The way data centres work is up for a significant change. Dell has introduced a new bread of product family, branded Active System, that promises a combination of networking, storage and computing support.

Data centres are considered to be the heart of computer infrastructure in an organisation. Depending on the size of the organisation, the number of racks in a data centre varies. Right from one, the number could grow to hundreds (in third party data centres).

Dell Enterprise strategy update

Talking on Dell Enterprise strategy update here, Dario Zamarian, its Vice-President and General Manager (Converged Infrastructure and Networking Solutions), said the systems would be shipped from November in the US. Global sales, including in India, will happen in the January quarter next year.

The company showcased Active System 800, the first in the Active Infrastructure series, to a group of analysts, customers and reporters.

Active infrastructure

Active infrastructure can support private clouds, virtual desktop infrastructure and enterprise applications such as Microsoft Lync, Exchange and sharepoint 2010.

The key element of this new product is Active System Manager, which the company claims, an intuitive tool to take care of the most common infrastructure administrative tasks.

This will not only make it easier for the IT administrators to run the show efficiently but also helps them in times of crisis.

“When they face a problem, they know whom to contact. We are a single point contact. Or, it would be like making a car with chassis from one manufacturer, body from another and so on. Who will you go to, when you face a problem,’’ a Dell executive asks, showcasing the Active System.

Daria said Dell would integrate the vStart series with Active Infrastructure soon.

Marius Haas, President of Dell Enterprise Solutions, said the company’s server business grew 8 per cent, while that of HP’s and IBM’s declined in the second quarter. The storage business went up by 6 per cent and that of networking by 39 per cent.

The reporter is in San Francisco on invitation from Dell Enterprise Solutions.

>kurmanath.kanchi@thehindu.co.in