Outlook Series | Dell Intros Virtualization Solutions

Dell Intros Virtualization Solutions

June 18, 2009

Dell has expanded its enterprise technology portfolio. The introduction of flexible and modular virtualization and data center consulting services, business-ready virtualization configurations, new Dell PowerEdge servers and EqualLogic PS4000 storage array will further simplify the planning, deployment and management of virtualized and physical IT environments.

The expanded lineup attacks cost and complexity for two key areas of enterprise computing – virtualization and high-performance computing (HPC) – while providing differentiated solutions for small-and-medium sized businesses.

“Large enterprises, small-to-medium sized business and public-sector organizations face common IT obstacles that impede their ability to efficiently assess, deploy and manage technology. From virtualization to high performance computing clusters, customers are seeking standards-based technologies that improve efficiency while reducing costs. With Dell, organizations benefit from a powerful, efficient and affordable portfolio of server, storage and virtualization products and services that help put them on the fast track to efficiency.” -- Brad Anderson, senior vice president, Enterprise Product Group, Dell.

“Investing for long-term IT efficiency is fundamental for any business, but the energy savings and flexibility we get with Dell’s virtualization solutions have made substantial, immediate business impacts for New York-based retail software business and our Boston data center. Our data center consolidation savings with Dell solutions gave us an immediate 50 percent decrease in energy expenses - $20,000 average savings each month. Yet when we need to scale our capability with seasonal demand, we simply copy the virtual environment onto new virtual machines and have extra capacity on Dell PowerEdge servers ready in minutes instead of hours. That kind of savings and business flexibility makes all the difference for me and my business.” -- Tim Maliyil, president and CEO, Data Guard Systems.

Virtualization: Virtualization is at the heart of data center efficiency. Dell is delivering enhanced virtualization solutions and services to reduce planning time for a faster path to efficient infrastructures, accelerate virtualization adoption and simplify management of virtual environments.

Improved Planning:

Dell is introducing new flexible and modular virtualization consulting services. Dell’s technology accelerated Dell ProConsult offers use electronic discovery, Web based surveys, best practices, comparative data and reference architectures for shorter, more impactful engagements. To help holistically optimize data centers, Dell is introducing a variety of consulting options aimed at reducing the cost to plan, manage and run them:
- Platform Optimization and Virtualization makes IT infrastructures more effective through an analysis of workload requirements, reference architectures and validated solutions. Dell virtualization services can dramatically reduce total cost of ownership, provision virtual machines in minutes instead of the weeks for traditional machines and help customers build a standards-based virtual environment.
- Data Center Planning and Management helps customers make IT investment decisions faster based on sound best practices and key technology insights rather than long-term, manual consulting engagements.
- Disaster Recovery helps customers plan and implement an effective and affordable disaster recovery program balancing people, processes and technology.
- Data Management quickly diagnoses problems and recommends proven storage solutions to help eliminate unused capacity, provision storage faster, and comply with internal policies and external regulations.
- Facilities Efficiency resolves space, power and cooling issues in priority order to help customers avoid expensive air conditioning upgrades and help reduce energy consumption.

High Performance Computing: Dell believes future high performance computing clusters will be powered by standards-based cluster technology. For HPC and technical computing environments within the public and private sectors, Dell is adding the PowerEdge R410, a powerful, compact and quiet rack server that provides the right balance of features and performance, to its HPC server line-up.

Balanced Performance: Configured to increase productivity for intensive HPC workloads, the R410 has the raw computational horsepower needed for technical computing, with up to 80 percent performance improvements* over last generation servers. It is designed to save energy with policy-based power and thermal management, and standards-based Energy Smart components.
Increased scalability and performance: High-speed interconnects such as InfiniBand QDR and DDR provide the throughput needed for communication-intensive applications using PCIe gen2 I/O slots that double the theoretical I/O bandwidth of PCI gen1.
Simplified Management: The server comes pre-loaded with Dell Management Console (DMC) and Dell Lifecycle Controller for simplified management.
Inspired Design: Rack servers are designed with system and image commonality and an LCD screen positioned to provide aisle-level access for diagnostics. Convenient placement of interface ports and power make installation and redeployment easier. Clutter-free cable routing reduces complexity and makes airflow and maintenance more efficient.

The new PowerEdge T410 and R410 servers are available today starting at $999. The PowerEdge T710 server will be available in the coming weeks. The new EqualLogic PS 4000 is available today starting at $10,000. Servers, storage, virtualization solutions and Dell services are available through Dell or any of the company’s more than 49,000 Global PartnerDirect Channel Partners. In addition, as part of its ongoing commitment to the channel, Dell will continue to expand its partner certification program for consulting.