Dell Enhances PowerMax High-End Arrays
Dell has upgraded its PowerMax high-end arrays, delivering enhanced performance, improved management efficiencies, robust data protection, cyber resilience, and seamless data mobility between on-premises and public cloud environments.
The new subscription business model aims to provide flexible options for users.
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PowerMax is a high-availability enterprise block storage solution that competes with IBM’s DS8000, Hitachi Vantara’s VSP One, and Infinidat’s InfiniBox.
According to Brian Henderson, Director of Primary Storage and ISG (Infrastructure Solutions Group) Portfolio Messaging at Dell, the key objectives of this update include improving AI-driven efficiency, enhancing cyber resiliency, and enabling multicloud mobility.
- Performance Boost: PowerMax v10.2 OS utilizes AI for dynamic cache optimization, reducing data access latency and increasing speed without management overhead.
- Increased IOPS: The PowerMax 8500 model claims up to a 30% boost in IOPS performance for Random Write Miss (8K) I/Os per second compared to the previous v10.1 OS.
- Faster Connectivity: New 100 Gb Ethernet I/O modules offer up to 3x faster connectivity, while 64 Gb Fibre Channel I/O modules provide up to 2x faster performance than their predecessors.
Enhanced Data Protection and Management Features
PowerMax v10.2 also improves IOPS performance and reduces latency for unbalanced mainframe workloads, enhancing cyber intrusion detection (zCID) with auto-learning access patterns. Additionally, it utilizes IBM’s System Recovery Boost to facilitate quicker recovery during planned or unplanned outages.
On the protection front, Storage Direct Protection integrates with PowerProtect, allowing for up to 1 PB of backups daily and 500 TB of restores. It supports various cloud providers, including AWS, Azure, Google, and Alibaba, helping customers avoid vendor lock-in.
Dell’s Cyber Recovery Services for PowerMax provides a secure vault against cyberattacks, ensuring faster data recovery through granular data protection. Furthermore, YubiKey multifactor authentication enhances security by simplifying user access processes.
PowerMax management now features autonomous health checks that offer corrective actions and self-healing capabilities, addressing potential issues like storage capacity levels and loose cabling before they impact performance.
- Automated Incident Resolution: The Fabric Performance Impact Notification (FPIN) system identifies Fibre Channel network congestion, enabling up to 8x faster incident resolution.
- AIOps Assistant: This feature supports GenAI natural language queries for quicker infrastructure optimization.
- Improved RAID Efficiency: The new RAID 6 24+2 scheme allows 92% of drive capacity to be utilized effectively.
Additionally, Dell offers simple options for moving live PowerMax workloads to and from APEX Block Storage, which can be deployed on-premises or within AWS and Azure public clouds through RiverMeadow Cloud Mobility.
