IBM Ramps Up AI, Analytics Via New File, Object Storage

IBM Thursday introduced new storage hardware and software aimed at placing its storage at the center of large-scale data requirements for artificial intelligence and analytics workloads. The new offerings are aimed at helping to build the kind of information architecture needed to get the most out of businesses' fast-changing data, said Eric Herzog, IBM's chief marketing officer and vice president of worldwide storage channels. "The new stuff is all about storage solutions for AI, big data and business analytics," Herzog told CRN. "IBM thinks customers need an information architecture to build AI before they can collect and analyze their data and feed it into their AI systems." IBM storage technology has always been an important part of customers' high-performance computing, artificial intelligence and machine-learning infrastructures, said John Zawistowski, global systems solutions executive at Sycomp, a Foster City, Calif.-based solution provider and IBM channel partner. "Why IBM? It's the way they integrated the AI software platform and storage," Zawistowski told CRN. "And the way IBM understands the importance of doing that. And the way IBM technology performs."