IBM® Launches Infrastructure Data Erasure—And These 5 Storage Network Benefits Come with It

IBM just announced its global launch of Blancco-based IBM Data Erasure Services. Now, IBM customers worldwide can manage end-of-life data and decommissioned hardware more securely and sustainably than ever.  

Vivian Cullipher Vivian is a career writer and editor, having covered technology-related topics for government and B2B organizations since before LinkedIn and the iPhone. As Blancco’s head of content, she oversees the development of thought-leadership-based copy for web, social media, and other Blancco communication channels.

IBM customers fortify data security, support ESG goals as they manage used devices and old data 

IBM Technology Lifecycle Services (TLS) boasts a world-class portfolio of multi-vendor data center services. IBM TLS provides IT services and support across the product lifecycle. The services rely on deep expertise in IBM Infrastructure and leading third-party alliances and partnerships, industry-leading platforms, and advanced technologies like AI to proactively manage the health of systems and their interoperability. They are designed to improve resiliency while driving reduced downtime and provide sustainable strategies, all while freeing up IT staff to focus on what matters most.

In March 2024, the tech giant added another security offering to its service portfolio: IBM Data Erasure Services.  

Born out of a Blancco and IBM TLS collaboration, this new offering securely removes data across all vendor technologies. That’s whether data lives in active networks or on retired devices.  

“Infrastructure data erasure refers to the process of securely and permanently removing data from the various components of an organization’s IT infrastructure, such as servers, storage devices, networking equipment, and other hardware.”

IBM Data Erasure Services Sheet 

Not only does this secure sensitive data from future access, but it also frees devices and network areas for continued use.  

And secure, responsible reuse of storage assets is vitally important.  

The business case for eco-responsible data disposal 

Today’s data-fueled businesses must constantly wage a battle against resource consumption. This isn’t just good environmental stewardship or budget consciousness. It’s a market mandate that reinforces sound environmental, social, and governance (ESG) practices.  

In an 2024 IBM survey of 5K C-suite executives, 75% agreed that sustainability drives better business results. Respondents also indicated the level to which companies incorporate sustainability affects how sustainability impacts their business performance. 

Yet when integrating sustainability within server and storage environments, data security must take priority.  

Thankfully, cutting the carbon footprint of enterprise data storage is more secure than ever.  

IBM data security tackles data disposal with a sustainable twist 

If data’s gone, it can’t be stolen. 

Blancco has been a data erasure pioneer for more than 25 years. In FY23 alone, our software erased 63.8M devices. This amounts to diverting an equivalent of 107M kilograms of tech from potentially entering landfill. Yet no one has ever breached data from a Blancco-erased asset.  

Erasing data slams the door shut on unauthorized data access. With data secured, IBM customers can enjoy confident device reuse in-house. Or, they can contribute devices to a growing circular economy that thrives on sellable and donated devices. This takes an axe to e-waste, preventing even high-capacity HDDs, SSDs, and NVMes from being needlessly destroyed in the name of data security.  

IBM TLS uses Blancco technology to help customers securely dispose of old data, no matter where it’s stored.  

5 ways IBM Data Erasure solutions improve data infrastructure management 

Integrating IBM Data Erasure within their asset and data lifecycle processes is designed to enable IT leaders to immediately experience several network benefits: 

1. Reduced data bloat in active networks	2. Automated data sanitization on end-user devices	3. Increased data security across end-of-life servers and storage	4. Proof of compliance with data protection mandates	5. Sustainable options to reinforce ESG goals, reduce e-waste, and cut CO2

Data center and infrastructure managers can experience them all with the reliability they’ve come to expect from IBM.

Let’s cover these 5 benefits below:

1. Automated IBM Data Erasure reduces data bloat in active networks 

By erasing data within active data center or cloud environments, IBM’s solution is designed to mitigate risks caused by hoarded data. This is especially true when data center or infrastructure managers automate data sanitization processes. 

For instance, IT leaders can implement policy-based triggers to launch IBM Data Erasure automatically. Working in tandem with data discovery and classification tools, enterprises can target no-longer-needed files, folders, or LUNs. Data center and infrastructure managers can erase data based on type, retention period, process, timeframe, or other factors. 

In active networks, IBM data sanitization is designed to permanently delete old data without affecting customer operating systems. This reduces data bloat and associated costs, shrinks an unnecessarily large data attack surface, and lowers breach liability risk. 

2. IBM Data Erasure protects sensitive data on end-user devices

While this type of IBM security offering certainly applies to data center servers and cloud, it doesn’t stop there.

Whether in-office or remote, employee devices create, intake, store, and process sensitive data prone to loss or theft. Automated data sanitization provides increased data protection in a consistent, centralized way, across your workforce. 

Minimizing the amount of sensitive data—such as financial or personally identifiable information—remaining on end-user devices further secures your overall network. 

3. IBM customers can increase data security across end-of-life servers and storage 

Devices reach end-of-life when companies upgrade or replace their IT systems, retire old hardware, or redistribute equipment for efficiency. In every case, securing the data on that IT equipment is critical.  

That’s especially true when dealing with sensitive information such as  

• Proprietary business data
• Personal health information (PHI) 
• Personally identifiable information (PII) 
• Payment card industry information (PCI)

 Our patented data erasure software sanitizes a wide range of data storage technologies (HDDs, SSDs, NVMes, and more) and environments (LUN, VM). 

IBM’s data erasure solution is designed to render data permanently unrecoverable, preventing data spillage from redeployed devices and ensuring data security from the point of decommissioning. 

4. IBM TLS helps clients to meet compliance requirements with data protection mandates

Blancco software has been tested, certified, and approved to meet or exceed industry data sanitization standards.

When data or device disposal policies call for NIST 800-88 or IEEE 2883 Clear or Purge, or DoD 5220.22—or more than twenty other known guidelines—IBM TLS is able to meet customers’ data sanitization demands.

Erasures are also verified and certified. Customers receive detailed, tamper-proof report to prove regulatory compliance for internal or third-party auditors and regulators. 

Blancco’s data erasure creates and stores digitally signed reports for compliance, audits, reporting, verification, and retention purposes.  

That level of data security frees up infrastructure and data center managers, IT asset leaders, and others who oversee network operations to be confident about their data compliance and data protection standing. 

5. Erasure reinforces enterprise ESG goals, reduces e-waste, and cuts CO2

IBM Data Erasure services offer an environmentally sustainable and secure alternative to physical destruction when it comes to managing end-of-life devices and data. 

Once data has been removed from hardware, you can safely reuse or resell it, without concern that data might be breached. This negates the need for physical destruction and it recovers the entire device—something recycling can’t do.  

Millions of hard disk drives and solid-state drives are destroyed every year. Extending device life plays a significant role in minimizing greenhouse gas emissions caused by manufacturing new devices to replace them.  

When data is permanently and completely removed from any environment, it’s no longer vulnerable. That holds true for active environments as well.  

Organizations often have vast amounts of data that serve only to amplify the need for greater data stores. Too often, redundant, old, and trivial (ROT) data needlessly fuels greenhouse gas emissions through excess data storage.  

Data center and infrastructure leaders get sustainability and security with data erasure 

The launch of IBM Data Erasure continues IBM’s trajectory of innovative, secure network protection services. 

And that’s good news for data centers and end user devices. 

“What’s good for the world can also be good for business.”

Beyond checking the box, IBM 

A comprehensive security and sustainability approach aligns with the trend of integrating ESG across business operations. By prioritizing responsible data destruction, IBM customers can contribute to a circular economy, fostering ethical and sustainable practices in IT hardware and device management. 

Wherever you deploy IBM Data Erasure, you can be confident that erased data is secured data, extending protection to the final stages of your data and device lifecycles. 

To learn more about how IBM’s Technology Lifecycle Services can support your organization’s sustainability ambitions, contact an IBM representative. 

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