Dell and Enterasys: A Moving Experience

"The Dell team worked with the suppliers to ensure we had everything we needed before the move. Dell understood how important this move was to us, and it gave us a great feeling to know they had us covered."

— Dan Petlon, vice president, IT and quality assurance, Enterasys

Challenge

High co-location costs prompt Enterasys to move its data center infrastructure in-house, but the IT team faces power and cooling constraints, as well as a challenging deadline.

Solution

The IT team meets the deadline and cuts operating costs by virtualizing on Dell PowerEdge servers and Dell EqualLogic iSCSI storage arrays.

Benefit

Get IT Faster: Virtualizing on Dell hardware enables the IT team to move into a new data center in only six weeks; Dell EqualLogic arrays enable the team to add storage in half an hour.

Run IT Better: Server consolidation helps reduce power usage; consolidating on Dell servers reduces the need to purchase new hardware.

Grow IT Smarter: Virtualized Dell infrastructure allows the IT team to easily accommodate future growth.

New Dell EqualLogic Solutions Simplify Storage

Just days after closing its EqualLogic acquisition, Dell today begins worldwide delivery of next-generation iSCSI storage area network (SAN) arrays – the Dell EqualLogic PS5000 Series. Detailed product information is available at dell.com/equallogic.

• Easy to Install, Manage and Grow


• Ideal for Virtual Infrastructures

“We are committed to simplifying IT and EqualLogic will help us realize that vision for our customers worldwide,” said Michael Dell, chairman and CEO, Dell. “Together, Dell and EqualLogic will deliver storage and server virtualization solutions that enable customers of any size to build resilient, flexible data-centers.”

Dell EqualLogic PS5000 Series storage arrays share a revolutionary architecture to serve as the backbone of virtual data-centers. This dynamic architecture can deliver advanced storage functionality, simultaneous scaling of performance with capacity and enterprise-class management for one upfront price - eliminating upsells and hidden licensing fees. Using the iSCSI interconnect, the Dell EqualLogic architecture creates a flexible, virtualized environment for dynamic volume creation and movement, thin provisioning, scalability, remote replication, and easy interoperability within any IP-based data-centre.

“Networked storage has been too complex for too long. Dell EqualLogic helps solve that problem,” said Darren Thomas, vice president and general manager. “This is virtualized, consolidated storage that is self-managing, affordable and easy to use, regardless of scale. We’re automating complex tasks, enabling fast and flexible provisioning while seamlessly integrating into the existing IT network. That’s simplifying IT and this is the future of storage.”

According to IDC, shipments of iSCSI-based storage solutions will increase 138 percent annually over the next five years. “This is twice the growth we’re seeing in the worldwide disk storage systems market,” said Benjamin Woo, vice president, Enterprise Storage Systems at IDC.

“Customers are turning to iSCSI as an easier way to integrate and manage their data-centre environments. With its investment in EqualLogic and the expansion of its overall storage portfolio, Dell is clearly positioning itself to go after this trend.”

Dell EqualLogic PS5000 Series Attributes

• iSCSI Interconnectivity – utilizes the IP protocol to enable fully virtualized storage arrays and storage networks that work seamlessly in the IP data-centre.


• Virtualization in the Array – built-in virtualization architecture provides extensive flexibility, intelligent automation of routine processes and on-the-fly performance optimization that responds to application demands.


• Modular Scalability – each modular storage array is a complete SAN; as arrays are added to a group, storage performance grows linearly, network bandwidth expands and the group continues to behave as one virtual SAN.


• Advanced Storage Management – built-in enterprise-class storage management capabilities, including remote replication and thin provisioning.


• Configurable for Capacity/Performance – configure each array for the desired ratio of capacity to performance; create multiple tiers of SAS and SATA-based storage in a single SAN, and optimize each tier for the applications it serves.