ACADEMIA

Dell today unveiled its ninth-generation PowerEdge servers that feature the most comprehensive enhancements ever to the widely installed product line and support the company's strategy to drive more complete and cost-effective enterprise technologies across a variety of information-technology environments. The new PowerEdge servers will integrate high-performance Intel Xeon 5100 series processors that lower power consumption and advances in memory technology with an enhanced industrial design to give customers cutting-edge capabilities without increased complexity or cost. "Dell continues its laser focus on delivering exceptional value, performance and investment protection for customers," said Brad Anderson, senior vice president, Dell Product Group. "No other company can exceed our ability to combine customer feedback with the latest industry-standard technology to deliver complete enterprise offerings. Our ninth-generation servers deliver on the first in a series of steps Dell is taking to drive reduced complexity and simplified operations for our customers." Higher Performance, Lower Power Demands The Dell PowerEdge 1950, 2900 and 2950 servers and Dell PowerEdge 1955 blade server dramatically boost performance. For example, the new Dell PowerEdge servers powered by Intel Xeon 5100 series processors can deliver up to a 152 percent performance increase over the previous generation 2U Dell PowerEdge server. The new server portfolio can also lower power consumption by up to 25 percent, providing an increase in performance per watt of electricity of up to 169 percent and addressing customer requirements to reduce the cost and environmental impact of data center power demands. Enhanced performance and reliability are achieved through: -- Intel dual-core Xeon 5100 series processors, which significantly increase performance while reducing power requirements -- Fully buffered DIMMs that provide a new memory interface for faster data transmission, plus improved signal integrity and error detection -- SAS (Serial Attached SCSI) hard drives for faster, more reliable data transmission and reduced thermal output -- TCP/IP Offload Engine, which helps reduce traffic on a host processor to enhance system performance -- Enhanced virtualization technology for improved performance, management and utilization in virtualized workloads such as VMware ESX, Microsoft Virtual Server or Xen -- PCI-Express I/O, which delivers high-performance Ethernet, RAID, InfiniBand and Fibre Channel interconnect while providing investment protection for future technologies Improved Design and Management for Reduced Complexity Dell is introducing a number of industrial design and image management enhancements, many driven by Dell's direct relationship with customers. They include: -- Industry-first programmable LCD that enables quick and easy visual diagnosis of server faults -- Individually labeled hard drives that provide quick identification of the technology, capacity and speed -- Standardized color coding and cabling that make PowerEdge servers easier to manage and service today and with future generations -- Draw-latch design for tool-less access to server components -- The only server vendor that provides one system image (i.e., BIOS, drivers, operating systems and applications) to manage three servers: PowerEdge 1950, 2950 and 2900 -- ImageWatch, a Dell service that helps customers proactively manage the number of changes to system images, available in a block-release format further reducing the amount of image changes a customer has to manage. Dell is continuing on its industry-first, fully integrated deployment and change management solution with Dell OpenManage 5.0. The enhanced systems management capabilities and tight partner integration give customers greater flexibility, security and control over their server environment. Dell Open Manage 5.0 delivers comprehensive hardware deployment, monitoring and management with features including: -- DRAC5 (Dell Remote Access Controller) for improved performance in secure remote management -- Integrated hardware and software management with partner applications like Altiris Server Management Suite, Microsoft SMS and MOM, and Novell ZENworks Linux Management - Dell Edition, providing single console management of enterprise resources -- Dell OpenManage Connections, which allows comprehensive hardware monitoring within industry management frameworks -- IMPI 2.0 and SMASH, which deliver simplified management capabilities today and in the future via a standardized management infrastructure -- Improved Linux Integration with full support for Novell SuSE Linux SLES9 -- Improved integration between Dell OpenManage and VMware ESX 3.0, allowing simplified monitoring for customers' hardware devices dedicated to virtual machines Driving Commonality and Simplified Operations in the Enterprise Dell's ninth-generation PowerEdge servers anchor a broad initiative to drive commonality between server, storage and software technologies, making it easier and more cost-effective for customers to deploy enterprise technology in a variety of IT environments. This initiative will generate announcements throughout the year, furthering Dell's leadership in enterprise technologies and services for demanding workloads, such as database, with Microsoft SQL Server 2005 and Oracle Database 10g; virtualization, with VMware ESX Server and Microsoft Virtual Server; and Microsoft Exchange. In a related announcement, Dell enhanced its network-attached storage (NAS) portfolio with two new Dell Storage Servers. Optimized for file sharing, both NAS products are based on Dell's new PowerEdge 2900 and PowerEdge 2950 servers. The new storage products further Dell's efforts to simplify storing, managing and protecting data for enterprises of all sizes. Customers can also benefit from Dell's approach to IT infrastructure services. The company applies its world-class process management and "no excuses" culture to deliver customer flexibility and repeatable quality. As customers grapple with managing IT costs, combining Dell services with the latest generation of server and storage products helps customers maximize their assets and minimize downtime. New and improved Enterprise support services to be announced later this month will continue to improve availability in customers' complex IT environments. Pricing and Availability The Dell PowerEdge 1950, 2900 and 2950 servers featuring Intel 5000 series dual-core Xeon processors are available today worldwide. Prices start at $1,749, $1,749 and $1,849 respectively. Dell PowerEdge 1950, 2900, 2950 servers featuring Intel 5100 series dual-core Xeon processors and PowerEdge 1955 blade servers featuring Intel 5000 and 5100 series dual-core Xeon processors and related pricing will be available in the coming weeks. Additional product information is available at its web site.