SCIENCE

Dell has announced new PowerEdge servers, PowerVault storage, and PowerConnect networking solutions.

According to Dell’s Friday announcement, the new networking solutions offer technology that can be easily integrated into existing infrastructure to provide a “facelift” of sorts for aging IT infrastructures.

The PowerEdge R415 and R515 servers are designed to increase productivity, improve security and continuity, simplify management and usability, and improve reliability. They incorporate enterprise-class features such as the Dell Server Deployment Pack, Microsoft Systems Center Configuration Manager, and Lifecycle Controller, freeing users from spending time setting up and running IT.

The PowerEdge R415 is a two-socket, 1U server that features the latest AMD Opteron 4100 series processor, it is optimized to run typical business applications such as file/print, email, web service, IT infrastructure, and small virtualization deployments, as well as entry-level high-performance computing demands. This server is squarely targeted at growing SMBs that need a balance of processing power and value.

Designed for mid-sized organizations, the PowerEdge R515 is a two-socket, 2U server suited to customers aiming to consolidate their infrastructure, improve server efficiency and availability, and promote consolidation through virtualization. With the choice of an 8 or 12-hard drive configuration, which is able to deliver as much as 25TB of internal storage space, the R515 is well-suited for database, email, virtualization, workload consolidation, and other applications requiring large amounts of local storage.

The PowerEdge R415 and R515 also offer fully redundant power supplies, and hot-swap-able hard drives, as well as an interactive LCD screen for easy system monitoring and Energy Smart technologies to balance power effectively with business productivity.

The PowerVault NX200 Network Attached Storage tower is a budget-priced, high-performance, secure storage solution designed to provide small businesses simple file storage on a centralized device. Intel processors enable quick client PC backups and retrieval of large files, making it easier to find, backup, recover, and maintain information. It also features 2GB of RAM to provide an additional performance boost for data access, storage and retrieval.

To further help user more efficiently and cost-effectively manage their IT systems, Dell also announced the global availability of Dell OEM Microsoft System Center Essentials 2010, which helps customers consolidate servers, proactively monitor systems, and manage hardware, software and services through a unified console.

Designed for systems with up to 50 physical and virtual server operating system instances and 500 client devices, Microsoft SCE 2010 provides management for virtualized and non-virtualized servers in Microsoft Hyper-V environments, and assesses whether non-virtualized servers should be virtualized.

The company also introduced PowerConnect W-Series Wireless Networking Solutions designed to allow SMBs to dynamically scale their networks by delivering enterprise-class connectivity and security to mobile workers.

Dell said that these solutions, which offer enterprise-class features at a lower price point, are necessary in the current business climate. “The economy still continues to be challenging, but businesses are finding they can no longer postpone technology updates,” Dell Americas small and medium business vice president and general manager Erik Dithmer said in a statement,  “As they look to make investments, customers are telling us they are concerned about business continuity and data protection, with return on investment being a more important consideration than price. The products we are launching today are specifically designed to address those needs.”