Dell Technologies World: Bolsters Dell PowerStore with Storage Performance, Resiliency and Efficiency Advancements

Dell Technologies, Inc. unveils PowerStore advancements for better performance, efficiency, resiliency and multicloud data mobility.

The company also expands APEX portfolio with new AIOs advancements and enhanced multicloud and Kubernetes storage management.

“Our PowerStore advancements and new lineup of financial and operational advantages for customers and partners pack a powerful punch and raise the bar in all-flash storage,” said Arthur Lewis, president, infrastructure solutions group, Dell. “And we didn’t stop there. Our focus on innovation also extends to Dell APEX, where we’re improving infrastructure and application reliability through the power of AI and automation, making it even easier to manage multicloud and Kubernetes storage.”

Enhancing storage performance, efficiency, resiliency and multicloud capabilities
PowerStore helps manage increasing workload demands with the industry’s most flexible QLC storage ⁽¹⁾ and significant performance enhancements.

QLC-based storage: Delivers enterprise-class performance at a lower cost per terabyte when compared to TLC models. Customers can start with as few as 11 QLC drives and scale up to 5.9PB of effective capacity per appliance.⁽²⁾ PowerStore’s intelligent load balancing capabilities help save costs and improve workload placement across mixed TLC and QLC clusters.
Increased performance: Improves hardware performance up to 66% through new data-in-place higher model appliance upgrades.⁽³⁾

Powerstore Manager screenshot
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PowerStore software advancements improve efficiency, security and cloud mobility:

Software-driven performance boost: Non-disruptive software updates available at no additional cost to existing customers deliver up to a 30% higher mixed workload performance boost ⁽⁴⁾ and up to 20% lower latency.⁽⁵⁾
Improved data protection: More choices for customers safeguarding critical workloads with native synchronous replication for block and file workloads and native metro replication for Windows, Linux and VMware environments.
Increased Efficiency: Software enhancements provide up to 20% better data reduction ⁽⁶⁾ and up to 28% more effective TB/watt.⁽⁷⁾
Multicloud data mobility enhancements: Customers can advance multicloud strategies and simplify workload mobility by connecting PowerStore to Dell APEX Block Storage for Public Cloud, the world’s most scalable cloud block storage.⁽⁸⁾

“Dell PowerStore is helping Fulgent Genetics transform patient care in pathology, oncology, reproductive health, as well as infectious and rare diseases, by significantly accelerating data processing speed so that our physicians can deliver faster genetic insights and test results to our patients,” said Mike Lacenere, VP, applications, Fulgent Genetics. “PowerStore enhances our commitment to sustainability by minimizing energy use and reducing the size of our data centers while providing us considerable cost savings. With PowerStore’s new advances, we expect this trifecta of performance, efficiency, and cost savings to continue to increase which will help us improve patient care.”

These PowerStore advancements are part of PowerStore Prime, a new integrated offering that combines updated PowerStore systems with programs designed to offer customers greater storage investment protection and increase Dell partner profitability.

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Offering greater storage investment protection
PowerStore Prime offers customers greater flexibility to make the most of their IT investment with:

5:1 data reduction guarantee: Customers can buy with confidence, save on costs and reduce energy with the industry’s best data reduction guarantee.⁽⁹⁾
Continuous modernization: Lifecycle Extension with Dell ProSupport or ProSupport Plus offers customers 24/7 access to live support, flexible technology upgrades, capacity trade-ins, and storage advisory services.
Flexible consumption: Customers can consume PowerStore through a Dell APEX subscription, paying only for what they need monthly.

Empowering partners to meet customer demands
PowerStore Prime also makes it easier and more rewarding to sell PowerStore. Building on the Dell partner-first strategy for storage, partners can now increase PowerStore sales with competitively priced product bundles and deliver expanded use cases for joint customers. Partners can also streamline sales motions when selling PowerStore and PowerProtect offers together.

“PowerStore’s new 5:1 Data Reduction Guarantee and new QLC array are a testament of Dell’s unwavering commitment to meet customer efficiency goals while lowering the cost of advanced storage,” said John Lochausen, technical solutions architect, World Wide Technology. “Dell’s new partner incentives and guarantees bring it all together, putting us and our customers in a position to succeed with the latest advances in all-flash storage.”

Unleashing the power of AI to simplify and automate IT management
Dell Technologies continues to evolve its APEX portfolio to meet customer needs across key focus areas like AI and multicloud. APEX innovations deliver leading AIOps capabilities and improve storage and Kubernetes management.

APEX AIOps Infrastructure Observability process.

Dell APEX AIOps SaaS optimizes Dell infrastructure health and service availability with AI-driven full stack observability and incident management. It is a significant expansion of Dell’s AIOps tools that simplifies operations, improves IT agility and delivers greater control over applications and infrastructure through three integrated capabilities:

Infrastructure Observability: Resolves infrastructure issues up to 10x faster ⁽¹⁰⁾ than traditional approaches through AI-powered health, cybersecurity and sustainability insights and recommendations. Generative AI-powered Dell APEX AIOps Assistant delivers instant responses to infrastructure questions and provides detailed problem-solving recommendations.
Application Observability: Yields up to 70% reduction in mean time to resolution of application issues ⁽¹¹⁾ through full stack application topologies and analytics for assuring application availability and performance.
Incident Management: Optimizes digital infrastructure availability through AI-driven incident detection and resolution that reduces customer-reported multivendor and multicloud infrastructure issues by up to 93%.⁽¹²⁾

APEX AIOps Application Observability Process.

APEX Navigator SaaS expands to include Kubernetes storage management and additional support for APEX Storage for Public Cloud offers:

Dell APEX Navigator for Kubernetes is generally available, simplifying Kubernetes storage management on PowerFlex and soon, PowerScale and APEX Cloud Platform for Red Hat OpenShift, by bringing advanced data services like data replication, application mobility and observability to containers.
APEX Navigator for multicloud storage adds support for APEX File Storage for AWS with support planned for APEX File Storage for Microsoft Azure later this year. This offer simplifies storage configuration, deployment and monitoring across a universal storage layer created by Dell on-premises and public cloud storage.

Customers can get started with Dell APEX Navigator for Multicloud Storage and now Dell APEX Navigator for Kubernetes through a 90-day, risk-free trial.

Availability:

PowerStore software enhancements will be globally available in late May.
PowerStore QLC model and data-in-place higher-model appliance upgrades for Gen 2 customers will be globally available in July.
PowerStore multicloud data mobility will be globally available in 2Q24.
APEX AIOps Infrastructure Observability and Incident Management are available. Application Observability availability is planned for October 2024.
APEX Navigator for Multicloud Storage support for Dell APEX File Storage for AWS is available in USA.
APEX Navigator for Multicloud Storage support for Dell APEX File Storage for Microsoft Azure will be available in the United States in 2H24.
APEX Navigator for Kubernetes available now for PowerFlex in the United States with support for Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Red Hat OpenShift, Dell PowerScale and additional geographies planned for the 2H24.

Resources:
Blog: PowerStore Prime: Smart Choice for Unstoppable Storage Advantage
Blog: Dell Technologies World: Unleashing Innovation for Partners
Blog: Dell APEX – A Catalyst for Multicloud Innovation
Blog: IT Operations Needs a New Wardrobe
Blog: Traverse Kubernetes Storage Seas with APEX Navigator and PowerFlex

⁽¹⁾_{Based on Dell analysis of Primary Storage QLC arrays – May 2024.}⁽²⁾_{Effective capacity assumes average 5:1 data reduction. Actual results vary, refer to Power Sizer for capacity data in your environment.}⁽³⁾_{Based on internal analysis comparing PowerStore 3200 vs. PowerStore 5200 resource maximums running PowerStore OS 4.0. Performance comparison using peak IOPs running 70/30 read/write mix, 8k block size over FC. Actual results will vary.}⁽⁴⁾_{Based on internal analysis comparing PowerStore 5200 peak IO/s with PowerStore OS 3.6 vs. PowerStoreOS 4.0, running 70/30 read/write mix, 128k block size over FC. Actual results will vary.}⁽⁵⁾_{Based on internal testing of 64k reads on PowerStore 1200 with 32GB FC running PowerStoreOS 3.6 vs 4.0}⁽⁶⁾_{Based on internal analysis comparing data reduction with PowerStoreOS 3.5 vs. PowerStoreOS 4.0 with variable block compression, Actual results will vary.}⁽⁷⁾_{Based on comparing maximum effective PowerStore capacities of 4:1 versus average 5:1 data reduction. Actual results vary, refer to Power Sizer for capacity data in your environment.}⁽⁸⁾_{Based on Dell analysis of storage software deployable on AWS, Azure, and Google Cloud, May 2023}⁽⁹⁾_{Based on Dell analysis comparing primary storage data reduction guarantees vs Dell’s Storage Data Reduction program – May 2024. For PowerStore, applies to new arrays initially installed with PowerStoreOS 4.0. For details see: All-Flash Data Reduction Guarantee Terms and Conditions. Actual data reduction rates will vary.}⁽¹⁰⁾_{CloudIQ User Survey, Dell Technologies, 2021. Actual results may vary.}⁽¹¹⁾_{Based on an IBM-sponsored research: ““The Total Economic Impact Of IBM Instana Observability Cost Savings And Business Benefits Enabled By Instana Observability,” Forrester, January 2024. Actual results may vary.}⁽¹²⁾_{Based on Dell Analysis, 2023. Results may vary.}