Dell launches PowerStore Prime and hints at PowerScale AI enhance

Digital Author June 5, 2024

0 0 3 minutes read

Array vary launched at Dell World 2024 in Las Vegas as PowerScale gets OS enhance and novel Intel Xeon CPUs, while Dell CEO hints at acceleration for PowerScale NAS

Yann Serra,
LeMagIT
Antony Adshead,
Storage Editor

Printed: 03 Jun 2024 15: 00

Dell has upgraded its PowerStore midrange block (and file) obtain admission to storage arrays with Intel Xeon central processing models (CPUs) to give a claimed performance enhance of 66% over the earlier model. Meanwhile, one mannequin within the novel PowerStore Prime vary also offers high-capability QLC drives for read-heavy workloads.

As properly as, Dell CEO Michael Dell hinted at a drawing shut performance acceleration enhance aimed at synthetic intelligence (AI) workloads for the company’s PowerScale scale-out NAS family.

“PowerStore is our array family that has viewed the quickest success,” Travis Vigil, the firm’s senior vice-president for portfolio and merchandise, urged Computer Weekly’s French sister space, LeMagIT, at Dell World 2024. “Since originate in 2020, we’ve sold into bigger than 10,000 enterprises. Now, we’re launching this most modern evolution, and it’s a truly great since the arrival of the family, PowerStore Prime.”

PowerStore are mid-vary storage arrays, which will doubtless be the most gradually same old in cupboard space community (SAN) block obtain admission to mode for SQL databases, to host VM disk photography, or as community-connected storage (NAS) filers accessed by intention of community file blueprint (NFS), server message block (SMB) or S3.

There are 5 models within the PowerStore Prime catalogue, all 2U, with capability for 24 NVMe drives and 24 Ethernet ports or 16 Fibre Channel ports. Arrays initiate on the 500T with two Xeon CPUs and 24 cores, and plod by intention of the 1200T, 3200T and 5200T to the 9200T with four CPUs and 112 cores.

PowerStore Prime arrays can enhance up to 96 SSDs with the addition of three 2U shelves that every expend 24 SSDs. The 3200T can arrive with high-density QLC dives, and in that case is dubbed the 3200Q.

“I’m able to’t notify how far more economical the 3200Q will doubtless be when put next with the 3200T,” stated Vigil. “It acts as a more versatile array where it’s doubtless you’ll add SSDs separately, and no longer four or eight at a time.”

More usable for the same raw capability

Default drive form is triple-degree cell and with a capability of 15.36TB. A PowerStore Prime array with a paunchy complement of disks offers 1.47PB of raw capability. On account of the novel model – 4.0 – of PowerStore OS, compression is at a ratio of 5:1 and would perchance moreover pause 5.9PB.

Four stuffed with life-stuffed with life pairs of PowerStore Prime array controllers can even be clustered to pause capability of 23.6PB.

“Shall we fill announced configuration with SSDs of 30TB or 61TB enjoy we fill now got with PowerScale this week,” stated Vigil. “Nonetheless, we inform that it’s no longer very critical right here. PowerStore is largely same old in block mode for transactional or virtual disk data which arrive in sizes and portions smaller than file data kept on NAS. So, it was necessary to prioritise the fee.”

Dell claims the novel period of Intel Xeon CPUs same old are 66% more performant than those within the earlier iteration of PowerStore.

Meanwhile, its compression functionality makes more data available on cache, with the same obtain admission to time from SSD, and so gives PowerStore OS 4.0 a 30% plod advantage over model 3.6. Also claimed is 28% less energy consumed per TB kept.

Enhanced functionality by intention of cloud and AI

PowerStore 4.0 gives replication to the same cluster or to far away space, configurable in six mouse clicks, and also will doubtless be effect of abode to automatically failover in case of an array outage.

It has a brand novel admin console, PowerStore AIOps, that’s accessible from any blueprint, at the side of tablet and smartphone. It uses generative AI to glance traffic correct by intention of the arrays, and non-public activity experiences, safety alerts and solutions.

PowerStore AIOps is derived from the Apex AIOps Infrastructure Observability blueprint-as-a-provider console. On this most modern model, an admin can inquire for diagnostics by intention of a chatbot the tell of natural language.