IBM announced that Queensland Sugar Limited (QSL), a global leader in raw sugar marketing that manages over 90 percent of Australia’s raw sugar exports, has selected IBM advanced storage systems to support its rapidly growing data demands.

QSL, a not-for-profit organisation, works on behalf of seven Queensland milling companies and approximately 3,000 Australian sugar growers to help them build business partnerships with sugar refiners in the Asia Pacific region. It also manages the country’s six Bulk Terminals where more than two and a half million tons of raw sugar is stored prior to export. Not surprisingly, QSL’s data demands have grown substantially over time and over the past two years alone, the organisation has seen its data storage requirements increase by almost 20 percent annually.

In addition to its constantly growing data volumes, the type of data QSL is generating has also changed. QSL’s data required a fast, flexible and scalable storage solution. After evaluating various alternatives and working with IBM and IBM Business Partner NewBase Computer Services, QSL selected the highly scalable and easy to manage IBM Storwize V7000 storage system. 

 “The IBM Storwize V7000 storage solution offered the best price-performance ratio, combined with innovative Real-time Compression and management features,” said Salvo Spina,  Information and Communications Technology Manager, Queensland Sugar Limited. “QSL is a not-for-profit organization and we strive to deliver the best possible value and services to our shareholders.”

One feature of the IBM Storwize V7000 that was of particular interest to QSL was its Real-time Compression capability. Unlike traditional storage systems that compress only low activity data, or data not frequently accessed, Real-time Compression on the IBM Storwize V7000 compresses active data – in real time – by as much as 80 percent. This increases total effective storage capacity by up to five times, enabling QSL to handle its data volumes more efficiently today and in the future.

The IBM Storwize V7000 also provides the extra performance required by QSL to improve its delivery of Terminal Services to users throughout Queensland.

As part of its Smarter Computing effort, IBM recently announced a new strategic approach to designing and managing storage infrastructures with greater automation and intelligence, as well as significant performance enhancements to several key storage systems including the IBM Storwize V7000.

“Organizations need storage infrastructures that can better respond to constant social, economic, and business change,” said Joe Screnci, Business Unit Executive, Storage Systems, IBM Australia and New Zealand. “They need a smarter approach to storage, one that exploits automated intelligence to increase the efficiency, utilisation, and performance of storage systems while lowering costs and handling growing data volumes.”