IBM has introduced a network storage array based around its supercomputing platforms, and aimed at medium and large enterprises.

The Scale Out Network Attached Storage (Sonas) system uses between one and 30 storage 'pods' containing a storage node, a storage controller and 7,200 or 15,000 drives. These can be scaled up to a claimed 14.4 petabytes of storage.

"The equivalent of eight times the information that exists in all US libraries combined is created every day," said Doug Balog, vice president of disk systems at IBM.

"Companies need to cost-effectively store that data, and rapidly locate it and provide ubiquitous access to it instantly. Sonas addresses these needs and provides clients with the right scalable solution."

The technology behind Sonas was developed as part of IBM's General Parallel File System, which the company has used on its supercomputing platform for around 10 years.

Sonas also comes with an integrated Tivoli Storage Manager backup/archive client, up to 256 snapshots per file system, and support for modern Raid systems and network protocols, including Common Internet File System, Network File System, Secure Copy Protocol, HTTP and File Transfer Protocol.