Powering the Modern Software-Defined Data Center with the Dell Technologies PowerFlex

Today's IT organizations are challenged with deploying and managing infrastructures that are agile, flexible and responsive to the continuously evolving requirements of the enterprise. To address these needs, the Dell Technologies PowerFlex offers a software-defined infrastructure platform that couples unprecedented performance and linear scalability with simplified, comprehensive infrastructure management capabilities.  

What is the Dell Technologies PowerFlex?

The Dell Technologies PowerFlex is a software-defined infrastructure platform that combines storage, compute and networking resources to deliver massive performance, flexibility and scalability benefits, all while simplifying IT operations and infrastructure. This unified, hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) platform combines industry-standard hardware with software to pool and manage resources—essential capabilities for optimizing enterprise IT agility and responsiveness to changing business needs.

Flexibility for today's software-defined data center

Depending on the organization's scaling and business needs, Dell PowerFlex offers the flexibility to mix and match storage-only, compute-only and HCI nodes in several dynamic deployment models. This allows IT to scale storage and compute resources together or independently, one node at a time, and as their needs dictate. PowerFlex also supports heterogeneous workloads simultaneously— from bare-metal operating systems to hypervisors and container platforms — eliminating infrastructure silos and fragmented IT services and processes.

Data center agility to meet tomorrow's demands

PowerFlex offers flexible consumption models that enable IT to rapidly reconfigure and redeploy infrastructure components on the fly. IT resources can be reallocated and scaled up/down as needed, empowering organizations to embrace change and quickly meet evolving workload requirements. For this reason, Dell PowerFlex is the ideal foundational platform for organizations looking to modernize mission-critical applications, consolidate heterogeneous workloads, and build and integrate private and hybrid clouds.

Dell Technologies PowerFlex products

The following Dell Technologies PowerFlex solutions work together as a unified platform for streamlining IT operations, lifecycle management and infrastructure workflow automation:

• PowerFlex appliance is a pre-configured/pre-validated, turnkey hardware solution offering flexible networking options and massive scaling upside potential, allowing organizations to start small and scale dynamically according to their needs.
• PowerFlex rack is a rack-scale, fully engineered system with integrated networking that provides linear scalability and enterprise-grade availability. Like other members of the PowerFlex family, the PowerFlex rack is designed to simplify deployments and accelerate time-to-value with turnkey delivery.
• PowerFlex Manager is a comprehensive lifecycle and IT operations management (ITOM) solution for simplifying the IT operations of PowerFlex systems with automated operational tasks. The tool allows for automating infrastructure operations across storage and compute, significantly reducing administration time and errors—all via a single pane of glass.

PowerFlex features and benefits

The Dell Technologies PowerFlex platform comes with advanced automation capabilities, enhanced security and compliance, improved resiliency, and more. It also comes with expanded graphics processing units (GPU) options to further execute complex artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) and virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) workloads, such as image recognition and speech processing.

Feature highlights

The following are just a few highlights of PowerFlex's key features and components:

• Multiple GPU options to support demanding AI/ML, VDI workloads and beyond
• Dell Technologies CloudIQ integration provides single-pane-of-glass monitoring for PowerFlex and much of the Dell portfolio, featuring monitoring, machine learning, and predictive analytics for core, edge and cloud
• Dell Technologies AppSync integration provides copy data management (CDM) and reliable data protection with an end-user friendly web interface
• Support for a broad range of operating environments, from bare metal operating systems to container platforms
• Support for all major hypervisor platforms
• Network resiliency capabilities such as proactive network error detection and network path correction
• Enhanced hardware awareness for PowerEdge nodes
• Easy-to-use PowerFlex GUI (graphical user interface)

Key benefits

According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), PowerFlex customers have reported the following key business outcomes: a 47 percent reduction in total costs of operations, a five-year return on investment of 321 percent and a 70 percent decrease in staff time spent on IT infrastructure management.  

The following are just a few of Dell PowerFlex's key benefits that make these favorable business outcomes possible:

Performance

Dell PowerFlex enables organizations to meet critical service-level agreements through massive I/O (input/output) and throughput performance, linear and non-disruptive scalability, and minimum latency. Further, PowerFlex's self-healing architecture eliminates downtime for outages, maintenance and upgrades, resulting in 99.9999 percent availability.  

Deployment and management simplicity

PowerFlex comes pre-configured and validated for fast, easy deployment, offering a turnkey experience in flexible form factors. Additionally, PowerFlex Manager provides a simple, comprehensive toolset for managing Dell PowerFlex systems and the entire organization's infrastructure.

Cloud-native integration and management

Dell PowerFlex offers cloud-native management and automation capabilities such as container storage interfaces (CSI), drivers, and modules for supporting automation tools like Ansible.

Industrial-grade security

PowerFlex offers proven validated security features that enable organizations to fully adhere to governance and compliance requirements. Additionally, features such as native high-performance Data at Rest Encryption (D@RE), policy-based key management, tamper-proof audit logs, secure access controls and more enable organizations to continuously bolster their security postures.

Predictability  

Dell PowerFlex is validated and optimized for a wide range of enterprise workloads and cloud automation tools that can integrate with the infrastructure, applications and DevOps workflows, resulting in increased automation and predictable workload outcomes. Because of the increased automation and predictability, IT teams can focus on other business strategies and initiatives.  

Flexibility for today and tomorrow's requirements

The PowerFlex software-defined infrastructure platform was engineered to maximize performance and scalability for current and future data requirements. To this end, the platform features flexible scaling for analytic workloads and applications that continuously grow and evolve. This makes PowerFlex the ideal foundation for organizations looking to modernize and future-proof their data center and workload infrastructures.

Learn more about the Dell Technologies PowerFlex

PowerFlex Rack and PowerFlex Appliance are available in WWT's Advanced Technology Center, offering customers hands-on access to the storage platforms. To get access to these technologies, connect with a solutions architect today.