Innovations that deliver results faster: Extending the benefits of 12th generation servers

In February we announced the next generation of our PowerEdge servers to an eager audience. We’ve had a tremendous response from customers, who appreciate our focus on developing meaningful innovations that help them achieve more.

Dell customer Harvey Newman, Professor of Physics at the California Institute of Technology told us, “For nearly two decades, the Caltech High-Energy Physics group and Center for Advanced Computing Research have been working to increase data throughput over long distances to facilitate the transfer and sharing of large scientific data sets among researchers. With these new server, processor, and networking technologies, we will be able to help researchers spend less time transporting data and more time testing scientific ideas.”

Expanding our portfolio to meet broader needs

To prepare for the next generation, we had more than 7,700 conversations with customers, specifically about design requirements. We wanted to understand their working environment, their current needs, and how those needs might evolve. One thing we heard loud and clear: one solution does not fit all. Some IT users require high compute density, others need maximum performance and memory, while others want a complete system that is small enough to fit under a desk and quiet enough to operate in an office. To meet those needs we are now introducing nine more PowerEdge 12th generation servers.

Maximize efficiency

To improve the efficient use of IT resources we embed automation and intelligence in our servers and infrastructure that enable customers of all sizes to focus on adding value to their business, not rudimentary day-to-day tasks.

For our customers that need to manage multiple servers in the data center, we have a solution. With the one-to-many management capabilities in our blade Chassis Management Controller you can manage up to 288 of our new M420 blade nodes through a single IP address. That cuts out a bunch of administrative steps and headaches.

Small and medium business customers that want a straightforward, easy-to-use systems management console that provides basic Dell hardware management can utilize Dell OpenManage Essentials which is included in all of our new tower, rack and blade servers. Lots of customers see the benefits of our agent-free management:

Michael Fenn, Penn State University

Achieve more

Organizations today are looking at infrastructures to support improved applications and IT service delivery. One way Dell meets that need is by providing an integrated portfolio of infrastructure solutions across compute, storage and networking. We’re taking that integration to the next level with our newest PowerEdge 12th generation blade servers along with the new MXL 10/40G switch for our M1000e blade chassis system. Powered by Force10 technology, we bring the signature high performance to blade systems with the industry’s first 40G enabled blade switch. Packing more compute and high performance networking into the same shared physical space helps customers achieve more with a smaller footprint.

With the introduction of the PowerEdge M420, the world’s only quarter height 2-socket blade server, we are cutting blade infrastructure costs in half. This svelte blade server has double the processing density without any enterprise feature compromise, and packs a walloping performance punch with 175% rack-level improvement over half-height blades. The M420 is the densest 2-socket server in the world with the reliability, efficiency and enterprise class features that customers demand.

Ensure business continuity

No matter the size of your business or organization, secure, continual access to IT services is essential. We are extending reliability, availability and serviceability features across the full portfolio of Dell PowerEdge servers. Unlike some blade servers in the industry, the new PowerEdge M420, M520 and M820 blade servers have data protection with hardware RAID and serviceability with hot-swappable hard drives. We don’t short-change our small business customers with stripped down systems. We offer the world’s first full generation with enterprise-class RAS features for redundancy and fault-tolerance, memory mirroring, memory sparing, hot plug hard drives and redundant power supplies for large data centers and single tower servers alike.

Even more of our highest performing, most manageable, most innovative servers ever

We’re excited that the first wave of PowerEdge 12th generation servers is experiencing exceptional demand from customers around the globe. The new wave of PowerEdge servers brings Dell’s latest innovations to a broader audience. These new servers are well-suited to meet the needs of organizations that require all the enterprise-class features including embedded systems management they have come to expect from Dell, but at an impressive price for performance.

You can learn more about our new Dell PowerEdge servers here, or through any of Dell’s Global PartnerDirect Channel Partners.

About the Author: Forrest Norrod