Dell Introduces New Products, Including First Fibre Channel Switch for Windows NT Storage Area Networks
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SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 23, 1999--
Develops Software to Enable Storage Consolidation; Teams with Industry Leaders to Deliver Complete Storage Area Network Solution
New products introduced today by Dell Computer Corporation (NASDAQ:DELL) will help make it easier and less costly for customers to store, manage and protect their business-critical data.
The new products include Dell's PowerVault(tm) 50F Fibre Channel switch, PowerVault 35F bridge and Fibre Channel Optical host bus adapter. Each supports Dell's introduction of its low-cost storage area network (SAN) solution, which is designed to move mainframe-class data storage technologies into the industry-standard Microsoft(R) Windows NT(R) market.
In addition to new products, through a joint effort Dell and Microsoft developed new software that makes it possible for multiple PowerEdge(R) servers running Windows NT to share a single storage system. With this technology, called Dell OpenManage(tm) Storage Consolidation software, customers can consolidate critical business data onto a single, reliable, high-performance storage system, making the data easier to manage and less costly to maintain.
With today's announcement, Dell, the world's leading direct computer systems company, is the first major systems vendor to offer a fibre channel switch for Windows NT storage environments. The new product provides customers up to eight times the performance of most fibre channel hub products sold for SANs today. Switches are used in storage area networks to direct data between a computer server and the storage subsystems. Dell's new fibre channel switch, the PowerVault 50F, will be priced at approximately $1,350 per port, which Dell expects will be about 30 percent below most fibre channel switches sold in UNIX environments today.
Dell's SAN solution is designed to speed the time it takes to backup data by 75 percent over most current backup methods. A key enabler of faster backup times is Dell's new fibre channel bridge, the PowerVault 35F, in conjunction with Dell's PowerVault 130T tape library. Using the PowerVault 35F with the PowerVault 130T is designed to reduce backups that took 16 hours in traditional, centralized configurations to just four hours. The bridge is used in a SAN to convert SCSI data, the typical format used in computer servers and the only format for tape libraries, to the high-speed fibre channel format typical in storage subsystems.
"Dell has aggressively ramped its PowerVault storage division to introduce products that not only meet the needs of our customers today, but we believe will meet their needs well into the future," said Michael Lambert, senior vice president of Dell's Enterprise Systems Group. "Our joint development effort with Microsoft further demonstrates the leading-edge, standards-based work being done for customers by our storage engineers."
Products introduced today to support Dell's storage area network solution include:
-- Dell OpenManage Storage Consolidation Software, the result of a
joint development effort with Microsoft, enables four Dell
PowerEdge(R) servers to share external storage with one Dell
PowerVault 650F storage system. The software is available
immediately to Dell customers.
-- The Dell PowerVault 50F Fibre Channel Switch, an 8-port switch,
supports up to four PowerEdge servers in a SAN. The PowerVault
50F Fibre Channel Switch enables high-speed distribution of data
from servers to storage devices. Available today, prices for the
new switch will start at approximately $1,350 per port, which is
about 30 percent less than most alternative products.
-- The Dell PowerVault 35F Fibre Channel Multiport Bridge connects
SCSI-based (Small Computer System Interface) tape libraries to
the fibre-channel network. Available in March, prices for the
PowerVault 35F will start at $5,000.
-- Dell PowerVault Fibre Channel Optical Host Bus Adapter provides a
fiber optic connection from the servers to the SAN or directly to
external storage. With this new capability, PowerEdge servers can
be connected up to 500 meters apart from a storage system or
other point in the SAN, enabling disaster tolerant systems.
Available immediately, prices for the new host bus adapter start
at $1,479.
-- Certified SAN backup software to support tape backup on the SAN.
Dell offers Computer Associates' Enterprise Library Option for
ARCserveIT v. 6.6 for Windows NT, and Seagate Software's Shared
Storage Option for Backup Exec v. 7.2 for Windows NT. Legato,
Tivoli and VERITAS also plan to certify their enterprise backup
software with Dell's SAN by the second quarter of 1999.
"Dell is fulfilling the promise of high-end NT-based systems in business-critical, data-intensive environments, by providing customers a highly available and scalable storage area network," said Jeff Kernan, vice president and chief information officer of Lithonia Lighting, a $1.2 billion commercial light fixture manufacturer in Atlanta. "With continued dramatic increase in data storage requirements, high performance, lower-cost storage consolidation for our data center is critical to Lithonia's business and IT success. We expect Dell's solution will meet our long-term needs."
Dell's new suite of PowerVault SAN products are designed for use with Dell's PowerEdge family of servers and PowerVault storage products, including the PowerVault 650F fibre channel disk based systems and the PowerVault 130T DLT Tape Library. Today's offering is the result of teaming with storage market leaders including Brocade Communications, Data General's CLARiiON division, Computer Associates, Crossroads, Legato, Microsoft, Seagate, StorageTek, Tivoli, Veritas, and Qlogic.
Additional information on Dell PowerEdge server and Dell PowerVault storage products is available at www.dell.com/products/poweredge/index.htm and www.dell.com/products/powervault/index.htm.
Ranked No. 125 among the Fortune 500 companies and No. 363 in the Fortune Global 500, Dell Computer Corporation is the world's leading direct computer systems company, based on revenues of $18.2 billion for the past four quarters. Dell designs, manufactures and customizes products and services to customer requirements and offers an extensive selection of software and peripherals. Information on Dell and its products can be obtained through its toll-free number 800/388-8542 or by accessing the Dell World Wide Web site at www.dell.com.
Dell, PowerEdge is a registered trademark, PowerVault and OpenManage are trademarks, and DellWare and DirectLine are registered service marks of Dell Computer Corporation. Fortune 500 is a registered trademark of Time Inc. Microsoft, Windows NT and Windows 2000 are registered trademarks of Microsoft Corp. Dell disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others.
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