Server vendors have been bringing their storage game to the server market for quite a while, adding servers with ever-more storage options in an effort to tailor solutions to customers needs.  However, when one considers “server-based storage,” it’s generally assumed that such storage is of the direct-attached variety.  Even in this day and age of virtualized everything, there remains a high need for servers that can pack a dense amount of storage into the chassis.

Speaking of chasses, some vendors have sold direct-attached storage as an add-on option for blade systems.  By doing so, vendors were able to sell to their customers a single chassis that included the compute and storage necessary for many organizations to meet specific goals.  HP, for example, has long sold their D2200sb blade, which, when coupled with the HP P4000 Virtual SAN Appliance Software, turns the D2200sb’s twelve SFF drive slots into an iSCSI-based in-chassis storage device.

Dell, however, has taken “in-chassis” to an entirely new level!  Yesterday, the company announced new blade-based EqualLogic storage arrays that fit inside Dell’s M1000e blade chassis.  These blade-based storage arrays don’t cut corners, either.  They all feature either single or dual controllers, NL-SAS, SAS or SSD disks, depending on model and the ability to become a seamless part of a growing enterprise’s converged infrastructure that also includes Dell Force10 MXL switches.

	In the figure, you can see Dell’s M1000e chassis with two EqualLogic blade arrays installed along with 24 of Dell’s brand new quarter height M420 blade servers.  This picture displays some truly incredible power.
	This figure gives you a close up look at the new blade array.  Note that this array takes two half-height slots in the M1000 chassis.  However, as you saw in the figure above, that doesn’t mean that you necessarily have to give up a lot of computing power.
	The photo gives you a peek at the insides of the new blade array.

There are four different models of EqualLogic blade arrays that can be inserted into an M1000e chassis.  They are described in the table below.

Note also that each model can have one or two controllers, just like a full-sized array.  That fact, coupled with the fact that there are 14 drives in each of these units, makes this a full-fledged system.

Note that the four offerings run the capacity and performance gamut, from 7.2K RPM NL-SAS all the way up to hybrid SAS/SSD.  For organizations that simply need capacity, The M4110E provides up to 14 TB of raw capacity with slower-performing drives.  For those that need raw performance—coupled with impressive capacity—move to the M4110XS hybrid unit.

I’m extremely impressed with this product from Dell.  The EqualLogic arrays have proven to be stalwart workhorses for many SMBs, midmarket and small enterprise organizations.  This newest offering will help companies across the board save space in the data center and implement a converged environment that is easier to manage and maintain.

At this time, pricing has not been announced.

At the same time, Dell announced a number of related upgrades:

• EqualLogic Array Software 6
• Synchronous replication
• Snapshot borrowing
• Volume unmap
• Volume undelete
• Full encryption and IPSEC
• SAN HQ 2.5
• Enhanced event logging and transmission for Dell Integrated Support
• Host Integration Tools for Microsoft 4.5
• Auto-Snapshot Manager for SharePoint

Availability is slated for fall 2012.