Dell PowerVault MD3 Storage Array

Dell, Inc. announced its densest storage array yet with the PowerVault MD3, storing up to 180TB in a 60-drive, 4U rack enclosure.

The company also has added new features to the DR4000 disk-based backup and recovery appliance designed to include tighter integration with Symantec OST (OpenStorage) and to support the ability to replicate from multiple appliances to one.
 
The MD3 dense arrays are for entry-level, medium-sized, or enterprise organisations that seek performance computing from a small form factor to save space, power and administrative costs. As a 12U configuration, with one MD3 dense array combined with two MD3 dense expansion enclosures, the storage solution can scale up to 180 HDDs, store up to 540TB, and supports FC, SAS and iSCSI protocols.
 
The MD3 include Dynamic Disk Pools (DDP) that help maintain affordable, high-bandwidth computing by recovering failed drives faster than traditional RAID environments. DDP when combined with the high performance tiering on MD3 dense storage array can deliver CDP with improved productivity and lower TCO.
 
It meets needs from customers setting up their first storage installations to those preparing for the growth of big data. Application management spans from general purpose computing to high-bandwidth, HPC environments.
 
The   globally this month with the same software, firmware and management features as the PowerVault MD3 series, offering customers the same benefits of the PowerVault MD platform but in a smaller design. As a modular platform, customers can non-disruptively grow storage with their business and respond to changing conditions with an infrastructure designed to support HPC applications.
 
Dell has also announced updates to the DR4000, a disk-based backup and recovery solution that features deduplication and compression capabilities from Dell’s Ocarina Networks acquisition.
 
Since it was first announced in January at Dell Storage Forum London, the DR4000 has been popular with SMB customers who want to augment or replace traditional backup and recovery environments with disk-based solutions for their speed, access and reliability.
 
The updated DR4000 supports the ability to replicate from multiple appliances to one, enabling customers with remote offices or locations to replicate to a centralised location.
 
New updates to the DR4000 also include support for Symantec OST (OpenStorage), an API that enables third-party intelligent storage devices to integrate with Symantec backup software applications. When a DR4000 is used with OST, the backup application becomes aware of the properties and capabilities of the appliance, and can better control backup images. The DR4000 with DR Rapid Data Access can increase performance and can now backup up to 4TB per hour when using Symantec OST (Based on testing by Dell Labs in June 2012. Actual performance will vary based on DMA configuration, number of parallel backup streams in use, % of duplicates in the dataset used, usage and manufacturing variability.).
 
The new DR4000 features are available this month globally.

"Dell continues to invest in its SMB and mid-market storage solutions to help customers looking for the right balance of performance and value," said Brett Roscoe, GM, Dell Data Management Solutions. "The dense array design of the new MD3 combined with enhanced software capabilities across our MD and DR products provide the power to do more with a growing set of features and capabilities that provide new levels of efficiency and performance."

Pricing
The zero-percent PowerVault offer is a 36-month zero-percent FMV lease on all PowerVault storage components with a minimum purchase of $5,000 or more and runs from Aug. 4, to Nov. 2, 2012 in the U.S. This FMV lease offers customers monthly payments and end-of-lease options.