Dell EMC PowerStore launches, eyes midrange storage, simplifies portfolio

Dell Technologies has launched a new midrange storage system that represents its first product built from the ground up as a combined company with EMC, VMware and other portfolio technologies.

Dell EMC PowerStore, built with a "clean sheet design," also represents simplification for Dell Technologies' sprawling storage portfolio, which rides under the Dell EMC brand. Customers can integrate PowerStore at their own pace since Dell Technologies is supporting its other brands and systems.

However, Dell is making it clear that PowerStore can integrate with its storage portfolio in just a few clicks.

Dell EMC PowerStore is 7x faster, and 3x more responsive than its previous midrange storage arrays and takes a container approach. Dell EMC PowerStore has also added a capability called AppsON that can tap VMware virtualized workloads and software applications for faster access. Dell EMC is also expanding its Dell EMC Future-Proof Program to provide anytime upgrades with malleable terms.

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What Dell EMC PowerStore is trying to address is a system that supports multiple workloads for the biggest part of storage--the midrange segment. Dell EMC competes in a fierce market with multiple players ranging from NetApp to Pure Storage to HPE to name a few. PowerStore, which is shipping, is designed to be an autonomous appliance that can scale, adapt and be flexible.

According to Dell, PowerStore is priced to compete in the midrange all-flash storage market.

Key items include:

• PowerStoreOS, a container-based architecture, as well as AppsON, which has a built-in VMware ESXi Hypervisor. AppsON is built for core and edge locations.
• Programmable infrastructure with VMware integration and support for Kubernetes, Ansible and VMware vRealize Orchestrator.

• Ability to scale workloads with an architecture for block, file and VMware vVols.
• End-to-end NVMe design and support for persistent memory via Intel Optane SSDs.
• Guaranteed 4:1 data reduction via always-on deduplication and compression.
• Built-in machine learning to automate processes such as volume placement, migrations and load balancing.
• Migration tools to other Dell EMC storage systems.
• Dell EMC is also looking to bolster PowerStore via its upgrade programs that allow customers can expand or enhance their performance or capacity after 180 days. PowerStore can also connect to all of the big three public clouds as a managed service. 

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