New Symmetrix DMX Systems, Software and Connectivity Advancements to Help Middle East Customers Maximize the Value of Information Resources
Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Just six months after delivering the most significant high-end storage advancements in more than a decade the Symmetrix® DMX series of information storage systems the Middle East operations of EMC Corporation today unveiled the next major wave of Symmetrix DMX systems, software and related technologies. Symmetrix DMX is enabling regional customers to keep pace with their increasingly complex and demanding high-end workloads and benefit from new ways to lower both their storage acquisition and operational costs.
“Many of the Middle East’s major industries banking, telecommunications, energy, and even government have developed an information-centric approach to customer service and other key business functions. This strategy requires faster, more reliable access to data, as well as the ability to store that data across multiple locations for greater business continuity. EMC’s Symmetrix DMX systems and software offerings remain the best equipped to serve regional customers’ high-end storage requirements,” stated Mohammed Amin, regional manager of EMC Middle East.
Since the initial launch of EMC’s Symmetrix DMX systems in February 2003, the Middle East’s enterprise community has responded with alacrity, especially in the government, financial services, and telecoms industries. Both Vodafone Egypt and MobileCom in Jordan have announced that they are deploying EMC’s Symmetrix DMX systems as the cornerstone of their information management strategies.
The analyst community has also outlined the market dynamics that make Symmetrix DMX such a key storage offering. “Customers continue to push the limits across all segments of the storage market. We’ve seen significant market movement and a surge of new requirements over the last 12-18 months, particularly at the high end. Customer sophistication is on the rise, while the vendor community is responding with multi-dimensional scalability, connectivity and replication advancements,” said Nick Allen, Vice President and Research Director, Gartner Group.
The primary business benefits anticipated from EMC’s new DMX systems and related software include faster access to vital data, the ability to replicate more information over greater geographical distances, and reduced hardware expenditure.
New Systems and Software Now Available
Today’s Symmetrix DMX announcements include:
Symmetrix DMX3000: The new top-end Symmetrix DMX system satisfies the most demanding high-performance, high-functionality and high-capacity consolidation requirements by delivering predictably high performance for large-scale dynamic workloads. With up to 576 drives for a maximum raw capacity of more than 84TB and usable capacities of up to 73.5TB, Symmetrix DMX delivers twice the capacity and up to twice the performance for certain applications compared with the Symmetrix DMX2000. The new Symmetrix DMX3000 takes advantage of the full range of Symmetrix DMX functionality and provides customers with linear performance scalability delivered through the Symmetrix Direct Matrix Architecture.
Entry-level Symmetrix DMX800 configuration: A new entry-level configuration of the modular rack-mounted Symmetrix DMX800 carries all the attributes of a full Symmetrix DMX system with a starting price that is 30% lower than the previous entry-level Symmetrix DMX800. The Symmetrix DMX800 system has reshaped conventional notions of how high-end storage systems are purchased and deployed. Raw capacities for the new configuration scale from 580GB to more than 17TB.
Non-disruptive Operations: Symmetrix DMX and the Enginuity operating environment deliver the ability to upgrade, reconfigure and service storage resources without disrupting host applications. With the newest version of Enginuity, Symmetrix DMX now becomes the only high-end storage system to provide online, non-disruptive capabilities without requiring additional hardware and/or software on attached hosts.
New Advanced Replication: EMC, the industry’s longstanding leader in replication solutions, announced two innovative new software products and advanced connectivity that help high-end storage customers reduce cost, extend distances and increase the number of local and remote replications they can create to support continuous business operations. EMC announced:
- SRDF/A™, the world’s highest-performing extended-distance replication software.
- EMC Snap™, the world’s only space-saving local replication software for high- end storage.
- Native Gigabit Ethernet SRDF connectivity for Symmetrix DMX systems, which reduces hardware and transmission costs by enabling remote replications without costly channel conversion devices.
Native iSCSI: While Fibre Channel has become the storage interconnect of choice in data centers, a large population of servers still exist for which the cost of Fibre Channel has been a barrier to consolidation on a SAN. With announcement of the world’s first native iSCSI connectivity for high-end storage, EMC now provides customers with a low-cost method for consolidating and networking these previously stranded servers. In enterprise environments, where hundreds or even thousands of such servers may exist, iSCSI delivers the value of networked storage without the cost of host bus adapters and Fibre Channel switch ports.
Enhanced Mainframe Compatability and Innovation: The Symmetrix DMX series now offers enhanced compatibility with the IBM mainframe feature set. EMC today announced a Symmetrix DMX-based implementation of IBM’s XRC Version 3 replication software. EXRC enables IBM XRC customers to deploy Symmetrix DMX series systems as either a source or target storage system with no disruption to their existing replication solution. Additional new Symmetrix DMX mainframe features include enhanced support for IBM’s Geographically Dispersed Parallel Sysplex (GDPS) clustering and failover solution, and support for the TPF operating environment. In addition, Symmetrix DMX now supports Fibre Channel connectivity to IBM iSeries servers, offering the OS/400 community an alternate source for storage consolidation
The Symmetrix DMX series is based on the revolutionary Direct Matrix Architecture™, which has set a new trajectory for scalability, performance, availability, functionality and affordability. Combined with the power of EMC’s open software offerings, the new Symmetrix DMX systems and software extend EMC’s lead in helping customers benefit from the full value of automated networked storage.
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About EMC
EMC Corporation is the world leader in information storage systems, software, networks and services, providing automated networked storage solutions that enable organizations of all sizes to better and more cost-effectively manage, protect and share their information. More information about EMC’s products and services can be found at www.EMC.com.
© Press Release 2003
