IBM is abandoning storage....

or at least they are not taking it seriously, according to this article by storage analyst Barry Burke...

In my book, when you trivialize the importance of ANY technology to the point of having your supplier announce GA and availability rather than doing it yourself, it means something. And when IBM's sales force is to this day telling prospects that flash SSDs are "unproven technology" and "not ready for the enterprise," I can only conclude that IBM is embarrassed to admit some huge limitation or inadequacy of their products when used with Flash

...the aging, decrepit DS8K is no longer a viable storage platform for the enterprise. Later this year, IBM will finally get around to upgrading the aging DS8K processors to the p6, but it won't be enough to catch up with the Symmetrix V-Max

http://thestorageanarchist.typepad.com/weblog/2009/05/2001-ibms-amazing-splash-dance-part-deux.html