IBM has launched the next generation of IBM FlashSystem, co-run by agentic AI, ushering in a new era of autonomous storage.
By enhancing FlashSystem’s existing AI capabilities with agentic AI, IBM is redefining resilience through sustained protection, autonomous threat analysis, and customised recovery recommendations.
Clients can now turn storage into an always-on layer of intelligence, enabling reliable and secure storage operations that can reduce the manual effort of storage management by up to 90%.
The new portfolio includes:
- Three new systems – the IBM FlashSystem 5600, 7600 and 9600 – which deliver up to 40% greater data efficiency for improved capacity footprint and performance, compared to the previous generation.
- FlashSystem.ai, a new set of intelligent data services that help administrators manage, monitor, diagnose, and remediate issues across the entire data path.
- The new fifth-generation FlashCore Module all-flash drive, which is engineered to provide hardware-accelerated real-time ransomware detection, data reduction, analytics and operations, with advanced telemetry and consistently low latency at scale.
As companies increasingly integrate AI workflows into their operations, agentic AI has the potential to streamline the way IT teams work across the stack. In fact, 76% of executives responding to an IBM IBV study say their organizations are developing, executing, or scaling proof-of-concepts that automate intelligent workflows through self-sufficient AI agents.
In tandem, enterprise IT teams continue to face accelerated data growth, expanding cyber threats, and tightening compliance requirements. These roadblocks have created a need for intelligent, autonomous storage solutions.
“The next-generation IBM FlashSystem elevates storage to an intelligent, always-available layer, where autonomous AI agents continuously optimize performance, security, and cost without human intervention,” says Sam Werner, GM of IBM Storage. “The updated portfolio marks the beginning of an autonomous storage era, where FlashSystem becomes a strategic AI partner that can help IT leaders ensure optimal, secure performance for every workload they run.”
Three simultaneous model launches make this the most significant IBM FlashSystem launch in the last six years, with a series of new models developed for a variety of business needs, including:
- IBM FlashSystem 5600, ideal for organisations that need enterprise-class capabilities in a compact footprint, provides up to 2.5 PBe of effective capacity in a single 1U system, setting a higher bar for storage density in the midrange market, and up to 2.6M IOPs. The ultra-dense 1U design is perfect for space-constrained environments such as edge locations, remote offices, and smaller data centers.
- IBM FlashSystem 7600, developed for organisations that need high performance and scalability for growing workloads, provides up to 7.2 PBe of effective capacity in a single 2U system and up to 4.3M IOPs. The 7600 is designed to handle large virtualised environments, analytics platforms, and consolidated applications that require greater capacity and faster response times.
- IBM FlashSystem 9600, built for enterprises running mission-critical operations that demand extreme performance and massive scalability, provides up to 11.8 PBe of effective capacity in a single 2U system with up to 6.3M IOPs. Typical use cases include core banking systems, ERP platforms, and AI-driven applications that require speed and advanced security. The FlashSystem 9600 reduces operational cost by as much as 57% via AI and consolidation compared to the previous generation.[4]
IBM FlashSystem reduces the required storage footprint by 30% to 75%, depending on the model, through optimized placement and consolidation, compared to its previous generation.
Flash Storage Meets AI
FlashSystem.ai brings AI-powered data services to clients through seamless, self-service operations that automate manual and error-prone tasks. IBM designed FlashSystem.ai to transform storage from a static repository into a self-improving system.
With an AI model trained on tens of billions of data points collected through advanced telemetry and years of real-world operational data, the platform can execute thousands of automated decisions per day that previously required human oversight.
FlashSystem.ai not only automates many parts of storage management, but also quickly learns over time. This new agentic AI feature is built to adapt to application behavior in hours and designed to be significantly faster than template-based machines, suggesting performance improvements and explaining reasoning, while incorporating administrator feedback to tailor recommendations.
FlashSystem.ai on the latest generation of FlashSystem models is engineered to cut audit and compliance documentation time in half through AI-generated, explainable operational reasoning.
The newest generation of IBM FlashSystem runs client workloads with proactive tuning, intelligent placement of workloads for non-disruptive data mobility across storage devices, including third party storage arrays.
FlashCore Module Technology
All new FlashSystem models contain the fifth-generation FlashCore Module, a drive with up to 105TB of capacity and significant updates to efficiency and security. It also enables IBM FlashSystem models to compute complex statistics on every I/O using hardware‑accelerated analytics, designed to detect ransomware and anomalies rapidly without impacting system performance.