Dell Launches New Storage and Server Hardware for SMBs

Dell made an announcement last week about its expanded technology, with a number of new products targeted specifically at the SMBs.

On the storage front, the EqualLogic PS4000 storage array was created to help SMBs and remote office customers meet ever-growing demands for storage. Positioned as an affordable entry point to the EqualLogic series of virtualized iSCSI storage hardware, the PS4000 is especially suited for remote offices or small and medium businesses that require a storage array.

One advantage I can see is how this SAN can be quickly upgraded with additional PS Series arrays as capacity requirements increase. In addition, the built-in auto-replication technology also ensures that data can be replicated to a centralized backup location, greatly reducing the risk of localized data loss.

SMBs that do not require the performance and expansion capabilities of the PS4000 will probably want to consider PowerVault NX3000 network attached storage (NAS) instead. The PowerVault NX3000 is able to share files across Windows and non-Windows clients, while reducing duplicate files via Dell's single-instance storage (SIS) technology. In SIS, duplicate files are identified and replaced with pointers to the stored version, which helps to eliminate space waste in large multi-user scenarios.

In addition, the distributed file system in the PowerVault NX3000 gives users simplified, quick access to data stored across wide WAN/LAN environments. Where necessary, the NX3000 is also capable of serving as an (optional) iSCSI target, which is a nice feature to have.

Where servers are concerned, Dell unveiled the next generation of its PowerEdge servers based on the new Intel Xeon 5500 series of processors. The new server models here are the PowerEdge T410 and T710 tower servers, as well as the the R140 rack server.

The tower-based PowerEdge T410 and rack-based R140 both feature a more compact form factor that allows them to fit into tight spaces and shallow racks, respectively. The PowerEdge T710, on the other hand, can fit up to 16 hard disk drives for a large local storage capacity that a growing SMB will appreciate.