Dell showcases the Dell/EMC CX4 family of storage solutions at Gitex

The Dell/EMC CX4 was launched in August 2008 and is now available for purchase in the Middle East.

"We were scouting for a high performing, simplified and flexible storage solution, easier to implement and scalable to meet the growth demands of our business, both in the present as well as in the future and we found the perfect fit in the Dell/EMC CX4 family of storage systems. With the new Dell/EMC CX4 storage solution in place, we are confident that we have a storage infrastructure that is secure, easily manageable and has sufficient capacity to cope with the data requirements for providing reliable service to our high net worth customers,"

says Riad Ouarzazi Corporate Chief Information Officer, Orion Holdings.

The fourth-generation Dell/EMC CX family of storage systems includes multi-protocol flexibility, massive scalability and offers four models that form the foundation of an enterprise storage architecture that is easy to deploy, manage and upgrade. Dell/EMC CX4 storage arrays feature UltraFlexTM I/O, the latest in I/O technology that gives customers excellent flexibility and control. With UltraFlex I/O, the number of front-end and back-end ports and the network interconnect needed can be customised for an individual user's needs, both now and in the future.

Each of the four CX4 models can be configured with both 4-gigabit Fibre Channel (FC) and 1-gigabit iSCSI ports and, as new technologies emerge, new I/O modules can be added, such as 8-gigabit FC and 10-gigabit Ethernet.
"The launch of CX4 in the Middle East is a fantastic achievement and we're delighted Orion Holdings have chosen the Dell/EMC solutions to power their datacenter and to simplify their storage infrastructure. Dell and EMC have successfully worked together for nearly eight years to make it easier for customers to simplify, scale and manage storage. "said Michael Collins, GM, Dell Middle East.

"While storage is an integral part of a robust IT infrastructure, having scalable and energy efficient solutions is the need of the hour for most regional businesses. Managing storage can be a challenge for most businesses. Dell and EMC, with their strategic partnership, are addressing this challenge and enabling regional businesses maximize their RoI with the new CX4 family" explained Mohammed Amin, Regional Manager, EMC Middle East & North West Africa.

New Models for Midrange to Large Enterprise Deployments

The Dell/EMC CX4 family gives customers the power to choose the SAN configuration they need today while providing a clear path to more capacity, performance and protocol options. The Dell/EMC CX4 family supports data-in-place upgrades going back two generations and from one CX4 model to another.

The Dell/EMC CX4-120 offers enterprise-class features to help customers who require high capacity and modularity in a small, scalable footprint. It accommodates 120 FC or SATA disk drives, connections for to up to 128 highly available servers and six I/O slots - with two available for customised connectivity.

The Dell/EMC CX4-240 and -480 offer the small footprint of the CX4-120 but support 240 drives and 480 drives plus 8 I/O slots and 10 I/O slots, respectively, with four available for customisation. Both systems support FC and SATA drives with the CX4-480 also including flash drive capabilities.

The Dell/EMC CX4-960 supports a mix of up to 960 FC, SATA or flash drives for the greatest performance and power efficiency. It supports connections for to up to 512 highly available servers and has 12 available I/O slots - with six available for customisation. The CX4-960 can be configured in multiple tiers, from the high-performance flash drive tier to an archival tier employing 5,400 rpm 1-terabyte SATA drives for high capacity and more efficient power usage.

The CX4 family leverages Navisphere manager, the same intuitive management interface that has governed the CX storage family from its inception. Applications providing advanced data protection, replication and migration, and data path management and optimisation available on CX3 arrays are also supported on CX4 arrays. These include SnapViewTM, MirrorViewTM A/S, SAN CopyTM, Replication Manager, PowerPath®, Navisphere® Analyzer, and Navisphere Quality of Service Manager.

Green Power and Cooling Features

Virtual provisioning†, intelligent fan modulation technology and new disk drive options reduce power consumption in the CX4 arrays. All models will support virtual provisioning, which allows IT managers to optimise storage resources by automatically allocating capacity on an as-needed basis. Adaptive cooling - variable-speed fans that consume only the power required for optimal cooling - intelligently keep the array at the right temperature. Energy efficient one terabyte SATA drives that rotate at 5,400 rpm use up to 32% less power than standard 7,200 rpm drives. Additionally, the CX4-480 and CX4-960 models introduce high-performance flash drives† that consume up to 98% less power than equally performing Fibre Channel drives.

Dell Solutions for Key Applications

Dell/EMC storage arrays are integrated into Dell's solutions for key applications, offering tested and validated reference architectures to help solve customers' messaging and database challenges. Solutions for Microsoft Exchange®, Microsoft SQL Server, and Oracle Database are available. In addition, Dell's complete product line addresses all aspects of data management and protection needs including services, switches, tape drives and media, and software.