In today’s increasingly interconnected world, the impact of cyber threats and reduced availability of resources can’t be overstated. Businesses need high-performing, secure and easily managed storage more than ever.
At Dell Technologies World in May, we announced updates across our storage portfolio in two key areas we’ve identified as critical to success: cyber resiliency to secure and protect data everywhere and breakthrough efficiency to lower both operational and energy costs.
PowerStoreOS 3.5 kicked off the year with software-driven innovation to address these requirements, introducing features that accelerate Zero Trust security adoption and improve operational efficiency. But we’re not done yet.
PowerStore’s 3.6 release continues to help organizations respond to these challenges. Let’s review three key features that enhance cyber resiliency and efficiency.
1. Enhance Cyber Resiliency with Metro Witness
Whether it’s across a campus or cities apart, PowerStore’s native metro synchronous replication provides active/active, zero downtime operations, eliminating the risk of data loss due to site outages or disasters. It’s like having a mirror of your production data in two different data centers.
“PowerStore does everything. It’s highly performant, protects our data and the native metro feature makes it highly available, all in a very simple and easy-to-use platform that any of our employees can understand and use.” – Alexander Kuchelbacher, Managing Director, Tems
Now we’re enhancing the automation and intelligence of native metro with a new third-site witness. This witness service serves as an impartial entity, autonomously verifying the status of both sites and employing its intelligence to trigger an automatic failover to the surviving array in the event of a failure.
If a failure occurs, the surviving PowerStore array contacts the witness to make the call on where to resume I/O ensuring data remains consistent and available even in the face of network disruptions or site failures, all without any manual intervention. This added layer of intelligence delivers key benefits, including:
- Enhanced protection. Eliminates the risk of data inconsistencies from network interruptions, also known as “split-brain” scenarios, when recovering from site failures with zero RTO/RPO.
- Flexible deployment. Install on bare metal or as a Linux VM at a third-site or cloud location.
- Ease of use. Register in just a few minutes. No additional licensing or software purchase needed.
“The witness flawlessly maintained high availability in any failover situation we tested, preventing split-brain scenarios without any manual intervention.”- Martin Schrepfer, Senior Technology Consultant, DataStore
2. NVMe/TCP for vVols: Boost VMware Performance
PowerStore’s robust VMware integrations already make it easy to monitor, manage and protect your VMware environment. Now we’re maximizing performance with industry-first1 support for NVMe/TCP for vVols, a transformative leap in storage efficiency.
NVMe/TCP for vVols combines the lightning-fast performance of NVMe and the streamlined provisioning and management of vVols to offer the ultimate in cutting-edge storage. Better yet, this feature works with most modern Ethernet2 switches with no additional purchase needed.
- Blazing speed. NVMe/TCP for vVols delivers up to 50% more performance3 than standard iSCSI.
- Streamlined management. Efficiently manage storage resources at the virtual machine level using vVols.
- Cost-effective transition. Combine the power of NVMe/TCP with vVols using supported Ethernet switches.
3. Data-in-Place Upgrades: Modernize Without Disruption
Managing storage platform upgrades can be a daunting task, often requiring data migrations and downtime. From the beginning, PowerStore was designed with a continuously modern storage experience in mind, making it easy for businesses to adapt. With 3.6, we’re enabling data-in-place upgrades for first-generation appliances.
Now you can upgrade controllers without disrupting critical operations. Eliminate complex planning and data transfers while saving valuable time for your IT team to use on strategic priorities. Boost performance for growing workloads without rebuying capacity and ensure they are always running on the latest technology.
- Next-gen performance. Modernize hardware and upgrade performance up to 58%4 to support growing workloads.
- Non-disruptive transition. Keep your operations running smoothly without rebuying capacity.
- Future-proof your PowerStore. Purchase outright or redeem existing Anytime Upgrade contracts for a continuously modern storage experience.
The release of PowerStoreOS 3.6 is accompanied by the receipt of an ENERGY STAR® certification for the 1200 model. This milestone underscores Dell’s unmatched leadership, boasting the most ENERGY STAR® storage certifications among all storage vendors.5
As a whole, the software-driven PowerStore updates unveiled this year reaffirm our dedication to helping companies further safeguard their data while simultaneously optimizing resources in an unpredictable landscape.
For more information on PowerStore, reach out to your local Dell or partner sales representative and visit the PowerStore homepage on Dell Technologies.
1 Based on internal analysis, September 2023
2 Assumes compatible 10Gb, 25Gb or 100Gb switches and network cards
3 Based on internal analysis comparing iSCSI and NVMe/TCP vVol maximum IOPS. Actual results may vary.
4 Based on internal analysis comparing PowerStore 5000 and 5200 model maximum IOPS using 8k block sizes on a 70% read workload. Actual results may vary.
5 Based on Dell analysis of ENERGY STAR certified Data Center Storage products, March 2023.
