EMC Corporation (NYSE:EMC), the world leader in information infrastructure solutions, today unveiled the next generation of its flagship high-end storage array - the EMC Symmetrix DMX-4 series.
Building on the innovation and investment protection that has distinguished EMC's Symmetrix series as the market-leading, high-end storage array for over a decade, the new Symmetrix DMX-4 series is cost-effective and easy-to-use, and delivers unparalleled performance, security, scalability and energy efficiency.
With an end-to-end 4Gb/s design, a new point-to-point fibre channel back-end and support for the newest high capacity disk drives, Symmetrix DMX-4 systems will deliver significant advances in performance, security, availability and energy efficiency.
Through these architecture and software-driven improvements, EMC is increasing overall Symmetrix throughput by up to 30%. In addition, EMC is delivering industry leading performance for some of the most widely-used customer operations.
The new systems are up to 30% faster in RAID 5 and RAID 6 configurations for higher availability; offer 33% faster synchronous replication at distances up to 100 kilometers; and the ability to synchronously mirror data at distances up to 200 kilometers for business continuity, using EMC's leading SRDF (Symmetrix Remote Data Facility) software.
Local replication, using EMC TimeFinder software, can be done up to 10 times faster for improved point-in-time backups, online restores and volume migration.
EMC continues to deliver the highest levels of high-end storage security, through the addition of advanced security functionality from its RSA security division. Symmetrix DMX-4 systems now enable storage logs to be integrated as a part of audit log and compliance reporting provided by the RSA enVision platform.
Symmetrix DMX-4 systems feature built-in support for the enVision platform, providing automated, policy-based audit log management to enable customers to take quick action based on log-captured events, helping them to meet compliance requirements and to enhance their overall security. This new functionality - in tandem with the advanced RSA authentication, authorisation and audit capabilities introduced earlier this year - provides Symmetrix DMX-4 systems with the industry's most comprehensive set of built-in capabilities to preserve information confidentiality, integrity and availability.
The new Symmetrix DMX-4 system is the first high-end storage array to support new high-capacity 750GB SATA II disk drives alongside high-performance 4Gb/s fibre channel disk drives.
By placing the right data on the right type of disk drive to meet service levels, customers can reduce the amount of power it takes to store a terabyte of information by up to 91%. EMC offers the ability to mix and match the broadest range of disk drive configurations to further help customers consolidate application tiers through 'in the box' storage tiering - the alignment of data accessibility requirements with capacity, power and cost considerations.
Support for the latest lower cost, high capacity disk drives also enables Symmetrix DMX-4 customers to maximise storage density, which in turn optimises energy efficiency.
Symmetrix DMX-4 is the most energy-efficient enterprise storage array in the world, using up to 70% less power than competitive offerings. In addition, EMC plans to introduce thin provisioning capabilities for Symmetrix DMX in the first quarter of 2008, enabling customers to further improve storage utilisation and simplify storage allocation while continuing to improve energy efficiency.
For customers looking for cost-effective, high-end storage in a compact footprint, the new Symmetrix DMX-4 950 system is an entry point into the Symmetrix DMX-4 family. It supports FICON for connectivity in mainframe environments, in addition to iSCSI and fibre channel connectivity, and delivers the full performance, functionality and availability of Symmetrix DMX-4 systems for customers with constrained space, power and cooling resources.
"With over 700 000 clients looking to us for vital healthcare services, the success of our initiatives hinges on our ability to protect, move and manage our critical patient care data and operational information," said Roy Southby, director of IT, Interior Health Authority, British Columbia.
"EMC Symmetrix DMX systems handle our most extreme information storage and management requirements, enabling us to maximise data availability and meet demanding performance and service level requirements in a consolidated footprint. With the new features being announced today with Symmetrix DMX-4, we'll benefit from even greater performance, advanced security features and enhanced ease of management capabilities that extend the value of our investment in Symmetrix."
EMC continues to provide Symmetrix DMX customers with advanced ease-of-use features through the Symmetrix Management Console (SMC). By using an intuitive, Web-based interface, the Symmetrix DMX-4 can easily be optimised for performance and quality of service via Dynamic Cache Partitioning and Symmetrix Priority Controls, and data mobility between storage tiers is simplified using Virtual LUNs.
"The EMC Symmetrix DMX-4 is about much more than storing data on disks," said Tony Asaro, senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group. "The market success of the Symmetrix DMX system is the result of many essential elements, including data protection, security and consolidation. The Symmetrix DMX-4 performance improvements directly impact SRDF and TimeFinder efficiency that are fundamental to the growing demands of the data centre.
"The 750GB disk drive support creates greater levels of consolidation within the Symmetrix DMX-4 system. The consolidation of storage assets is perhaps more important today than ever with the need to reduce power, cooling and floor space. Additionally, we believe EMC's drive to provide greater levels of storage security in the data centre is critical. Information security needs to be more of a priority and EMC's leadership in this area is helping to push this agenda forward."
Frank Touwen, CEO of EMC South Africa, said: "The Symmetrix DMX-4 is the most cost-effective, easy-to-use, secure and energy efficient high-end storage array on the market today. We've made significant investments to deliver new capabilities in areas that matter most to customers, and have also made it easy for our existing customers to take advantage of these features. In the high-end, no one comes close to EMC's pace of innovation and development, and EMC is resolved to maintaining it to further help customers address their most pressing information challenges and widen its competitive lead."
Availability: Symmetrix DMX-4 will be generally available in August 2007 with support for 750GB SATA II disk drives later in 2007.
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EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) is the world's leading developer and provider of information infrastructure technology and solutions that enable organisations of all sizes to transform the way they compete and create value from their information. Information about EMC's products and services can be found at www.EMC.com.
EMC, Symmetrix, SRDF and RSA are registered trademarks and Enginuity, TimeFinder and enVision are trademarks of EMC Corporation. Other trademarks may be the property of their respective owners.
This release contains "forward-looking statements" as defined under the Federal Securities Laws. Actual results could differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of certain risk factors, including but not limited to: (i) adverse changes in general economic or market conditions; (ii) delays or reductions in information technology spending; (iii) risks associated with acquisitions and investments, including the challenges and costs of integration, restructuring and achieving anticipated synergies; (iv) competitive factors, including but not limited to pricing pressures and new product introductions; (v) the relative and varying rates of product price and component cost declines and the volume and mixture of product and services revenue; (vi) component and product quality and availability; (vii) the transition to new products, the uncertainty of customer acceptance of new product offerings and rapid technological and market change; (viii) insufficient, excess or obsolete inventory; (ix) war or acts of terrorism; (x) the ability to attract and retain highly qualified employees; (xi) fluctuating currency exchange rates; and (xii) other one-time events and other important factors disclosed previously and from time to time in EMC's filings with the US Securities and Exchange Commission. EMC disclaims any obligation to update any such forward-looking statements after the date of this release.
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