Dell Launches VRTX – Integrated Systems For Branch And Small Offices

Dell VRTX Highlights

• An integrated system designed for branch offices and SMBs
• Clever storage components gives a maximum capacity of 48TB – treated by the system as if local storage
• 8 PCIe slots can be mapped to any of the 4 server blades
• Includes an in-chassis IT management system for local or remote management
• ‘Cloud in a box’ with 100 virtual machines
• Suited for small campus schools an universities, doctors offices and surgeries, military and federal, retail branch offices, legal teams
• Has taken a long time to come to market and has been tested by 100 customers in many diverse usage cases

What Is VRTX?

Dell is launching its VRTX systems today (pronounced ‘Vertex’), which stretches its concept of integrated system beyond the data centre to branch and small offices of up to 100 staff. We spoke with Forrest Norrod a few weeks ago to find out about what the system is and how it’s being positioned. You’ll want to learn more about its chances of success.
VRTX is a 5U Rackable tower chassis. The hardware includes:

• 1-4 ‘hot swappable’ server blades
• Force10 network switch
• Redundant power and cooling
• Up to 12 3.5” or 25 2.5” disc drives giving a maximum capacity of 48TB
• Chassis Management Controller
• Weighs upwards of 75lbs
• Priced upwards from around $10k
• Fresh air Cooling certified to 35^o

Simplicity is the name of the game for VRTX and Forrest’s team has designed the system to be deployed by IT novices – the target was to make it so easy that even the lawyer supporting the server team could deploy and manage the new system.
The concept started a few years ago at Dell when it realised there was a need for such an integrated solution to overcome the challenges of server sprawl, lack of physical space, systems management complexity and high noise levels of current small and branch office systems. It spoke to customers who indicated that towers and mini racks were not what they wanted.
However despite identifying a need it realised at the time that the technology wasn’t available for a solution and despite an active ongoing debate it has taken a number of years for VRTX to come to market.
We like the shared storage concept, which uses Dell storage with each processor blade thinking its got its own array: its simple to administer and cheaper than SAN or traditional storage approaches. We also like the low weight, acoustic, thermal and power usage of the new system.
Management of the system will be based on Open Manage 7.2, which is also launched today. VRTX can be managed locally or remotely (which is important for branch office deployments). In future Dell was also stretch its ‘secret sauce’ Active Systems Manager software from acquired Gale technology to manage VRTX in version 7.2.

Who’s It For?

Dell has tested VRTX with around 100 customers who have used it in a number of diverse ways. In fact Forrest testifies to its weight, with his team able to carry the system around in the back of their cars. Dell believes there are a number of use cases well fitted for the system. In particular:

• Retail – servers add noise to shops and yet there is a need for IT here to go beyond POS inventory management; the remote management capabilities will allow VRTX to be used in cookie cutter deployments in companies with large branch structures
• Healthcare – centralised data is creating a bottle neck for many organisations and the low thermal and acoustics of the new system make it relevant for doctors’ offices and surgeries
• Legal Teams – it fits the need for temporary offices set up in litigation cases and VRTX can be dropped into a hotel suite if necessary
• Oil/Gas Exploration – the need for data to be kept in country can be supported and integrated flash on PCIe cards can be used for data pre-processing

Dell also believes the system can be used by the military and many other situations in which a smaller system can be used. In the US alone Dell claims there to be 23 million remote offices worldwide and 27 million small businesses in the US alone.

Some Conclusions – Good Chances For Success

VRTX has a good competitive advantage, going beyond the current small chassis blade approaches of IBM and HP. It may also do better in US federal government business than IBM if its smaller systems are sold off to Lenovo – since the ‘buy American’ act is still in force. Its innovative approach to storage will add much needed revenues to its storage division, which is still trying to build its revenues up to the levels of the years in which it partnered with EMC for low-end NAS devices.
VRTX reminds us that important integration efforts going on outside the data centre – the smart phone and tablet markets for instance differ from PCs in being much more integrated and major vendor strategies are often about acquiring IP through acquisition. If mainframes are analogous to many of the new systems combining x86 servers with storage, networking and infrastructure software in the data centre, what about the AS/400? IBM’s minicomputer still soldiers on, as you can run its I5/OS on Power-based servers, but it was much more important in the 1990s, when it won great favour as a business person’s computer and was widely used in SMBs and the branches of large organisations.
It may sound a bit patronising to suggest Dell’s VRTX might emulate the AS/400 of old: however the power of pre-integration and advanced automation are just as important outside the data centre as in it.