PowerMax storage

PowerMax series has entered market relatively long time ago, but since its publishment has undergone numerous crucial improvements and nowadays represents one of the best commercially available solutions for the modern data centre architecture.

In this article we will discuss main functions of PowerMax and point out the key reasons for investing into this revolutionary technology.

PowerMax is the first hardware-based device from Dell, which is fully using NVMe (Non-Volatile Memory Host Controller Interface Specification) for communication between flash memory and its core. Due to that the device can reach incredibly low latency and high data throughput. NVMe is a set of standards, which define PCI Express system which is used for immediate data accessibility. Data are actively stored on NVMe memory and modern NAND flash system is also included in the device (modern parts for keeping incredible amount of data + they are non-volatile – can keep data even if the device loses power). PowerMax was built on NVMe in order to create a perfect storage, which is going to help you achieve an excellent bandwidth (transfer of data), IOPS (operations per second) and low latency. These benefits are going to make your application run smoother and more efficiently than on any other all-flash device of previous product generation. 

Benefits of PowerMax

PowerMax offers unprecedented performance and scalability thanks to the usage of next generation memory (SCM) and high-speed SAN infrastructure. These technologies not only make the storage powerful and fast but also easy to implement and use. The main reason for using such a technology is the ability to run the most performance heavy application on the market today and in the future. The device is not only using NVMe and SCM but also highly advanced technology of machine learning with direct data deduplication and compression so it can reach a nonproblematic, highly secure and efficient state of your data centre and support your business in the best way possible.

Main advantages of PowerMax

1) Incredibly powerful NVMe architecture of storage which offers:

  • Up to 15M IOPS and 350 GBps data throughput (187 K IOPS on one rack unit!)
  • NVMe Flash and SCM controllers on a standardized company level
  • Native case of discs NVMe
  • High consolidation of workload which enables open system and the main storage to work simultaneously on one platform.

2) Fully integrated and every time functional machine learning makes automatic organization of data possible thanks to:

  • Automatic I/O and organization of data on Flash memory with SCM maximizing performance without requiring additional maintenance of this process.
  • Standalone consolidation of all important processes and task with the goal of improving overall effectivity of the workload.

3) business level of storage security

  • End-to-End data encryption
  • FIPS 140-2 approved encryption of data even when outside of the workload (D@RE)
  • Regular backups, confirmation of company access roles and regular analysis and audits about state of security.

4) Reliability of the system is guaranteed thanks to 99,9999% accessibility of every disk (the shutdown necessary in only 31,56 seconds per year).

5) Your investment is protected by the excellent Future Proof program from Dell (guarantee of perfect function towards future)

6) Global deduplication and compression of data is not influencing the overall performance of the system.

  • Fully compatible with all data services
  • Offers and guarantees 3,5:1 data reduction – by the Dell Future Proof program (we will discuss this in more detail in following articles)

7) Support of data services witch help with security, control and with the management of data inside the storage. These services include separate replication with SRDF, high availability of data with SRDF/Metro, local replication with TimeDinder SnaVX and Cloud mobility services.

8) Complex and intuitive API allows for easy management of the storage, data services and allows easy setting for each disk. The system also gives you the power to control the performance and notifies you if they are any issues with your infrastructure.

In this article we have presented PowerMax from Dell as one of the best storage solutions and discussed its main benefits. The main advantage is without any doubt all flash approach which is running on a stable NVMe core. Thanks to supporting many additional services, easy management and maintenance of the entire structure the PowerMax is going to save you work and money which are needed for maintain any classical data centre. The future proofness and scalability which is guaranteed by Dell will also save you a lot of money in a long run.

In the following articles we are going to focus on explaining the most important terminology connected to PowerMax, concrete products in PowerMax family and further elaborate on benefits of this amazing storage.