Dell Computer, as part of its blitz on the $24-billion enterprise computing arena, today (30 June) makes its first foray into the high-end storage market with an exciting new brand: PowerVault.
Within the PowerVault family, Dell will offer a range of products for differing customer needs, including SCSI-based storage subsystems, tape backup systems, storage management software and Fibre Channel-based enterprise-level scalable disk subsystems.
"Dell is launching the PowerVault line with the same intensity and customer-focus we gave our server business when we entered market 20 months ago," says Glenn Jones, marketing manager for Dell Computer in South Africa.
"We expect to grow quickly and achieve in the storage market what we have done in the server market - lever our direct business model to bring superior value to customers by providing them with high-end technology at superior prices."
First up is the PowerVault 650F, which will be the highest performing system in the line. PowerVault 650F is designed to support high-end Windows NT and NetWare server environments with rich storage features typically found only in a higher-end UNIX arena.
Customers will use the new storage system to meet their data centre storage requirements for applications such as Internet/intranet, database, messaging and enterprise storage consolidation.
The PowerVault 650F uses Fibre Channel technology throughout, and is designed for superior performance, added levels of redundancy and flexibility.
"International Data Corporation (IDC) research estimates that the NT portion of the fibre channel disk storage subsystem market will grow from $310-million in 1998 to $3,2-billion by 2001," Jones remarks. "Fibre Channel-based storage solutions will exceed 50% of the external open systems disk storage market by 2000.
"Rack-mountable PowerVault 650F is designed with many high availability features to minimise a customer's risk of critical data loss. It will be available with dual-ported fibre channel disk drives and other redundant components to help eliminate any single point of failure.
"High-availability features include redundant RAID controllers, power supplies, power cords and fans. The system will also support fail-over software capabilities for NT-based servers."
A single PowerVault 650F system can be configured with up to 120 Fibre Channel disk drives with a total storage capacity of over 2 TB. A single Dell server can access up to three PowerVault 650F systems for a total of over 6 TB of storage on one server. This enables customers to increase storage capacity as requirements grow.
Dell PowerVault products will be offered with storage management software tools for installation, configuration and monitoring. They will integrate seamlessly with Dell's OpenManage systems management strategy.
"OpenManage is a cross-product-line, standards-based systems management strategy that gives enterprise customers systems management choices," Jones explains. "OpenManage helps customers gain more control over their computer systems and reduce the total cost of owning them."
Dell will offer service and support for its storage products through its strategic partnerships with UNISYS Corporation, Wang Global and Data General's CLARiiON division.
By integrating these world-class service companies into its direct business model, Dell offers its global customers a single point of contact and accountability for tailored service offerings, high-quality delivery and systems management.
Share
Editorial contacts