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1. IBM Systems and Technology
Solution Brief
Improve service quality
with IBM SmartCloud
Storage Access
Easily give users the storage capacity they need when
they need it
Highlights
●● ● ●
Implement a private cloud storage service
quickly
●● ● ●
Add storage capacity with just a few
clicks through the web-based self-service
portal
●● ● ●
Easily store and access files regardless
of location
●● ● ●
Simplify provisioning, reporting and
monitoring
●● ● ●
Improve overall IT efficiency and service
quality
●● ● ●
Increase employee and administrator
productivity
Deploying and managing a private cloud in your enterprise environment
can provide the control you want to ensure infrastructure scalability,
data security, information access, and operational and business flexibility.
Private clouds, as a result, are a rapidly growing sector of enterprise
computing.
But deploying and managing a private cloud can also provide challenges.
User requests for provisioning technology can be so numerous that you
cannot keep up with the deployment turnaround. The workload can be a
roadblock to what you’re trying to achieve—the improved service quality,
reduced costs, IT efficiency and business agility that are the hallmarks of
cloud computing.
Designed to meet these provisioning and management challenges,
IBM® SmartCloud™ Storage Access is an easy-to-deploy, simple-to-
use software solution that provides a self-service portal for cloud-based
storage provisioning, monitoring and reporting.
By optimizing the time required for complex planning, integration and
provisioning of storage hardware, the IBM solution helps organizations
respond quickly to users’ growing needs for storage space, and it enables
IT to deliver and manage storage capacity with reduced workload
and greater insight. Even as business data continues to grow and the
adoption of private clouds for storing and managing that data accelerates,
IBM SmartCloud Storage Access supports greater IT and business pro-
ductivity, reduces operational costs and improves storage service quality.

2. 2
Solution Brief
IBM Systems and Technology
Take a functionally rich approach to
cloud storage
The appeal of cloud storage is undeniable. Clouds provide
business efficiency in their ability to quickly deliver computing
resources to end users and technology efficiency in their ability
to optimize the use of pooled resources.
The dynamic nature of cloud storage is ideally suited for today’s
rapidly changing enterprise needs, whether in supporting col-
laboration using shared capacity or in controlling the costs of
hardware, power, square footage and IT workload by utilizing
the underlying storage resources effectively. Central control of
the pooled storage environment enables accurate chargeback to
users for the capacity they consume. In a private cloud, controls
also support the storage security that business-critical data
demands and the compliance that regulations require.
To get the greatest efficiency out of cloud storage, organizations
can add self-service and automated capabilities that benefit both
the business end user and the IT administrator. That’s where
IBM SmartCloud Storage Access comes in. Though easy to use
with its simple, self-service interface, the IBM solution provides
a comprehensive, functionally rich, portal-based approach to
provisioning and managing cloud storage.
Now business end users can quickly and easily obtain the
storage resources they need using their desktops. IT adminis-
trators can streamline the management of virtual resources.
Cloud administrators can enhance management of virtual
resources and business processes. And storage infrastructure
managers can better monitor and manage physical devices,
create virtual resource pools and manage central backups of
all the data on end-user workstations.
IBM SmartCloud Storage Access can be added to existing cloud
storage environments or built in as an element of a new cloud
storage deployment. This solution works with IBM Scale Out
Network Attached Storage (SONAS), with IBM Storwize®
V7000 Unified storage systems deployed with an authentication
server utilizing Microsoft Active Directory or Lightweight
Directory Access Protocol (LDAP), and with the IBM Tivoli®
Storage Productivity Center software suite of storage
infrastructure management tools.
Deliver fast user access through an
intuitive interface
Today’s rapidly moving business requires rapid data access—
but first the business end user needs a place to put that data.
Whether archiving information for later use or generating vast
data resources that require an expansion of capacity already in
use, business end users can seldom wait for a lengthy approval
and provisioning process. They need data capacity and elastic
scalability without delay. And they need to be able to access
their storage anywhere and anytime over the Internet using a
full range of devices, from compute servers to desktop systems
or laptops.

3. 3
Solution Brief
IBM Systems and Technology
Use case: Cloud storage for media and entertainment
Media organizations have to manage huge volumes of data stem-
ming not only from content creation, but also from production and
distribution. Across processes, users need to provision capacity for
managing imagery from cameras and other equipment, enhancing
special effects in pre- and post-production, and supporting
distribution services such as streaming or pay per view.
IBM SmartCloud Storage Access enables organizations to
implement a private cloud storage service through which users
can create an account, provision storage and upload files over
the Internet—with only a few clicks. Role-based access control
supports security for the cloud storage environment. And the
solution’s web-based self-service portal with its easy-to-use
graphical user interface (GUI) delivers immediate access to
storage resources, eliminating wait times to improve user pro-
ductivity. All technical complexity of the provisioning process
is hidden; abstraction to the storage-as-a-service level relieves
the user of dealing with the granularity that accompanies
conventional provisioning approaches.
Provide IT control and insight into clouds
with comprehensive functionality
Abstraction and simplification support greater productivity
for storage and cloud administrators as well, relieving their
workloads so they can focus on other key business functions.
As with the end-user portal, the solution’s administrator portal
provides automated provisioning—and also simplified and
standardized monitoring, reporting and control to reduce
operational complexity.
The diverse functions necessary for comprehensive storage
cloud management and reporting are now provided in one
solution—IBM SmartCloud Storage Access—rather than
through a collection of point applications that address
individual functions. Key capabilities include:
●● ●
Approval process support: The solution automates the
request process from end user to department administrator
or cloud administrator. IBM SmartCloud Storage Access
allows cloud administrators to define the approval policy for
provisioning actions and, if they wish, delegate approval to
department administrators.
●● ●
Service profile support: Using predefined or custom
profiles, administrators can define classes of services that
ensure data is located on the most appropriate type of storage
according to its importance or frequency of access, ensuring
the performance, security or disaster-recovery policies
necessary for business-critical data.
●● ●
Third-party authentication integration: IBM SmartCloud
Storage Access works with existing LDAP applications
for portal authentication and data access authentication,
ensuring seamless integration of user management tools.
●● ●
Automatic monitoring of capacity use: Cloud administra-
tors can set a capacity warning threshold, and the system
will issue notifications automatically when the threshold is
reached, simplifying monitoring of storage resource use.
●● ●
Dashboard report for history usage query: Both adminis-
trators and end users can access reports describing the history
of storage use. Users can use the reports to better plan
business operations; administrators can use them to better
plan and balance the storage cloud.

4. Why IBM?
Implementing a cloud storage environment is not a simple
process. That’s where the IBM SmartCloud Storage family
comes in. IBM SmartCloud Storage is a family of offerings
and services for private, public or hybrid clouds. This family
of comprehensive, enterprise-class storage infrastructure,
management and services capabilities delivered through the
IBM SmartCloud architecture helps organizations improve
agility, security and cloud functionality for storage. IBM can
help you implement cloud storage in your enterprise or can
run it for you, whether you are a mid-sized company, a large
enterprise or a cloud service provider.
Innovative technology, open standards, excellent performance,
and a broad portfolio of proven storage software, hardware
and solutions—all backed by IBM with its recognized industry
leadership—are just a few of the reasons you should consider
solutions from the IBM SmartCloud Storage family, including
IBM SmartCloud Storage Access.
For more information
To learn more about IBM SmartCloud Storage
Access, please contact your IBM representative or
IBM Business Partner, or visit:
ibm.com/systems/storage/software/smartcloud-storage-access/
Additionally, IBM Global Financing can help you acquire the
IT solutions that your business needs in the most cost-effective
and strategic way possible. We’ll partner with credit-qualified
clients to customize an IT financing solution to suit your busi-
ness goals, enable effective cash management, and improve your
total cost of ownership. IBM Global Financing is your smartest
choice to fund critical IT investments and propel your business
forward. For more information, visit: ibm.com/financing
© Copyright IBM Corporation 2013
IBM Corporation
Systems and Technology Group
Route 100
Somers, NY 10589
Produced in the United States of America
February 2013
IBM, the IBM logo, ibm.com, IBM SmartCloud, Storwize, and Tivoli
are trademarks of International Business Machines Corp., registered
in many jurisdictions worldwide. Other product and service names
might be trademarks of IBM or other companies. A current list of
IBM trademarks is available on the web at “Copyright and trademark
information” at ibm.com/legal/copytrade.shtml
Microsoft and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the
United States, other countries, or both.
This document is current as of the initial date of publication and may
be changed by IBM at any time. Not all offerings are available in every
country in which IBM operates.
The client examples cited are presented for illustrative purposes only.
Actual performance results may vary depending on specific configurations
and operating conditions.
THE INFORMATION IN THIS DOCUMENT IS PROVIDED
“AS IS” WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY, EXPRESS OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING WITHOUT ANY WARRANTIES
OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR
PURPOSE AND ANY WARRANTY OR CONDITION OF
NON-INFRINGEMENT. IBM products are warranted according to the
terms and conditions of the agreements under which they are provided.
The client is responsible for ensuring compliance with laws and regulations
applicable to it. IBM does not provide legal advice or represent or warrant
that its services or products will ensure that the client is in compliance with
any law or regulation.
Actual available storage capacity may be reported for both uncompressed
and compressed data and will vary and may be less than stated.
Please Recycle
TSS03112-USEN-00
Use case: Cloud storage for a university
University storage environments typically include complex, disparate
data systems—but a cloud can simplify management. Cloud-based
storage, for example, can improve storage utilization and align
workloads with the data value, allocating high-performance storage
for research departments or providing lower-cost storage for student
home directories.