Dell EMC Drives IT Transformation With the New 14th Generation of PowerEdge Servers

Dell EMC is previewing its most cutting-edge portfolio of PowerEdge servers ever to help customers drive IT Transformations. The newly designed 14th generation of the Dell EMC PowerEdge server portfolio forms a secure, scalable compute platform that is the ideal foundation for cloud, analytics or software-defined data center initiatives. The new portfolio delivers innovation in three key areas:

• Scalable business architecture optimizes data centers for a wide variety of new and emerging workload requirements

• Intelligent automation via expanded APIs and the all-new OpenManage™ Enterprise console enable IT to spend more time on higher priority work

• Integrated security protects customers’ businesses and data for the life of the server

“In today’s digital economy, technology must transform at the speed of business to develop and deploy new applications, optimize resources and deliver an ideal customer experience,” said Ashley Gorakhpurwalla, president, Server Solutions Division at Dell EMC. “With our leadership in server technology innovations, the newest generation of PowerEdge servers are the bedrock of the modern data center”

Legacy data center technologies are not agile, flexible or efficient enough to meet the needs of businesses undergoing a Digital Transformation. In fact, the Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG) 2017 IT Transformation Maturity Curve study, commissioned by Dell EMC, showed that only 5% of survey respondents are currently prepared to meet the IT requirements of digitally transformed businesses with modern platforms.

PowerEdge 14th generation servers will be embedded in storage and data center appliances, hyper-converged appliances and racks, ready nodes, bundles and other industry-leading Dell EMC solutions.

The new scalable business architecture of Dell EMC PowerEdge servers enable customers to meet dynamic business needs with performance optimized for traditional and cloud-native workloads. The new Dell EMC PowerEdge server portfolio is enhanced to:

• Increase application performance and response time – With 19X more Non-Volatile Memory Express (NVMe) low latency storage than the prior generation, Dell EMC leads the industry in driving industry standards in NVMe via Express Flash

• Get results from PowerEdge faster – One-click BIOS tuning enables quick-and-easy deployment of many processing-intensive workloads

• Access to the right data at the right time – With enhanced storage capacity and flexibility, customers can tailor their storage configurations to their application needs, this is especially critical in a software-defined-storage (SDS) environment

Newly enhanced systems management features embedded in the Dell EMC PowerEdge portfolio uniquely automate productivity and simplify lifecycle management from server deployment to retirement. These new management features:

• Unify the server management experience and provide full data center monitoring – OpenManage Enterprise is a new virtualized enterprise system management console with application plug-ins, an easy-to-use interface and customizable reporting

• Speed troubleshooting and maximize server uptime – The enhanced iDRAC 9 provides up to 4 times better systems management performance over the prior generation

• Enable faster remediation – ProSupport Plus with SupportAssist can reduce time to resolve parts failure by 90%1

• Improve power efficiency and compute density – Automatic multi-vector cooling enables more GPU accelerators in a single configuration increasing up to 50% more VDI users per server2

The Dell EMC PowerEdge portfolio embeds new hardware and system-level security features to protect the infrastructure with a deep layer of defense and quick detection in order to recover to a trusted base, if breached. The differentiated security features in the server:

• Prevent unauthorized or inadvertent changes – System Lockdown, an industry-first feature, prevents configuration changes that create security vulnerabilities and expose sensitive data

• Secure data center through a cyber-resilient architecture – Features such as SecureBoot, BIOS Recovery capabilities, signed firmware and iDRAC RESTful API (compliant with Redfish standards) provide enhanced protection against attacks

• Ensure privacy – System Erase quickly and securely erases user data from drives or wipes all non-volatile media when a server is retired

The new design of the Dell EMC PowerEdge 14th generation server portfolio has already won a user-experience design award, with a completely re-imagined portfolio identity to mirror how customers interact with servers:

• Improve airflow – A new streamlined front profile moves air efficiently, optimizing power for application performance

• Deliver an intuitive user experience – Server configuration and monitoring is now possible via a handheld smart device with Quick Sync feature

• Be eco-friendly – Introduction of hemmed edges as a structural element, eliminates the use of paint on the server reducing environmental impact

Services are a critical component of the Dell EMC next generation server strategy. Dell EMC’s services drive the rapid adoption and optimization of digital technologies. Services include:

• Our IT Transformation Workshop, where Dell EMC consultants help customers compare their efforts to best-in-class peers and identify key priorities to accelerate their transformation to a modern, cloud-enabled infrastructure and IT model

• Award-winning ProDeploy Enterprise Suite accelerates technology adoption, saving time and money with up to 59% less IT effort and 35% faster deployments than in-house resources3

• ProSupport Enterprise Suite, services which are fully integrated with the PowerEdge 14th generation server’s intelligent management and automation features, include ProSupport Plus with SupportAssist, Dell EMC’s automated, proactive and predictive technology that can resolve issues up to 90% faster4

Availability:

In collaboration with Intel, Dell EMC is bringing the upcoming Intel® Xeon® Processor Scalable family to Dell EMC PowerEdge 14th generation servers. Intel’s technology will include many advancements that complement Dell EMC PowerEdge server performance, efficiency and security. Additional details and pricing information on the Dell EMC PowerEdge 14th Generation servers are expected to be available in mid-2017.

Customer Quotes:

Joe Wiese, Systems Design Engineer, Rackspace Hosting
“I totally love the new iDRAC 9. The new version is quite comprehensive and can be used to configure most everything for managing and maintaining the servers. The web front-end can view and edit the iDRAC, the PERC, the NICs and the BIOS all through a single web interface that is also Redfish compliant for scripting via API calls. It is hands-down the single greatest addition to PowerEdge that I have encountered.”

Vishvas Chitale, Director, Chitale Dairy, India
“With a massive growth in operations, we wanted to apply technology to automate the milk production process and monitor dairy cow habits and health via an Internet of Things (IoT) solution. As a long-time Dell EMC customer, we had confidence in scaling our mission-critical application on PowerEdge servers using VMware. As a result, we have automated a manual process with complete lifecycle management of cows via the cloud.”

Analyst Quotes:

Matt Eastwood, SVP, Enterprise Infrastructure and Datacenter, IDC
“Dell continues to grow its server business as a combined company with EMC. Its Dell EMC PowerEdge portfolio addresses a broad set of customer needs from traditional business use cases to cloud-native applications while offering a strong foundation to support future IT and business needs. Dell EMC has continued to invest in innovative technology combinations, which has resulted in a secure, scalable infrastructure and comprehensive solutions portfolio.”

Michelle Bailey, Chief Research Officer, 451 Research

“The next transition in enterprise architecture will increasingly be built on flexible hyper-converged infrastructures, those that simplify procurement and ongoing operations with a single supplier, lowering risks of implementation while helping speed time to delivery. Dell EMC’s new generation servers is geared toward addressing many of these issues with intelligent management and automation capabilities.”

Channel Partner and Alliance Partner quotes:

Lisa Spelman, vice president and general manager of Intel Xeon Products and Data Center Marketing Group, Intel Corporation
“With breakthrough performance, security and agility, the Intel Xeon Processor Scalable family represents the biggest set of data center platform advancements in a decade. A modern, multi-cloud-ready infrastructure built on industry-leading technologies from Intel and Dell EMC enables organizations to successfully transform into digital businesses.”

Yanbing Li, senior vice president and general manager, Storage and Availability Business Unit, VMware.
“Adopting modern data center technology, such as hyper-converged infrastructure, is key to enabling IT transformation that supports the new demands of today’s digital business. The combination of the new Dell EMC PowerEdge servers and VMware solutions will accelerate this transition with reliable infrastructure that is less complex to deploy while reducing total cost of ownership.”

Bob Olwig, Vice President of Business Development & Innovation, World Wide Technology
“What sets Dell EMC apart is how they listen to their partners and customers. It is clear that this server portfolio was developed based on that feedback from the end-user. This is positive for channel partners as we can continue to deliver on business and technology outcomes while increasing potential revenue opportunities.”