IT Services

Data deduplication is a topic being asked about by our customers, and being discussed in the media, more and more. Would you like to know Dell’s take on it?

In the video below, Darren Thomas, vice president and general manager of Dell's storage business, discusses Dell’s view on the future of this technology and what we are doing to help deliver solutions to meet your data management needs. (If you'd like to download the slides in this video, they are available on Dell's Slideshare account here.)

We are announcing enhancements to our deduplication portfolio, both in services to help you understand holistically how you might benefit from de-duplication, as well as in products that help address your storage challenges. That's the conversation should be about -- how you can best solve your problems related to data growth, protection and access.

Dell views deduplication as a feature of storage, one that may help you optimize your investments in data management. However, it's not the only one to accomplish this goal. Our view is that deduplication it is not, by itself, a solution.

Deduplication can be implemented in different ways, whether through dedicated appliances or through integration into existing areas, such as in backup software.

Dell's view is that an integrated approach -- a feature of your software -- provides the greatest benefits to you. In this way, deduplication becomes ubiquitous across many aspects of the data path, from applications through operating systems and backup, where it is focused today. We are helping to drive this evolution.

Before you can decide which approach to take to optimize your storage, though, you need to understand your unique needs and environment. Dell deduplication services can help. Our services teams can assess your needs, provide recommendations and implement solutions, whatever they may be – instead of just figuring out how to make a single approach work.

For more information on deduplication, I'd encourage you to take a look at www.dell.com/deduplication.

And if you have a more technical focus or appetite, I invite you to join us next week at Dell TechCenter for a live chat on this topic.

More than you realize, if you read The Clipper Group's recent report on controlling data center TCO. In this report (available for free download here), Clipper Analyst David Reine suggests that just as you or I wouldn't put all of our life savings into a single investment, effectively putting our entire future security in one basket, CIOs and IT managers shouldn't put all of their IT eggs in one basket. In this case he's talking about finding the right balance between simplification and optimization in order to achieve a lower total cost of ownership (TCO) for your data center.

We've all heard what he's talking about: "Server sprawl, not just throughout the data center, but also through the entire enterprise, combined with an unparalleled surge in data growth, have contributed to a significant increase in the complexity of what tends to be largely inefficient I.T. environments." We've talked about this before on this blog, others have talked about it.

Go to www.dell.com/research to read the full report or to peruse a wide range of research papers, industry analyst reports and other information that might be helpful to you.

As Bruce Eric wrote a few days ago, the March 2009 issue of Dell Power Solutions Magazine is out of the gate, and available in Print Edition, Web Edition and new Digital Edition form factors, featuring in-depth coverage on Systems Management Simplified with the new Dell Management Console Powered by Altiris from Symantec.

If you're not a regular reader of this publication, I'd encourage you to take a look at this issue and sign up for a complimentary subscription so you can read it regularly (my personal preference would be for you to minimize your carbon footprint and get the digital edition, plus you’ll get an e-mail invite for instant access as soon as the next issue is ready).

The cover story in this issue, “Systems Management Simplified,” provides details on how the Dell Management Console (DMC) redefines much of the traditional systems management paradigm through a single-pane-of-glass view of computing infrastructure, as well as a guided tour of key features.

Also in this issue are three additional drill-down technical articles on DMC, exploring how the console embraces IT Infrastructure Library (ITIL) principles, best practices for smoothing migration, and approaches to managing operating systems and applications.

Among other key editorial content in the 100+ pages of this issue:

• Four late-breaking case studies from Dell customers around the world on recent blade server deployment successes, including Betagro Public Company Limited (Thailand), M Dados (Portugal), American Institute of Certified Public Accountants (United States), and Tora Trading Services (Japan);
• Dr. Albert Esser, vice president of power and data center infrastructure solutions at Dell, goes on the record in this interview: “Compute More, Consume Less (Power): Smart Policies Unleash Data Center Productivity”;
• Guidance on virtualization with Dell servers and Dell EqualLogic iSCSI storage: “Integrating Virtualized Servers with VMware vStorage-enabled Dell EqualLogic SANs” and “Advancing Integration of Microsoft Hyper-V and Dell EqualLogic Virtualized SANs.”

In addition to the customary Print Edition and Web Edition versions, our new Digital Edition enables instant access to the same editorial content in an elegant book-reader form factor from any Web browser. You can subscribe to the Digital Edition, or test-drive a sample issue.

The next issue of Dell Power Solutions—June 2009— will be on the street and Web in very early June and will feature much more content around the recent Dell Efficient Enterprise Portfolio launch.

I encourage you to check back on the Web Edition site for fresh editorial content as it becomes available in the coming days and weeks prior to publication of the June issue.

Earlier this week, Dell held launch events to unveil the company's Efficient Enterprise Computing Portfolio and there has been widespread coverage of the news here, here and here.

In addition to the conversation I had earlier this week with Don Mann, Dell's VP and General Manager of the Global Services business, one of my colleagues took some time with Dell's Paul Kaeley, the global practice leader for storage, to talk more specifically about the new services offerings launched for EqualLogic storage.

And if you happened to miss the live webcast, we've archived it for you here.

Over time, IT environments naturally become more complex. Servers, platforms, and applications require increased management resources as they age. Decentralized data centers and departmental silos can result in data duplication and inconsistencies. Hardware and software deployments, migrations, compliance enforcement, patching, and administrator training all sap resources that might otherwise be directed to strategic projects. And operational silos typically lead to a lack of integration and communication, not to mention redundant responsibilities.

What has been lacking is a comprehensive systems management strategy focusing on simplicity and flexibility.

In the March issue of Dell Power Solutions magazine, authors Pascal Nicolas, Jeanne Feldkamp and Tom Kolnowski provide a guided-tour of Dell Management Console, describe its deployment and how it greatly simplifies IT architectures.

Take a look. And if you're interested in registering to receive a hard copy of the publication, click here. And Dell Power Solutions is now available as a digital edition as well. Click here to log-in for your digital edition.