EMC Announces Entry Level VNXe, Data-At-Rest Encryption for VNX and New VSPEX Storage Arrays

EMC Corporation added new products and capabilities to the VNX Family of hybrid storage solutions, including a new entry-level VNXe3200 storage array. The new VNXe3200 is 3X more efficient than previous VNXe solutions, and is based on the VNX Series that was launched in September 2013. Powered by EMC MCx(Multicore optimization) and EMC FAST (Fully-Automated Storage Tiering) software, the new VNXe is designed to unleash the power of Flash, thereby accelerating virtual applications and file performance by 3X compared to its predecessor in the same small footprint. The new VNXe3200 supports major unified protocols - including Fibre Channel. It builds upon the trademark ease-of-use that VNXe is designed for across the entire storage lifecycle - from setup to management to support.

By leveraging MCx and the FAST Suite, the new VNXe system exceeds previous VNXe solutions in power, efficiency, and ease-of-use. The VNXe technology highlights include:

· Turbocharging mixed workloads by supporting 3X more virtual machines, 3X more virtual desktops, 3X more Microsoft SQL transactions and 3X more Exchange mailboxes.

· Simplified management with the ability to setup NAS or SAN in under 15 minutes with EMC Unisphere®. Users can also manage and deploy Microsoft applications 3X faster. There is also a new "get help anywhere" support feature through EMC Connect Proactive Support, as well as "set it and forget it" functionality through automated tiering with FAST, eliminating the need for manual performance tuning.

· More power in a small and efficient footprint. The new VNXe system supports hundreds of virtual machines and virtual desktops in just a 2U configuration. It reduces capacity requirements by up to 50% with thin provisioning and file deduplication, and leverages space-efficient snapshot technology to easily create copies of production data directly from Unisphere.

The VNXe3200 is also available in new VSPEX® Proven Infrastructures, which delivers up to 125 virtual machines and 500 virtual desktops in a VNXe3200. These new VSPEX solutions can store up to 2,000 Exchange mailboxes and over 20,000 SharePoint users.

The VNXe3200, which starts at under $12K, will be available in the second quarter of 2014 primarily through EMC's global channel partners. The VNXe3200 is supported by the EMC Business Partner Program, which offers a complete set of partner-ready collateral, Express Solution bundles, and VSPEX reference architectures for simplified ordering, selling, and support.

EMC Unveils ‘Project Liberty'

Today EMC also announced ‘Project Liberty', virtualized storage software that is based on the industry-leading VNX Family. Project Liberty leverages the rich data services and ease-of management that VNX provides today, and offers this in a variety of flexible deployment models, whether on a virtual server or in a hybrid cloud for example, to meet varied and changing workloads and service levels.

To address increasingly shorter development cycles, IT must deliver a way to enable rapid application prototyping for quicker time to market. One use case for Project Liberty will be to empower IT to spin up several virtual array instances quickly, at a moment's notice, to speed development of new applications such as test and development. Project Liberty will enable these new applications to be seamlessly deployed on physical VNX storage systems with higher service levels - all while enjoying a consistent management and rich user experience.

These applications could reside anywhere - whether it's remote office, central office, or in a cloud. With Project Liberty, customers will benefit from the agility and efficiency of a hybrid cloud.

Redefining Security in the Midrange

In addition, today EMC also announced Data-At-Rest-Encryption for VNX - VNX D@RE. Since the introduction of the new VNX, customers are now consolidating more and more critical data on a single VNX, making security a higher priority. This is particularly true in industries such as healthcare, financial services and federal and state governments that require more control over sensitive information from increased unauthorized data access. VNX Data-At-Rest-Encryption (D@RE), is expected to be available on the new VNX Series as a non-disruptive software upgrade in the third quarter of 2014. It is designed to help customers protect data written to disk to eliminate data access from unauthorized drive removal, VNX D@RE uses controller-based encryption, which provides the flexibility to support any drive type, speed and capacity.