Dell has updated its PowerMax high-end arrays with more performance, management efficiencies, data protection, cyber-resilience, on-premises/public cloud data mobility, and a subscription business model.
PowerMax is a high-end, high-availability, enterprise block storage array that competes with IBM’s DS8000, Hitachi Vantara’s VSP One, and Infinidat’s InfiniBox systems. The overarching aims of this update, according to Dell blogger Brian Henderson, are to improve AI-driven efficiency, increase cyber resiliency, and provide multicloud mobility. Henderson is the director of Primary Storage and ISG (Infrastructure Solutions Group) Portfolio Messaging at Dell.
Performance improvements start with the PowerMax v10.2 OS using AI for dynamic cache optimization through pattern recognition and predictive analytics. This reduces data access latency, thereby increasing speed with no management overhead.
There is a claimed up to 30 percent IOPS performance boost – on the Random Write Miss (8K) I/Os per second benchmark – for the PowerMax 8500 model compared to the v10.1 PowerMax OS. On top of that, Dell is says it’s providing up to 3x faster GbE connectivity with new 100 Gb Ethernet I/O modules, compared to the prior 25 GbE modules, and up to 2x faster FC connectivity with new 64 Gb Fibre Channel I/O modules, contrasting with the existing 32 Gb FC modules.
PowerMaxOS 10.2 also improves IOPS performance and reduces latency for unbalanced mainframe workloads. It also enhances cyber intrusion detection for mainframe (zCID) with auto-learning access pattern detection, and uses IBM’s System Recovery Boost for faster recovery during planned or unplanned outages.
On the protection and resiliency fronts, Storage Direct Protection for PowerMax’s integration with PowerProtect delivers up to 1 PB of backups per day and 500 TB of restores. Storage Direct Protection for PowerMax integrates with cloud providers like AWS, Azure, Google, and Alibaba to help customers choose the right cloud while avoiding vendor lock-in.
A Dell professional services offering, Cyber Recovery Services for PowerMax, provides protection against cyberattacks with a secure PowerMax vault and granular data protection to enable faster data recovery. YubiKey multifactor authentication offers more protection against unauthorized access while simplifying a user’s authentication process.
PowerMax management also has more features. There are autonomous health checks with threshold settings, providing corrective actions and self-healing capabilities, addressing trending issues such as storage capacity levels and loose cabling before they affect array performance.
An automated Fabric Performance Impact Notification (FPIN) facility means PowerMax identifies Fibre Channel network congestion (slow drain) and isolates the root cause resulting in a claimed up to 8x faster incident resolution.
Thirdly, an AIOps Assistant, supporting GenAI natural language queries, enables faster and easier infrastructure optimization.
Dell says a RAID 6 24+2 scheme improves RAID efficiency, with 92 percent of the drive capacity available for use. Power efficiency can be tracked at three levels – array, rack, and datacenter – to help manage energy costs and reduce energy consumption.
There are simple options to move live PowerMax workloads to and from APEX Block Storage, which can be located on-premises and in the AWS and Azure public clouds. This uses RiverMeadow Cloud Mobility.
Dell is also providing a PowerMax subscription offering via its APEX Premium My Account offering. More information here.
