Inside Enterprise IT

More Embedded NICs on PowerEdge Servers a Game-Changer for Appliance OEMs

2009-07-02T20:30:00Z

In response to many requests from our OEM customers, Dell has increased the number of embedded network interface cards (NICs) in our mainstream 1U and 2U PowerEdge servers (the PowerEdge R610 and R710) from two to four -- these truly are appliance-inspired systems. We have found that many of our customers use these platforms as the basis for appliances for telco, security and other vertical spaces.

This may seem like a small thing to many, but we’ve learned that most of our customers using this class of server for network appliances, such as security gateways, VPN optimizers, and such, almost always install additional NICs in the PCIe slots to accommodate the requirements of their applications. While adding PCIe-based NICs isn’t difficult, it is more expensive, less consistent, less reliable, and more prone to errors than simply embedding more NICs to the motherboard.

What I like most about embedding the extra NICs is the freedom to use the PCIe slots for additional I/O options. I have several customers who utilize all of the PCIe slots for various required options who are sometimes forced to move up to a higher end & larger server in order to get all the NICs they need. With two additional NICs on the motherboard, at least one more PCIe slot is available to other components, like Telco I/O cards, encryption offload engines, or high-speed interfaces like Fibre Channel or Infiniband. Our OEM customers have already expressed their pleasure with the added embedded NICs, and many are able to accomplish more with these new servers than they could in the past.

How do these added NICs affect your server-based appliance products?

Thinking About Refreshing Clients? Take a Look at Energy Star 5

2009-07-01T13:15:00Z

Offering enterprises energy smart solutions is nothing new for Dell. If you go back to November of last year when the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Energy Star 5.0 specifications for client systems (desktops, laptops and workstations) were finalized, several of our existing products already met the new specifications.

Today, we are pleased to announce that nearly all of our OptiPlex desktops, Latitude laptops and Dell Precision workstations that we have launched within the past year are available in configurations that meet Energy Star 5.0. Those include:

Latitude 2100, E4200, E4300, E5400, E5500, E6400, E6400 ATG, XT2 and E6400 XFR
Dell Precision M2400, M4400, T3500, T5500, T7500, R5400
OptiPlex 760, 960, 360, 160 and FX160

All of these systems are relatively easy to configure as Energy Star 5.0 with a single click on our online stores. In addition, we offer EnergySmart power settings from the factory on OptiPlex desktops that allows customers to receive their systems pre-configured for better energy efficiency. It is clear that customers want energy efficient products and services from the desktop to the data center.

It is not just about energy, though, when talking about environmental responsibility. It also about recycling, materials used and responsible retirement of when systems reach the end of their useful life.

I hope this information is helpful and I would encourage customers that are waiting to refresh server or clients to take a look at how much you can save by putting in a newer, more energy efficient infrastructure. Especially with new Energy Star specifications that address servers for the first time. Dell announced our efforts with servers here. Also, during the past 4 years, OptiPlex customers could have potentially saved more the $3.5 billion and avoid more than 35 million tons of CO₂ emissions, according to Dell’s Energy Smart Savings Calculator. That’s astounding.

Last year Dell worked with a small business called Robertson Homes that replaced their aging technology fleet, changed some of their “energy consuming” habits around the office and ultimately cut their electricity by half year-over-year. We supplied them with OptiPlex 960 desktops that consume more than 43 less power than the previous generation of OptiPlex desktops. It is also important to note that the 960 comes in packing that is 89 percent recyclable and contains at least 10 percent post-consumer recycled plastic.

Government Agencies Still Keen on IT Challenges

2009-06-30T18:00:00Z

With more than 95 percent of federal agencies using Dell systems, it was no surprise for us that Symantec’s annual Government Symposium conference participants were keen on discussing their IT and Security business challenges. The symposium provided a forum to listen to public sector customer’s requirements, experiences and solutions.

During the E-Records Management/E-Discovery session, I moderated, there was a lot of interest around how government agencies “get started” when the problem requires collaboration around IT, RIM and legal expertise. Approaches varied, but one consistent theme was that either as a distinct organization or as a formal cross functional team, you needed to have equal involvement and buy-in from these three domains in order to have an effective program for RIM and E-Discovery. The panelists (representing United States Postal Service, Department of Justice, Department of Interior and Government Accountability Office) also tackled interesting questions about the responsibility for record and information management in the Web 2.0 world. In short, participants recognized that as government expands use of social media (see Open Government Initiative) to reach citizens (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, blogs, etc.), cross-functional collaboration, decision on what the business/mission needs your solving for and a defined policy for managing it are the main ingredients for a successful program.

Cybersecurity was also a key topic of discussion with a standing room only panel session hosted by Joe Ayers, Dell Federal, Area VP, on Comprehensive National Cybersecurity Initiative. Morning and lunchtime keynotes from Virginia Senator Mark Warner and Senior Director of Cyberspace Melissa Hathaway, respectively, also offered valuable commentaries on the challenges facing government, the role IT can play and the need for collaboration between the private sector and the public sector. Melissa’s discussion about the Administration’s recently completed Cyberspace Security review laid out the challenges we face and recommendations for action and sounded the call for better public/private partnership models to protect and secure our critical internet infrastructure. Her past activity and the emphasis the new Administration is placing here were clearly evident by the pervasive nature of security discussions in presentations and in IT industry exhibits. Protecting client side computing is one step, but the overall cyber security challenge requires a comprehensive approach – an approach Dell looks at from an end-to-end process from the supply chain to the data on the laptop. One concrete step identified during Melissa presentation and picked up in the media is the creation of a national cyber security incident response plan.

Again, no surprises from the conference, however, we’ll continue to partner on the dialog and collaboration needed for progress in addressing our Public sector’s customer’s IT challenges.

Dell PowerEdge Servers Get a Gold Star - EPA Energy Star That Is

2009-06-25T13:00:00Z

We’re all familiar with those blue and white Energy Star stickers that show us the average energy uses on our home appliances like refrigerators and clothes driers. Now the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released Energy Star specification for servers. The efficiency requirements are a positive step in creating an industry standard to help reduce power consumption.

The focus on energy efficiency isn’t just about being tree-hugger-green, but more about saving green – as in dollars. Limitations on space, power and cooling capacity combined with rising energy costs can give data center managers incredible headaches. IT departments are counted on to maximize compute capacity without expanding their server footprint and to find ways to effectively cool these power-intensive systems—all while working within the boundaries restricted operating budgets.

Dell understands those challenges, so we partnered with the EPA to develop the new energy-efficiency specification for servers. Not only that, but we just released details of its first Dell PowerEdge servers that meet the new Energy Star specifications. In fact, Dell is the first major vendor to certify entire platforms to meet the exact performance per watt requirements with the Dell PowerEdge R610 and R710 server platforms qualifying for the new Energy Star specification.

Our focus on energy efficiency isn’t new and didn’t start with the development of Energy Star specifications. In 2007, Dell introduced Energy Smart to help customers maximize performance per watt for their particular workload and meet operating expense goals. Dell PowerEdge servers with Energy Smart technology include Dell Energy Smart power supplies, Dell Energy Smart system design, Dell Active Power Controller (DAPC), Dell Energy Smart management and high-efficiency processors and memory to achieve the highest performance per watt for standards-based servers.

We build PowerEdge servers with a comprehensive, system-wide approach to balancing performance with energy efficiency by focusing on design, measurement, control and reporting for energy-efficient infrastructures that reduce total cost of ownership.

Design: The holistic approach follows efficient design principles across electrical, mechanical, and thermal systems and combining them with intelligent component selection.
Measurement: Real-time, accurate measurements of performance, power consumption and thermals feed into the Energy Smart control algorithms so the system can make intelligent decisions to help optimize performance-per-watt.
Control: The architecture incorporates firmware running on a high performance baseboard management controller embedded in the system to provide an intelligent, centralized control mechanism to help determine performance-per-watt optimizations.
Reporting: The architecture incorporates the Dell Management Console powered by Altiris from Symantec provides in-band reporting, while the standard Web Services for Management protocol provides out-of-band reporting to make intelligent performance and efficiency decisions.

I had a chance to catch up with Daniel Bounds, Dell PowerEdge solutions manager and energy efficiency guru, to hear more about the new Energy Star specifications. Here is what he had to say.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Kyocera Simplifies IT With Dell

2009-06-24T18:59:00Z

I used to have a Kyocera phone. I liked it well enough, but since my account is with Verizon and they don’t carry that brand anymore, I have since migrated to a LG’s enV(2). But when I had the chance to check out what Kyocera is doing in their IT department, it got me thinking about my old phone again, and wondering if I should try to get a new one. The business decisions Kyocera are making seem to be pretty smart, so I’m betting their phones are too.

Recently, they were investigating new ways to meet customer demand for their communications services, and they turned to Dell to help them design a solution. They came up with a virtualized infrastructure using VMware and PowerEdge R805 servers. And for storage, they chose Dell EqualLogic PS5000 Series SAN arrays.

By now you’re thinking, so what? Unless you get really geeked out about technical stuff, you probably don’t really care much what’s behind the IT curtain, right? Well hang with me a minute longer because it’s about to get interesting.

See, I think that companies who are figuring out new ways to save money, be more streamlined and more standardized are the kinds of companies I want to buy from - and buy stock from. The old school companies who are all about doing things they way they always did are the ones who are going to tank. Kyocera revised it’s IT, turned a high opex department into a low opex department, and saved the company a ton of money annually.

I think that rocks and I think other companies should be doing the same. Don’t you?

Dell Launches More Servers, New EqualLogic Arrays, New Services

2009-06-17T12:05:00Z

I won't cover it all here but be sure to click over to our blogging mothership, Direct2Dell, to read about Dell's Fast Track to Efficiency, the theme for Dell's announcement of a slew of new servers, a cool new EqualLogic array for small business and remote offices, and quite a few different services.

We'll also be hosting a webcast today with a number of Dell executives outlining the importance of these announcements and the impact to our customers. Following that webcast, my colleagues at Dell TechCenter will be hosting a live technical chat.

Take a look.

Southern Company Goes Green With Dell

2009-06-16T18:00:00Z

World Environment Day was June 5 and I thought it was only fitting that we highlight a customer who is committed to keeping their company green and providing technology to help their customers save energy as well. Atlanta-based Southern Company is the premier energy provider of the Southeast, serving over 4.4 million customers. While the company is committed to be green, they were seeing their kilowatt hour consumption grow by as much as 15 percent and producing more of the corresponding CO2 emissions every year because their own data center.

By instituting a green data center program, the IT team at Southern realized they needed to do something to stop the server sprawl and energy consumption. By virtualizing and consolidating its data center servers using VMware ESX technology on PowerEdge R900 servers, Southern has eliminated over 1,340 tons of CO2 emissions.

“As a result of the virtualization, we avoided more than two million kilowatt hours worth approximately $200,000 over a period of a year and a half,” says Dan Traynor, IT infrastructure director, Southern Company. In the process, they were also able to put a little money back in their pockets to the tune of $1.3 million by not having to add new equipment in their datacenter. That was a huge savings, especially with many organizations trying to extend the life of their equipment.

Read more on Southern Company and how they leveraged technology to be greener. To learn more about Dell and their commitment to the environment, go to Dell Earth.

What “cool” things is your organization doing to be green in the data center? I’d love to hear your stories!

A Look Behind Wolfram Alpha's Infrastructure With R Systems

2009-06-10T18:41:00Z

As you may recall, I published a post a few weeks ago about Dell's involvement in the launch of Wolfram Alpha, a computational search engine that is built on servers from Dell's Data Center Solutions team.

In this video, R Systems' CEO Brian Kucic outlines the infrastructure behind Wolfram Alpha and how it was built out in less than two weeks.

Brian says the cluster, called R Smarr, is the fastest privately owned cluster in the U.S., the fifth fastest Dell cluster in the U.S. and the 44th fastest supercomputer in the world (according to the June 2008 Top 500 list).

Wolfram also did a post on their deployment over on their blog today. The post is titled "Building Rome in a Day," appropriate for the significant amount of work that was done to bring their supercomputer online in such a short period of time.

(Please visit the site to view this media)

Dell’s OEM Division and The New PowerEdge 11th Generation Servers

2009-06-10T12:41:00Z

Since 1995, I’ve had the pleasure to participate in the growth of Dell from a relatively small computer start-up to one of the largest technology providers in the world. What a ride it’s been!

In 2001, I joined Dell's Industry Solutions Group (ISG), typically referred to as the OEM Group within Dell. It’s been ten years since our group began customizing hardware and providing unique services to OEM customers who use standard Dell hardware in their offerings. Last week, my colleague Bruce Eric Anderson, introduced me in a post he wrote on Google's new search appliance. Google is one of our many customers and represent some of the topics that I’ll be writing about here on Inside Enterprise IT.

As a Systems Consultant, I’ve assisted hundreds of product managers, engineers and developers create hardware appliances for their solution. I’ve helped them manage through hardware transitions, and, I’ve informed them about the future of Dell hardware solutions so they could be prepared for all the improvements that come with the advancements of technology.

This past March, Dell released the first of its 11^th generation of PowerEdge servers based on Intel’s XEON 5500 series of CPUs, the PowerEdge R610, R710 and T610. These truly innovative servers, along with the recently released PowerEdge R410 and T410, incorporate many improvements driven specifically by our OEM customers. I have seen several generations of PowerEdge servers marketed as appliances by our customers, and every generation has been consistently more reliable, stable, and feature-appropriate than its predecessor.

We continuously listen to the needs of our customers and use that information to improve the products and services that help them achieve their market goals more effectively and efficiently.

So, I'm happy to be able to share my industry observations with you here and hope that you'll let me know your thoughts and feedback. If you want to reach me directly with questions, you can ping me at franklin_flint at Dell (dot) com.

Another "Recommended" Award...This Time For Dell's EqualLogic PS6000 Storage Array

2009-06-10T03:36:00Z

Building on the momentum of multiple positive product reviews for Dell's PowerEdge R610 server, this week we also chalked up another editorial award in the U.K. in IT Pro's review of the the Dell EqualLogic PS6000 storage array review.

The reviewer, Dave Mitchell, had this to say about the product: "Acquiring IP SAN specialists EqualLogic early last year gave Dell a solid range of enterprise solutions that has enabled it to compete on an equal footing with the established names in the network storage market. It hasn’t sat still either and in this exclusive review we look at the new EqualLogic PS6000XV, which offers an extensive range of features and more than a few new ones as well."

Take a look at the very lengthy and thorough review and decide for yourselves.