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Dell launches storage offensive for Windows NT
By Mark Hammond, PC Week Online
February 24, 1999 10:17 AM ET
REDWOOD SHORES, Calif. -- Dell Computer Corp. is helping to drive consolidated storage in Windows NT environments with the launch Tuesday of new PowerVault storage area network solutions.
At a press briefing here, Dell announced the availability of new fibre-channel PowerVault products for the NT market, including software that enables multiple servers to share a single storage system.
The software, called OpenManage, was developed in conjunction with Microsoft Corp. and supports about four Dell PowerEdge servers running NT, Dell officials said.
The number of servers supported will be expanded with a hardware upgrade later this year that increases from two the number of cascading switches, enhancing scalability, said Michael Lambert, senior vice president of Dell's enterprise systems group.
The new products include the PowerVault 50F Fibre Channel Switch, an eight-port switch that enables data distribution from servers to storage devices. Pricing begins at $1,350 per port.
Available in March will be the PowerVault 35F Fibre Channel Multiport Bridge, which connects SCSI-based (small computer system interface) tape libraries to a fibre-channel network. Pricing will start at $5,000.
Available now is the PowerVault Fibre Channel Optical Host Bus Adapter, which provides a fiber optic connection from servers to the SAN or directly to external storage. Maximum distance between servers and storage is 500 meters. Pricing starts at $1,479.
SAN backup software supporting Dell's system is available now from Computer Associates International Inc. and Seagate Software Inc. Legato Systems Inc., Tivoli Systems Inc. and Veritas Software Corp. will offer certified software in the coming months, officials said.
Brian Ball, general manager of component services at Microsoft, in Redmond, Wash., said Dell was the first vendor to deliver an industry-standard storage consolidation solution for NT, although others would soon follow.
Putting pressure on rivals
Dell's foray into the SAN market is certain to exert price pressure on competitors, said John McArthur, storage systems research program director at International Data Corp., in Framingham, Mass.
"What's important is that it's a fibre-channel switching architecture for NT, delivered by Dell with their direct sales model, and I expect it to be very price-competitive and put the fear of God in a lot of PC server suppliers,'' McArthur said.
Fibre-channel switching is generally faster than a hub-based architecture.
The limited number of servers initially supported shouldn't inhibit Dell's initiative, McArthur said. "This is a technology where users need to get in and kick the tires first,'' he said.
Dell, of Round Rock, Texas, is also expanding its technical consulting services to include storage planning, consolidation and performance, and backup and recovery.
RichieH |
