14 December 2008
•Dell Data Center Optimization Services Can Help Customers Identify Opportunities to Reduce Energy Costs By Up to Two-Thirds

•Improving Computing Capacity, Adding Energy Efficiency Helps Customers Extend the Life of Existing Data Centres

DUBAI, UAE - Dell today announced the global availability of its Data Center Optimization Services to help customers find their "Hidden Data Center." As a result, Dell helps customers avoid the significant capital expenditures required for building a new data centre by showing them how to add computing capacity and increase energy efficiency.

By applying best practices in data centre design, layout and configuration, Dell can help customers improve productivity and energy efficiency to expand capacity in existing facilities and help avoid the significant capital expenditures required to build a new data centre.  This announcement is in conjunction with research published today and the concept of the "Hidden Data Center."

Dell's approach is globally consistent and standards based. With Dell Data Center Optimization Services, Dell can help customers identify opportunities to reduce energy costs by up to two-thirds. 

Data Center Optimization Services:

Data Center Optimization Workshop addresses the energy, capacity and cooling issues facing customers with practical, expert advice on how to bring efficiency to the current data centre environment. Dell provides customers with specific actions designed to simplify and save in the data centre.

Power and cooling capacity are two driving factors in the need for data center optimisation.  The Energy Smart Data Center Assessment analyses existing power and cooling capacity and practices to find inefficiencies, including the use of Computational Fluid Dynamics modeling. Customers get clear and actionable recommendations to help meet expanding computing requirements without exceeding existing power and cooling limitations. An Energy Smart Data Center Assessment can cost as little as $25,000, depending on the size of the facility and requirements.

Data Center Conceptual Design is an estimated three- to 12-week engagement to help refit and optimise an existing facility, or design a new data centre to meet an organisation's growing needs. The hands-on work sessions present options for an informed technology solution based on priorities, constraints and budget. The deliverables include conceptual drawings, bill of materials, budget estimates and a project schedule, as well as an executive presentation of the design concept.

Data Center Consolidation and Migration engagement helps customers manage the risk and complexity of migrating hundreds or thousands of servers and applications - from planning and design to the complete installation of new or existing systems. The service includes complexity analysis, current state discovery and analysis, future state architecture, and a program for transformation.  Through consolidation and migration, companies can reduce the number of data centres they need to run the business.

Storage Consulting from Dell enables customers to optimise, manage and implement storage infrastructure. Dell can also help customers consolidate storage, plan for disaster recovery and optimise backup environments to best use the data centre space. Consolidation can help decrease total storage costs.

Virtualization Consulting from Dell can help customers consolidate servers to expand IT capacity without requiring the build out of new data centres. Dell helps customers adopt virtualisation best practices by assessing potential in their environment, then designing, planning and implementing end-to-end virtualisation solutions. Dell can also streamline and automate the physical to virtualisation migration process and implement the complete transformation.  Through virtualisation, customers can run fewer servers to save on hardware and energy costs. 

Quotes:
"A majority of data centres were built during the dot-com boom and are reaching their 10-year lifespan, so it's no surprise that many companies are hitting a wall when it comes to data centre capacity," said Dr. Albert Esser, vice president of Power and Infrastructure Solutions at Dell. "Dell is helping businesses address this challenge in a cost-effective way by enabling them to get more out of their existing data centre environment."

"In today's economic environment, Data Center Optimization Services enable customers to multiply their computing capacity, without incurring the large-scale capital expense of building new data centres, while reducing energy consumption," said Tim Webb, director, Global Infrastructure Consulting Services at Dell.  "By doing much more with less, customers can reduce operational costs while still providing more value to the organisation."

"The Dell Consultants presented a design for a modern data centre with virtualised applications and high-density servers, and they explained how that design could help reduce power and cooling," said Mark Trocino, chief information officer at DeKalb Medical Georgia. "We also discussed the benefits of virtualisation in our overall disaster management plan. We liked what we heard."

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About Dell
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services they trust and value. Uniquely enabled by its direct business model, Dell is a leading global systems and services company and No. 34 on the Fortune 500. For more information, visit www.dell.com, or to communicate directly with Dell via a variety of online channels, go to www.dell.com/conversations. To get Dell news direct, visit www.dell.com/RSS.

For more information, please contact:
Karim Hodroj
Headline Public Relations
Tel+971 4 228 9655
Email: karim@headlinepr.com

© Press Release 2008