Not to be outdone by companies deciding to build their own custom servers, Dell and Hewlett-Packard are rolling out new storage platforms for the data center. Dell’s DR4100 disk backup appliance (the next generation of its DR4xxx disk backup line) and HP’s new StoreVirtual models (the 4530 and 4730) represent the latest bids by these embattled companies to stay relevant in the enterprise space.

Dell DR4100

A year ago, Dell introduced the DR4000, its first backup-dedupe solution that incorporated technology from its 2010 acquisition of Ocarina. The DR4100 adds three additional capabilities: the ability to back up data from 32 nodes at once; choose up to 1.2 petabytes of logical capacity; and add up to two expansion shelves of 9, 18, or 27 terabytes each, allowing customers to start small and scale up in the future. (The DR4000 backed up from five nodes at once, with up to 270 terabytes of logical capacity; data compression ratios have been left unchanged, at 15:1.) "In the marketplace, we believe that this allows competitive differentiation," Peter Waugh, director of product management for Dell's data management solutions, said in an interview. "No one offers this in this area of the market... whether it be the SMB customer or one that's a little bit larger, this offers headroom to grow." Customers can point their existing backup software (AppAssure and Quest from Dell, Symantec, CommVault, Oracle and CA, among others) at the DR4100 and let it do the work. The Dell DR4100 can be deployed in five initial usable capacity configurations ranging from 2.7 to 81 terabytes. The DR4100 now sits atop Dell's 12th-generation PowerEdge platform, using the latest family of Xeon processors. That represents a "slight" performance benefit, Dell representatives said, along with features such as embedded PCIe lanes for improved I/O performance, advanced power management, and fresh air-cooling. Pricing will be finalized at general availability in mid- March, a Dell spokesman said in an email. "We expect it to be similar to the DR4000 with starting price for the 2.7 TB version at around $14K US."

HP StoreVirtual, StoreSystem

HP has beefed up its channel offerings with the the StoreVirtual 4530 and 4570, as well as the HP StoreSystem, a new converged offering that combines its 3PAR StoreServ 7000 storage, the related StorServ software, file services, and backup. The StoreSystem software includes the base operating system, replication, data optimization, reporting and security suites, in addition to application suites for VMware. HP also beefed up its StoreVirtual lineup, which now runs on its Proliant Generation 8 architecture using an updated LeftHand OS 10, technology HP picked up in 2008. The HP StoreVirtual 4530 now includes drives up to 3 terabytes, and 50 percent more density, while the 25-drive 4730 uses 900-Gbyte drives, triple the capacity of the previous model. Specifically, the 4530 starts at 36 TB per node (1,152 TB maximum) and the 4730 starts at 22.5 TB per node (720 TB maximum capacity). Both of the new StoreVirtual products include 4 GbE iSCSI ports, and offer at least the option to upgrade to 10 GbE. The new HP StoreVirtual Storage 4530 and 4730 models will be available from resellers globally in March with starting prices of $28,000 for HP StoreVirtual 4530 Storage and $48,000 for HP StoreVirtual 4730 Storage. The HP StoreSystem, priced at $171,000, will include hardware, software, support and installation services.   Image: techctm/Shutterstock.com