The Silicon Whisperer Necessary Business Technology Advice

15Dec/101

Dell to buy virtual storage company Compellent – A good cloud play.

For those that are big fans of Dell or Compellent (like I am), some great news is coming out of Round Rock, TX. Dell has just closed a deal to buy virtual storage company Compellent. I’ve heard figures ranging from $820 million to $960 million, but the acquisition could be worth much more to Dell if they are able to execute in the mid-market virtualized storage and cloud computing space.

Virtualized storage offers businesses the ultimate flexibility by inserting a virtual layer between the blocks that are written to by attached servers and the physical disk blocks. Anyone who has worked with traditional SAN implementations knows the headaches that come from inflexible LUNs and being forced to over-provision space to ensure room for growth. The virtual layer in these new SANs allows you to thin-provision space out to servers. Thin-provisioning allows you to ‘promise’ a server a certain size LUN (say 2 TB) without actually committing that much space on disk. Alerts that are setup by SAN administrators inform them when a threshold has been reached for used disk space (say 80%) and they simply add more disks as needed to meet growth needs. By the same token, if a LUN is in need of more spindles for an increased IOPS load, an administrator can dynamically re-stripe the data across more disks to meet that demand.

Not only are virtualized SANs more flexible and more efficient to operate, they often do so at a lower price point than traditional SANs. Companies like Compellent also offer many if not all of the features of larger ‘enterprise’ SAN vendors at a fraction of the cost. They are just as reliable and scale up well to meet growth and demand needs. This flexibility and scalability are key in the cloud computing space as infrastructure has to react to demand dynamically.

Compellent will be an excellent addition to the Dell storage portfolio. I’m looking forward to implementing many more of their units in SMEs and Fortune 500s. It’s great to see a small company with a huge idea move into a larger company that has the cash and sales force to flood the channel with their offering.

For an in-depth analysis of your storage environment and future needs, contact the Silicon Whisperer. I’ll be happy to scope out a new storage solution, data growth plan and migration path for your business.

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17Jun/080

Dell Power Edge MD1120 – Reduced power consumption with 2.5" drives.

Hot Swappable
Dell has announced an optimized storage solution in the new Power Vault MD1120.  It utilizes 2.5" hard drives in order to achieve this reduction in power consumption. My only question is: How much faith would you put in 2.5" hard drives for all of your mission critical data? I would put none. Here is Dell's marketing pitch:

DellTM  PowerVaultTM  MD1120 delivers budget-friendly combination of storage performance and power efficiency
2.5-inch drives reduce power consumption by up to 50 percent over larger drives

  • In response to the ever-growing customer need for simple, highly capable and affordable storage to support data-intensive applications, Dell today announced the DellTM  PowerVaultTM  MD1120, its first storage expansion enclosure designed with small form factor 2.5-inch disk drives.
  • The Dell PowerVault MD1120 affords its customers higher performance through faster access to stored data, improved power efficiency through reduced power consumption and higher data center density through a compact package.
  • Customer savings:
       — The PowerVault MD1120 features 24 small form factor drives that require 70 percent less space and up to 50 percent less power than models featuring 3.5-inch drives. This results in a fully populated enclosure providing more than twice the IOPS per U over traditional 3.5-inch drive enclosures. Equipped with high-efficiency power supplies and the power-efficient 2.5-inch disk drives, the PowerVault MD1120 can reduce overall data center power consumption.
       — The PowerVault MD1120, designed to provide additional storage for Dell's PowerEdge servers, shares a common disk drive with select Dell servers – resulting in simpler management and reduced cost of stocking spare parts.
  • Functionality:
       — When attached to Dell's PowerEdge RAID Controller, the PowerVault MD1120 can scale to six enclosures and house up to 144 drives.
       — Its drives are connected to a fast, 3Gb/s Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) interface, making the PowerVault MD1120 an ideal entry-level enclosure for supporting business-critical applications such as e-mail, database, and online transaction processing.
  • "The PowerVault MD1120 delivers on Dell’s focus to provide data center solutions that are effective, versatile and, above all, simple to use," said Darren Thomas, vice president and general manager of Dell Enterprise Storage. "Whether IT organizations need expanded storage for servers taxed by data-intensive applications or are meeting the needs of anticipated growth, the MD1120 is a high-performance, compact, and highly efficient remedy."
  • “Higher spindle count in a small form factor is a good match for our test lab, because we do a lot of bus stress testing,” said Stephen A. Lewis, system validation engineer, Intel Corporation, Enterprise Platforms & Services Division. “Using the Dell PowerVault MD1120, we can achieve higher density in direct-attached storage, which makes our tests more effective; I would recommend the MD1120 to other test facilities and data centers where storage density is an issue.”
  • The expanded PowerVault MD family gives customers versatility and choice in storage technology for optimal support of business needs. With the addition of the MD1120, customers will have the choice of a 2.5-inch drive enclosure for performance-focused applications or a 3.5-inch drive enclosure when higher capacity is required.
  • The PowerVault MD1120 is available immediately, and Dell Services-including Dell Enterprise Support Services, Dell Infrastructure Services, Professional Installation Services and Disk Expansion Training-can help streamline the installation and maintenance of its entire line of disk expansion enclosures.
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10Mar/080

Dell Vostro – Low cost quality PCs to power your business.

When you need a PC for your small business, you have to consider price, usability and quality (often in that order.) Dell has been the preferred vendor of the business world for a long time now, but their offerings were often priced higher than competitors for the same caliber of PC. You often paid a premium for a uniform vendor for all of your technology needs, and this was before you even purchased support. I will say that their line of business laptops (Lattitude) was definitely a cut above the rest, but not all small businesses need that kind of PC. Dell's Optiplex desktop line is also the premier line of desktop PCs in the business world. They are fine machines that perform excellently. Recently, however, Dell shifted their focus to the small business owner. According to the most recent US Census data, small businesses account for over 70 percent of businesses in the US. Naturally, this is a pretty large segment to cater to, and it seems like Dell has finally figured that out.

Not to long ago, Dell announced the launch of their new Vostro line. Tagged as "Designed for Small Business," the new Vostro line of laptops and desktops comes with no trialware (translate to no bloat that slows down the PC from the beginning,) a 30 day money-back guarantee and a comprehensive set of standard services for small businesses. The new look of the Vostro line is also minimalist yet refined - a perfect match for the professional.


Although desktop PCs are still being used, recent improvements in mobile technology have allowed laptops to come close to the performance levels of their non-mobile counterparts. Laptops with 17 inch screens like the Vostro 1700 pictured here also feature full size keyboards with number keypads. Unless there is a reason that you absolutely do not want a laptop (such as a receptionist workstation) I would recommend opting for the best laptop you can afford.

In order to make life easier, Dell offers professional services to the small business owner to help with the day to day needs of information technology. Dell Connect allows a Dell technician to troubleshoot your PC remotely. DataSafe Online Backup allows you to securely backup your data so that it can be restored even if a disaster causes your PC to be destroyed. PC TuneUp keeps your PC running at maximum efficiency. Dell Network Assistant allows you to easily connect to most simple networks. Warranty terms of up to 4 years allow you to protect your investment for the long haul.

You can also purchase Dell Customized services to make your business life easier. Complete Care Accidental Damage Service also covers issues like spilled liquids and accidental drops which standard warranties do not cover. ( I have this for my XPS laptop and it has saved me thousands of dollars in repairs!) Dell On Call phone support service puts you in contact with trained support professionals 24x7x365. On Site System Setup plans get you up and running with ease and confidence. Recycling services make sure that your old PCs are disposed of in an environmentally friendly way. Asset Recovery services kick in if your PC is stolen and help local authorities recover your assets. Gold Technical Support provides top tier professional support from North American based support centers. (If you've ever called for support and been routed to India, you know how much frustration this will avoid!)

All in all, Dell has really stepped up their presence in the small business arena. The new low cost Vostro line definitely delivers the best mix of price, usability and quality to the small business user. The myriad of Dell services available with the Vostro line gives the small business owner the opportunity to own business class technology without having to hire dedicated IT staff to maintain the equipment. Backup and repair services give the small business owner peace of mind when disaster strikes their business. The style and performance of the Vostro line are perfect for small business. It goes without saying that I highly recommend the Dell Vostro line to any small or medium sized business who is in need of new PC(s).

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