In its first major server launch since the merger, Dell EMC has announced the 14G edition of the PowerEdge line, with ambitions to be “the bedrock of the modern data centre”.
The key characteristics of the 14G line are to provide a scalable business architecture, with extensive intelligent automation, and critically, integrated security capabilities to provide a cyber-resilient architecture.
Speaking to TechPro, John McCloskey, networking and solutions director, Dell EMC, said the new line was based heavily on customer feedback and addresses the need for flexibility in today’s data centres.
The company said the PowerEdge server portfolio forms a scalable, automated and secure compute platform for traditional and cloud-native applications, designed for new Intel Xeon Scalable processors.
Driving transformation
“The Dell EMC PowerEdge 14th generation servers improve upon the world’s best-selling server portfolio, designed to drive our customers’ IT transformations,” said Ashley Gorakhpurwalla, president, Server Solutions Division, Dell EMC. “Our modern infrastructure solutions are a game changer in today’s digital economy. With our cyber-resilient architecture and performance innovations, we will enable our customers to unleash their business potential.”
Dell EMC cites a 2017 survey by ESG on IT Transformation Maturity, which found that organisations that have progressed furthest in their IT transformation initiatives are seven times more likely to view IT as a competitive differentiator. To achieve this, the priority for many IT transformation initiatives is a modern infrastructure that can securely deliver improved efficiencies while driving innovation that enables new business models.
Due to its scalable business architecture, intelligent automation and integrated security, the new PowerEdge 14th generation server portfolio delivers on these desired benefits, says the maker. PowerEdge servers, says Dell EMC, enable customers to push innovation further and faster to achieve IT transformation goals.
Non-volatile RAM
The new server portfolio is highly optimised for non-volatile memory express (NVMe), and helps customers accelerate deployment of software-defined data storage and hyper-converged infrastructure stacks. This is accomplished through accelerated database performance and lower latency with up to 12 times more database IOPS and up to 98% less database latency in a VMware vSAN cluster.
The seamless live migration of virtual machines is up to 58% faster, with up to 75% less CPU usage when using 25GbE with Remote Direct Memory Access (RDMA).
Faster storage performance in compute maximises application performance with up to six times more NVMe drives, up to five times total flash storage, 30% more input/output slots and 25% density improvement.
According to McCloskey, the secret sauce is the intelligent automation.
“Our competitors will have scalable architecture, they will be on the same Intel processors,” said McCloskey. “When you look at the tin, we try to look at the TCO and how we differentiate ourselves from our competitors.”
Dell EMC says the intelligent automation in PowerEdge servers enable IT professionals to focus on mission-critical tasks that drive greater customer and business value. Specifically, OpenManage Enterprise with a RESTful API offers tools for automating deployment, updates, monitoring and maintenance.
The new, more powerful OpenManage Enterprise management console offers users easy server lifecycle management from deployment to retirement and repurposing with enhanced Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC9). It gives up to four times more improved performance in user interface and experience and a 30% time reduction to set up iDRAC with QuickSync 22 mobile-based management. There is also up to 90% faster PowerEdge server issue resolution using ProSupport Plus and SupportAssist active and predictive technology.
The maker said it believes that integrated security is integral to compute and should not require extra licensing fees. It says it has “pioneered root of trust” within its PowerEdge servers for the past two generations.
Cyber-resilient architecture
A robust cyber-resilient architecture enables customers to protect, detect, recover and retire PowerEdge servers. It achieves this through cryptographically trusted booting that anchors end-to-end server safety and overall data centre security. It includes features like silicon-based root of trust, Intel Boot Guard protection, signed firmware and automatic BIOS recovery and the new OpenManage Enterprise as a virtual console delivers enhanced server safety while offering customers operational flexibility.
System Lockdown is a capability unique to PowerEdge, says them maker, that helps secure any system configuration from malicious or unintended changes while alerting users to any attempted system changes.
System Erase allows users to easily retire or repurpose 14G PowerEdge servers by securely and quickly wiping data from storage drives and other embedded non-volatile memory.
Working closely with Intel on development, the 14G line gets Intel Xeon Scalable processors, with 27% more CPU cores and 50% more memory bandwidth.
Form factors
The PowerEdge servers includes rack and blade form factors.
PowerEdge R640 is a 1U/2-socket platform, aimed at dense scale-out data centre computing and storage.
The R740 will be the workhorse for demanding environments, balancing storage, I/O and application acceleration and with superior configuration flexibility in a 2U/2S platform. Dell EMC says the R740 enables up to 50% more VDI users per server and up to 50% more GPU accelerator support for Hadoop analytics.
The R740XD is a 2U/2S platform for which the maker claims “best-in-class storage performance and density” for applications such as software-defined storage and with the versatility demanded by cloud service providers, Hadoop/Big Data users and co-location hosting.
The R940 is a 3U/4S platform designed to handle demanding, mission critical workloads such as enterprise resource planning (ERP), e-commerce and very large databases. It is claimed the R940 can save up to $600,000 in Oracle Licensing costs and performs up to 44% faster in a SAP SD Sybase Environment.
The M640 and FC640 are modular servers designed for high performance with best-in-class density for scalability in a Blade and Modular platform.
The C6420 is aimed at high performance computing, maximising density, scalability and energy efficiency per unit in a 2U/8S Modular platform.
McCloskey said the maker sees the software defined data centre and convergence as being a “massive play”, and to that end, the new servers will be embedded in storage and data centre appliances, hyper-converged appliances and racks, hybrid cloud platforms, ready nodes, bundles and other Dell EMC solutions.
These integrations go deeper than simply running software on hardware. With industry-leading hardware and software in its broader enterprise portfolio, Dell EMC is able to allow the software management stack insight into the hardware to optimise performance, as well as deeply test and validate them together.
Integrated solutions
The new servers will be the foundation of Dell EMC solutions that used the previous generation of PowerEdge such as VxRail Appliances, VxRack Systems, XC Series, vSAN ReadyNodes, ScaleIO Ready Nodes, IsilonSD Edge and ECS (Elastic Cloud Storage). Additionally, it will be available in many new Dell EMC solutions and platforms, including Data Domain Appliance, CloudArray, Ready Bundles, Ready Systems, Dell EMC Enterprise Hybrid Cloud, Dell EMC Native Hybrid Cloud and Dell EMC Cloud for Microsoft Azure Stack.
The PowerEdge R940, R740, R740xd, R640, and C6420 are now available here. The PowerEdge FC640 and M640 will be available here later this year, with the solutions based on new PowerEdge servers becoming available in Ireland before the end of 2017.
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