. For these reasons and
more, the storage infrastructure is playing an increas-
ingly strategic role in business success.
To meet the demands for more storage capacity
and faster access to data, IT professionals are turning
to Storage Area Networks. IBM defines Storage Area
Networks, or SANs, as centrally managed, high-speed
networks of multivendor storage systems, storage
management software, application servers, and net-
work hardware.
SAN is more than just a buzzword. By central-
izing and consolidating storage, SANs can reduce
management costs, facilitate continuous operations,
and improve productivity through universal access to
information. Industry analysts predict that SANs will
become one of the most popular choices for IT man-
agers looking to reduce storage costs. By 2002, nearly
25 percent of the entire multi-user storage market is
expected to employ a SAN.
T E C H N O L O G Y
4
STORAGE S