To break away from the pack of other 64-bit Intel-related news this week,
Dell is hoping to beat its rivals with a revision to its
server management software.
Like so many other server manufacturers, the computer maker said Monday it
is revising its marquee PowerEdge servers with
Intel’s 64-bit Xeon “Nocona” chip with its corresponding
Lindenhurst chipset. The processor pairing is noteworthy, because it features
64-bit compatibility, enhanced memory, I/O, bus technologies and a new
storage I/O processor (formerly codenamed “Dobson”) that improves RAID
capabilities.
Dell, which is an Intel-only shop, is offering four new PowerEdge rack
servers — 1800, 1850, 2800 and 2850 — to compete heavily with rivals HP,
IBM
and Sun Microsystems
.
But beyond simple sales, Dell is hoping to seal the deal on some real
customer loyalty with the latest version of its OpenManage system management
software. Version 4 of its utility computing software includes a broad range
of remote management features, such as Intelligent Platform Management
Interface (IPMI) version 1.5 baseboard management controllers, Dell Remote
Access Card (DRAC) 4 management software with a continuous video console
capability, and Microsoft Active Directory support and remote media access.
As for Dell’s OpenManage roadmap, 2004 through 2006 is about integrating
its systems. While not as extensive as rival offerings from IBM (eBusiness
on-demand), HP (Adaptive Enterprise) and Sun (N1 Grid), Dell is using tight-knit
relationships to help bolster its strategy.
The company looks to VMware for
virtualization software, which lets system administrators move applications
from one server box to another. For its storage needs, it uses EMC, as well as
works closely with the Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA) and
supports the Open Cluster Group’s OSCAR open source project. Dell also
relies on Microsoft’s MOM console
and Altiris’ OMCA 2.0 platform for local recovery. Dell says it
looks to Oracle and SAP for database support and enterprise software.
Bruce Kornfeld, Dell’s director of worldwide marketing, told
internetnews.com that his company tries to remain vendor-neutral but
focused on standardization across hardware and operating system
applications.
“What our customers can expect is that we will create the glue that is
the backbone of customers’ IT infrastructure,” Kornfeld said. “We partner
with the software providers so customers don’t get locked into proprietary
systems.”
But Dell’s strategy is only a year old, and despite its customer loyalty
with its hardware, has had few success stories with its
OpenManage platform. Kornfeld could only come up with a generic list
comprised of automotive and manufacturing customers. The company does not
boast of any wins in the telecommunications or government sectors.
Dell supports an Enterprise Command Center, which includes phone support
and the ability to manage any customer’s software. But Kornfeld said the
company is avoiding becoming a utility itself. Instead, Dell continues to
pursue its customer-controlled model with its OpenManage software control
system as the center. In the 2005 to 2008 time frame, Dell said it is looking
at extending the software to better allocate resources without human
intervention using policy-based, self-monitoring, self-correcting, and self-managing
software.
“In this way, we can deploy the right services,” Kornfeld said. “And when it comes to
onsite support we will contract with a third party to address the customer’s
needs.”
In the meantime, getting customers to unplug their proprietary Unix
servers and use Dell to monitor their multi-vendor environments requires
upgrades to hardware, as well.
Dell said its 1U 1850 ($1,799) and 2U 2850 ($1,899) are available now
with PCI Express; 800MHz Front Side Bus; memory mirroring and redundant
Gigabit network interface cards; support for clustering as well as storage
area networks (SAN); common drivers and BIOS for consistency; as well as
integrated IPMI (Intelligent Platform Management Interface) 1.5 baseboard
management controllers. The servers are factory installed with Microsoft
Windows Server 2003 (32-bit edition) and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 3
(32/64-bit edition) and come with the option of a DRAC 4 card with
continuous video access, as well as Microsoft Active Directory Integration
and virtual CD/floppy drives.
Dell said it plans to offer the entry-level PowerEdge 1800 and its
advanced 2800 in October. The 2800-server is expected to come as either a
tower or 5U rack server with 1.4 TB of internal data storage and support for
up to 10 hard drives.
Two-processor capacity server unit shipments have served Dell very well
in the past. According to industry analyst firm IDC, the 2U model is
expected to account for more than 6.2 million units in 2008, nearly double
the 3.5 million units shipped in 2003. Single- and dual-processor capacity
servers also represented 91 percent of all server unit shipments in 2003,
which Dell has also taken advantage of.
