Dell firms up virtualisation credentials

Dell has unveiled new blade servers and storage solutions in an effort to appeal to firms looking to implement virtualisation.

The firm is offering two new full-height blade servers, both optimised for virtualisation. Both feature eight high-speed ports, an internal SD card for embedded hypervisors and offer what Dell claims is leading performance in a virtual environment.

The PowerEdge M805 is a two socket AMD blade, while the M905 is a four socket blade. They are available immediately starting from 1,239 and 3,539 respectively.

The pair work with hypervisors from Citrix, VMware and Microsoft, with the latter's Windows Server 2008 and new Hyper-V hypervisor available as a factory-installed option on any PowerEdge server.

Dell also announced a new EqualLogic storage array, as John Joseph, vice president of Dell EqualLogic solutions, explained in a conference call: "After customers have decided to use a virtual server environment, the next logical question is what about the storage." The new PS5500E offers the most raw capacity in a Dell 4U array, with a 24 terabyte and a 48 terabyte version. The system is scalable to 756 TB, which Dell said makes it ideal for consolidating data applications including virtual server environments. The EqualLogic PS5500E is available immediately starting from 48,370.

Asked on the conference call why solid-state drives (SSD) weren't used by Dell yet, the firm said that it was something the "engineering team is looking at very carefully," and to expect an announcement soon.

To tie it all together, Dell is also now offering consulting services for Microsoft Hyper-V rollouts, to help "accelerate deployment" of the technology, as well as consulting on site recovery manager and lifecycle management with VMware.