Dell rolls out servers and storage for small business

Dell has announced new kit aimed at small to medium sized businesses (SMBs), including servers based on Intel's latest Xeon 3400 processors and entry-level network storage. The firm has also unveiled a range of uninterruptible power supply units.

The announcement builds on Dell's launch of its 11th generation enterprise servers earlier this year, but with a focus on meeting the needs of smaller companies.

"We are bringing this down to SMBs, and making it easier to get into virtualisation," said Dell enterprise programme manager Paul Larson.

The new servers consist of two tower models, the PowerEdge T110 and PowerEdge T310, plus two rack-mount servers, the PowerEdge R210 and PowerEdge R510.

The T110 is intended as a first or second server, according to Dell, and is based on a desktop chassis with Intel's new Nehalem-based Xeon 3400 processors. It also features a baseboard management controller which provides built-in remote management capabilities.

"We are driving management right down to the entry level with this," said Larson.

The T110 will be available from the end of September priced from £509.

A step up is the T310, also based on the Xeon 3400 but with the same embedded lifecycle controller as the enterprise 11th generation server line-up.

Described as a value 1U-high rack-mount system, the R210 is similarly based on the Xeon 3400, but also boasts the smallest energy footprint of Dell's entire server portfolio, according to Larson.

The R510 is a more substantial 2U rack-mount box, with two sockets for Intel's Xeon 5500 processors and eight memory slots, and fits into the product line just below the existing R710. Prices for the servers have yet to be disclosed.

All the new servers are ready for Windows Server 2008 R2, according to Larson, and are certified for leading virtualisation platforms including VMware, Citrix and Microsoft's Hyper-V. An embedded hypervisor is optional on the R510.

Dell also said that its ProConsult Virtualisation Readiness Assessment service will help assess customer IT environments and provide recommendations for implementing an optimal solution.

On the storage side, Dell announced the PowerVault NX300, a rack-mount network-attached storage device also aimed at SMBs. The NX300 is designed for basic file sharing with up to four 1TB drives arranged as a Raid array and a gigabit Ethernet network connection. Pricing starts at £1,970.

Dell also announced a whole new line of uninterruptible power supply units, covering the entry-level right up to the datacentre, designed to integrate with Dell's OpenManage suite.