Plasmon, the trusted source in archiving systems, today announced the joint development of a new Plasmon optical library that provides Fibre Channel connectivity to IBM i customers. As part of this development effort, Plasmon and IBM will provide IBM Power Systems customers running IBM i with an optical archiving option that offers efficiency, longevity, and reliability.

By introducing Fibre Channel connectivity, Plasmon is proactively responding to future i customer requirements by ensuring that these customers will be ready to make the anticipated transition to a Fibre Channel interface. The joint development effort will also provide i customers with the ability to share one Plasmon G-series library between partitions or servers running i. This agreement is a further expansion of the long-standing relationship between IBM and Plasmon.

“We are pleased to partner with Plasmon in providing a Fibre Channel optical library attachment for i customers,” said Jim Herring, Director, Power Systems. “With the industry acceptance of Fibre Channel connectivity, this partnership provides our archive storage customers with a clear upgrade path for integrated and easy-to-use optical library solutions on the latest Power Systems running IBM i. The additional capability for sharing Fibre Channel optical libraries between multiple hosts will introduce attractive new options for optical library users.”

“Enabling an easy transition path for i customers and opening up optical archiving solutions to more IBM customers are the drivers behind the latest engineering work between IBM and Plasmon,” said Steven Murphy, CEO, Plasmon. “Our joint development will ensure that customers can deploy a best practice 3-2-1 archive architecture: 3 copies of all data, archived on at least 2 different media types, with a minimum of 1 copy on secure offline media. We feel this is an excellent match for IBM’s own goal of offering customers the options they need to evolve and grow their business.”

In addition to building a new Fibre Channel optical library, Plasmon will continue its relationship with IBM in providing leading edge archival solutions for their customers. In fact, Plasmon has significantly expanded routes to market for G-Series libraries in IBM FileNet, Tivoli, and i operating system environments with new distribution and reseller partnerships and a renewed focus on channel sales for the offering. G-Series libraries are certified as “IBM System Storage Proven”.