IBM Storage Scale System 6000

The IBM Storage Scale 6000 is IBM’s flagship scale-out storage system, designed to push the limits of performance, capacity, and intelligence. Built for enterprises and research organisations tackling the most demanding workloads — from artificial intelligence and high-performance computing (HPC) to large-scale analytics and mission-critical enterprise data — the 6000 sets the standard for what modern storage can deliver.

With unmatched throughput of up to 330 GB/s per 4U system, support for 48 NVMe drives, and the ability to scale into multi-petabyte and even exabyte environments, the Storage Scale 6000 is purpose-built for organisations that refuse to compromise on speed, scale, or resilience. At its core is IBM Spectrum Scale, the proven data management software that provides global namespace, intelligent tiering, and automation — ensuring your data is always accessible, optimised, and secure.

The Storage Scale 6000 is more than a storage system; it is a foundation for innovation. Whether you are training AI models at scale, running complex simulations, or supporting cloud-native workloads, the 6000 delivers the performance and reliability to keep you ahead.

Technical Specifications

Performance & Connectivity

• Throughput: up to 330 GB/s per system
• Sub-millisecond latency, optimised for AI and HPC at scale
• PCIe Gen 5 architecture
• 400Gb Ethernet and InfiniBand support

Drive Options

• Up to 48 NVMe drives per 4U system
• Hybrid options with JBOD enclosures (NVMe + HDD mix)

Capacity & Scalability

• Raw capacity: up to ~2.2 PB per system
• Expandable with up to 9 JBOD enclosures
• Seamless scaling into exabyte-class environments
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Key Features

Unparalleled performance

The 6000 is engineered for the most demanding workloads. With next-generation PCIe Gen 5 connectivity and 400Gb networking, it can sustain massive throughput for AI training, HPC, and analytics.

Extreme scalability

Start with a single system and scale to exabytes with clustered deployments. Expansion is seamless, with JBOD enclosures providing both flash and disk options to optimise cost and performance.

Intelligent, policy-driven data management

IBM Spectrum Scale provides a global namespace, automated tiering, snapshots, replication, and encryption. It ensures that every byte of data is stored in the right place, at the right time, without manual intervention.

Built for AI, HPC, and multicloud

The 6000 is designed with the future in mind. Its architecture supports hybrid and multicloud deployments, containerised workloads, and the massive parallelism required by AI and scientific computing.

Enterprise-class protection

Safeguard your mission-critical data with encryption, advanced replication, and fault-tolerant design. IBM’s expertise in enterprise storage ensures that data is always available, secure, and compliant.