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During the second european edition of Dell Storage Forum, Dell has announced new products and features, according of the Fluid Data architecture.

“The nature of IT and what a data center should do for an organization is changing rapidly as customers face multiple and often competing models of how technology is delivered — from client to cloud to converged,” said Darren Thomas, vice president and general manager, Dell Storage. “Dell is best positioned with an end-to-end storage architecture that can optimize data at every point in its lifecycle through intelligence and automation. Dell’s Fluid Data Architecture enables new capabilities that power the data center, so customers can drive real business results.”

New software for Dell Compellent and PowerVault MD3

  • Dell Compellent Storage Center 6.3 that can increase performance up to 100 percent over previous versions when running enterprise workloads[1] and can double bandwidth as the first storage array featuring end-to-end 16Gb Fibre Channel from server to switch to storage.
  • New advanced software for Dell PowerVault MD3 that offers enhanced data protection, capacity utilization, and virtualization capabilities in an affordable, high performance solution

Dell Compellent Storage Center 6.3 array software unveiled today offers enhanced scalability and performance for Dell Compellent arrays. Compellent SC8000 controllers with Storage Center 6.3 software can increase performance up to 100 percent over previous versions when running enterprise workloads. Additionally, with this release, Dell is the first storage provider to announce end-to-end 16Gb Fibre Channel capability — from server to switch to storage — doubling bandwidth and speeding access to business critical applications and data.

Designed for medium to large enterprises and cloud computing, Dell Compellent arrays offer best in class automated tiering, advanced data protection and superior ease of use. These features combine with a highly scalable, modular design that enables users to update storage software at no additional cost and easily expand without requiring a “rip and replace” of their existing infrastructure. According to a new IDC White Paper, commissioned by Dell, Compellent installations had almost twice as long a productive life span than non-Dell storage solutions with organizations replacing Compellent every 6.9 years compared to 3.5 years for their other storage environments.

Announcing Storage Center 6.3 for Dell CompellentAdditional enterprise enhancements from Storage Center 6.3 announced today include:

  • Synchronous replication enhancements that can improve resiliency for data recovery and provide multi-site replication flexibility designed to reduce recovery time and recovery point objectives;
  • Expanded Microsoft integration with new Windows Server 2012 support;
  • Enhanced security and reduced administration time with Active Directory and LDAP support that automates and integrates Compellent storage with a corporate directory to enable a single authentication and authorization process for granting access;
  • Improved federal government security by supporting USGv6/IPv6 requirements for a wide range of available IP addresses; and,
  • The ability to intelligently alert and recommend placement of volumes across multiple arrays based on proactive performance and capacity monitoring.

Dell PowerVault MD3 Software Enhancements New Dell PowerVault MD3 software enhancements offer enhanced data protection, performance, capacity and virtualization capabilities while designed to maintain up to 99.999 percent availability for these affordable, high performance arrays.

Data protection enhancements include dynamic disk pools that simplify disk management and improve rebuild performance by distributing data across all drives, decreasing significant recovery time of drive failures. In addition to current Fibre Channel replication capabilities, new IP-based remote asynchronous replication protects against site failures, improves application speeds, and increases distance support.

New PowerVault MD3 software application integration and efficiency capabilities include VMware vStorage APIs for Array Integration (VAAI) support, which allows customers to offload certain storage related tasks from the server to PowerVault arrays. New thin provisioning capabilities enable arrays to automatically allocate storage as needed for simplified and cost-effective expansion of capacity.

New solutions for data protections

Dell data protection portfolio bolstered by new solutions, including the Dell PowerVault DL4000, providing feature-rich AppAssure software optimized in a 1U backup appliance:

  • Dell PowerVault DL4000 — Optimized for small to medium enterprises and remote offices, the first backup appliance based on Dell AppAssure software provides a fast and complete backup and disaster recovery solution for business-critical applications and data with seamless integration of software and system management. With 5.5 terabytes of internal storage capacity, this 1U turnkey appliance offers established snapshot, replication, de-duplication and compression software for efficient use of backup capacity. Users can benefit from hosting two virtual standby machines that protect critical applications for up to two servers, offering quick disaster recovery.
  • Quest NetVault Backup 9.0 — New Quest data protection software integrates with NetVault Extended Architecture (NetVault XA), featuring a new graphical user interface and a set of shared services to unite multiple Quest data protection technologies for simpler management. The software enables mid- to large-sized organizations to simplify data protection while protecting critical applications in physical and virtual heterogeneous environments. NetVault’s cross-platform capabilities are expanded to Windows Server 2012 and Novell Open Enterprise Server 11, while Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V and VMware vSphere® enhancements offer improved functionality, performance and scalability. The addition of native replication to the NetVault SmartDisk deduplication solution helps streamline offsite data storage and disaster recovery.
  • Dell PowerVault DL2300 — New enterprise-class data protection appliance combines Dell PowerEdge 12th generation servers with CommVault Simpana 9 modern data protection software to offer large enterprises with data backup, recovery, replication, archiving and de-duplication for both physical and virtual servers in one easy-to-set-up, pre-tested solution. The new appliance incorporates latest generation processor and memory capabilities to optimize de-duplication database configurations for higher backup performance. Users can save administrative time with built-in, policy-based automation for managing backup and archiving.

Dell PowerVault DL4000   Dell PowerVault DL2300

Availability

  • Dell Compellent Storage Center 6.3 will be available in starting 2013, and in GA for Q2 2013.
  • New Dell PowerVault MD3 software and Dell PowerVault DL2300 are already available.
  • Dell Quest NetVault Backup 9.0 will be available in Dec 2012.
  • Dell PowerVault DL4000 will be available in Q1 2013.
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Virtualization, Cloud and Storage Architect. Tech Field delegate. VMUG IT Co-Founder and board member. VMware VMTN Moderator and vExpert 2010-24. Dell TechCenter Rockstar 2014-15. Microsoft MVP 2014-16. Veeam Vanguard 2015-23. Nutanix NTC 2014-20. Several certifications including: VCDX-DCV, VCP-DCV/DT/Cloud, VCAP-DCA/DCD/CIA/CID/DTA/DTD, MCSA, MCSE, MCITP, CCA, NPP.