Dell announces the new “virtual era” with new storage solutions

International technology company Dell has announced the launch of 3 new storage products which they believe could signal the start of a new “virtual era”.

The first product to be announced was the new firmware 5.0 update for its EqualLogic range. The firm promise this new update will allow firms to concentrate on "intelligent data management”. In addition, the firm say the update would automatically create extra space on a storage array, without the need for human interaction. In essence, this would allow the software to adapt to changes much more quickly and effectively.

Another pro of the update is the ability for the firmware to copy data into a new virtual machine up to 72% faster than previous efforts – this will have a huge effect on all businesses which use virtual desktops and other online storage facilities. 

Crucially Dell’s vice president of storage, Darren Thomas, announced server virtualisation is fast becoming the norm in data centre.

Other products announced this week include the EqualLogic PS6000VS and PS6010XVS which enable the combination of SAS and SSD drives on one enclosure for the first time and two new PowerVault Storage arrays. These are aimed at small businesses in particular and Dell claim they offer twice the connectivity, capacity and performance of the previous models. 

In addition to the new products, Dell have also announced they will offer half day workshops for free to help set up the EqualLogic systems.  

The products’ compatibility with virtual servers makes them the ideal companion for virtual desktops and could mean faster turnover time and could effectively save companies a lot of money as a result.