Dell goes big on storage refresh

Dell today updated its CX network storage range, doubling capacity and substantially boosting performance.

The CX300, CX500 and CX700 systems, jointly developed with EMC, will replace the soon-to-be-discontinued CX200, CX400 and CX600 systems respectively.

The company is also offering a simplified software licensing model based on the number of attached host systems.

The CX300 doubles the maximum host connections to 64 and the number of drives to 60, with input-output also boosted to give a 70 per cent bandwidth increase. SnapView storage snapshot software is available on this entry-level system for the first time.

The CX500 and CX700 double capacities over the CX400 and CX600 to 128 and 256 hosts and 120 and 240 disk drives, yielding 28.4TB and 58.4TB capacity.

Steve Lewis, director of enterprise at Dell UK, told vnunet.com: "All competitors are making improvements to their products but the [CX] modular architecture makes sure we retain our customers' investment for them."

The existing systems can be upgraded by swapping the storage processors. The updated models also leave a space for a new low-cost entry-level system, to be introduced later in the year.

The previous licensing scheme, which was based on storage capacity, had been difficult to administer because of many pricing bands, admitted Lewis.

But the simplified licensing consists of an entry-level licence for one and two connected host systems, an intermediate licence for three to seven hosts, and an enterprise-level licence for seven or more hosts.

Dell shipped over $1bn in external storage last year. But it will need to alter its strategy to maintain success, warned Susan Clarke, senior research analyst at Butler Group.

"Dell's focus seems to be on hardware. Customers are looking for a complete solution from one vendor and most companies are diversifying to do this," she said.

IDC figures for the third quarter of 2003 showed Dell achieving the highest year-on-year revenue growth among major disk storage vendors, with sales increased by 68 per cent.