Dell, Microsoft Unveil Integrated Enterprise-class Storage Solution

By Divya Narain

TMCnet Contributing Editor

 

Industry leaders, Dell Inc. and Microsoft (News - Alert) Corp. have joined forces to offer an enterprise-class storage solution which would cater to the needs of businesses, big and small.

The unified, networked storage system is useful both for file and application data and promises efficiency, adaptability and manageability.

The ground-breaking Dell (News - Alert) PowerVault NX1950 with Microsoft Windows Unified Data Storage Server 2003 is much more than a conventional network-attached storage solution. It is a system with integrated hardware and software which combines the performance and features of a mid-range unified storage device with affordability.

With the new integrated solution, users can not only simplify their storage but can also save on storage costs because it removes the need for separate licensing for supplementary features and protocols like multi-node cluster configurations, snapshots, local and remote replication and resource management.

“At Dell and Microsoft, we’ve listened to our customers and designed a system for a market segment that historically has been under-served and overcharged,” stated Darren Thomas, vice president and general manager, Dell storage and services, in a press release. “Dell and Microsoft share a vision of redefining the economics of the storage industry through simplicity, affordability and capability.”

“Customers want more powerful storage solutions to meet increasingly challenging business demands, yet networked storage technologies are still complex and costly,” said Gabriel Broner, general manager of storage at Microsoft talking about the relevance of the solution. “With Windows Unified Data Storage Server, Microsoft and Dell have focused on changing that dynamic. This is a significant step for Microsoft’s Universal Distributed Storage strategy of delivering enterprise storage capabilities to a broader market.”

An important feature of the solution is versatility; the unified IP SAN (iSCSI) block and file storage capabilities allow the storage of files as well as blocks of application data.

The solution offers seamless interoperability with CIFS (Windows) and NFS (Linux, UNIX, and Macintosh) environments. It also supports a range of third-party applications, including anti-virus and backup software.

Features like single-instance storage, full indexed text search distributed file services and management of user quotas, file screening and storage reports make the solution extremely manageable.

And finally features like automated setup and streamlined provisioning render the system utterly simple.

Starting at $17,000, the system is available for sale right away.

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Divya Narain is a contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.