Dell unveils new SMB servers and storage

Dell today announced a new range of products aimed at the small and medium business (SMB) market.

Featuring four servers, a new NAS storage device, an "uninterruptable power supply" (UPS) and a virtualisation service, the range aims to give SMBs the same simplicity and cost savings that enterprise customers are offered, according to the company.

Paul Larson, enterprise program manager for Dell EMEA, told IT PRO: "We wanted to bring down the features of our enterprise level servers to the small and medium businesses. We have peeled back some of the performance for a lesser cost."

The T110 is the first of the new PowerEdge servers, aimed as a first server for a small business. The tower has one socket and comes in a desktop-sized chassis.

The next step up from this is the T310. It has similar features to the T110, but is designed for businesses with multiple sites due its remote management tools.

Dell also introduced two rack servers. The company claimed the R210 1U server has the smallest energy footprint of any of its range, with an extra small 15.5 inch chassis. There is also the next step up 2U server, the R510.

All the servers feature Intel 3400 processors and will be made available throughout September.

Also featured in the new releases is the Dell PowerVault NX300, an entry-level Microsoft Windows Storage Server 2008 NAS product featuring four 1TB HDDs but with the ability to scale up to 8TB. It also includes deduplication technology. This product however won't be available until October.

The UPS can be managed through Dell's Lifecycle Controller 1.2 featured in its entire new server range providing battery back up should power fail. This can protect against one area of unscheduled downtime and the controller will flag up its activity.

The final offering is Dell's ProConsult services which can help the smaller business figure out whether to virtualise and how to go about it.

Larson said: "There is a bigger uptake of virtualisation in SMBs but they need more understanding. Our service offers to help them gauge what they need and give them that bit more clarity."