Executive Brief

Discover an Integrated IT Platform Designed for Branch Offices and Small and Medium Enterprise Locations

a QuinStreet Executive Brief. © 2014

In This Paper•AsROBOandSMEITenvironmentsmatureand

expand,theybecomeincreasinglycomplicated

•Theseenvironmentscanbenefitfromanintegratedplatformthatoffersserver,storage,networking,andmanagement

•DellPowerEdge™VRTXrevolutionizesandsimplifiesthewayITcanbedeployedatROBOandSMElocations

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DiscoveranIntegratedITPlatformDesignedforBranchOfficesandSMELocations

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Introduction

Remote office or branch office (ROBO)

locations of larger businesses or

organizations, as well as small and

medium enterprises (SMEs) are often

presented with unique problems

related to IT. IT environments at these

locations typically include two or three

virtualized servers, perhaps another for

backup or standby, a shared external

storage system, and a network switch

or two. There are often different

vendors represented and different

technology generations — the result

of growth over time.

As IT environments like these mature

and expand, they become increasingly

complicated, inefficient, and inflexible.

The challenges they present include:

Complexity caused by disparate

systems: Maintaining and operating

IT infrastructures consisting of point

solutions from different vendors

is inefficient and requires a lot of

attention and maintenance, often

to the detriment of core business

demands.

Complexity caused by multiple

systems management tools:

Managing server, storage, and network

assets from different vendors that were

added over time requires learning and

using different management tools for

different parts of the infrastructure. As

a result, even simple changes require

multiple steps, switching between

multiple management tools and the

hypervisor. This creates inefficiency

and unnecessary churn as well as

increasing the risk of incompatibility.

Lack of fit: Many of the IT products

being marketed as ROBO and small

business solutions are re-packaged

data center solutions that simply

don’t fit in the ROBO/small business

environment in a number of ways,

including:

• Physical size. Re-packaged data

center solutions are typically too big

for the space available.

• Acoustics. IT products designed for

data centers create too much noise

for office environments.

• Power and cooling. These solutions

often require dedicated power and

cooling systems.

• Management. In many ROBO and

SME sites, IT is often managed as

a secondary function by technically

minded staff at small and medium

business.

ROBO and SME customers have

stated the need for an integrated IT

platform that offers server, storage,

networking, and management in a

single chassis that doesn’t take up

a lot of space or require dedicated

power and cooling. Some IT vendors

ROBO and SME customers have stated the need for an integrated IT platform that offers server, storage, networking, and management in a single chassis that doesn’t take up a lot of space...

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offer systems where components are

simply brought together in a single

box. However, what is really needed

is a tightly integrated, converged IT

system that is designed and optimized

to address the requirements unique to

ROBO and SME environments. Such a

solution has not been available — until

now.

Dell PowerEdge™ VRTX: An Integrated IT Platform for ROBO and SME Environments

Inspired by Dell ROBO and SME

customers who have experienced

many of the issues discussed above,

the Dell PowerEdge VRTX is a

unique, integrated IT platform that

revolutionizes and simplifies the way

IT can be deployed at ROBO and SME

locations.

PowerEdge VRTX converges servers,

storage, networking, and management

into a compact tower chassis (or 5U

when rack-mounted) that includes

room to scale at an attractive price

point.

Servers: PowerEdge VRTX

accommodates up to four PowerEdge

server nodes. Customers have the

option of the half-height, two-socket

M520, which is optimized to support

mainstream business applications; the

half-height, two-socket M620, which

delivers higher performance and is

optimized for server virtualization;

or the full-height, four-socket M820,

which is a workhorse server for

business-critical back-end databases

and applications.

Storage: PowerEdge VRTX users

can choose to add up to 25 hard

disk drives (48TB) of shared storage

through SAS, NLSAS, or SAS SSD hot

plug drives. This huge internal storage

space provides ample room for

most customers’ current needs, and

capacity for growth into the future,

helping to protect IT investments.

By eliminating the need for external

storage, VRTX also reduces cost and

complexity associated with cabling,

powering, and managing storage

devices.

Networking: PowerEdge VRTX

simplifies networking and I/O with

a built-in IO module for supporting

Ethernet traffic to the server blades.

At present the options include an 8

port 1Gb pass-through module or a

24 Port 1Gb switch. The 8 port pass

through module offers 2 pass-through

connections to each internal blade slot

where the 24 port 1Gb switch option

provides 16 internal ports (4 per blade

slot) and 8 external ports to be used to

uplink to the network.

Management: PowerEdge VRTX

includes several tools to make

management easier. The Chassis

Management Controller (CMC) for

PowerEdge VRTX offers converged

management of server nodes,

storage, networking, and power in a

unified tool, all in a single console.

The OpenManage Essentials (OME)

console monitors and manages

distributed PowerEdge systems

wherever they are on the network. And

the integrated Dell Remote Access

Controller (iDRAC) with Lifecycle

Controller allows for agent-free

deployment, monitoring, updating,

and maintenance of multiple VRTX

systems’ servers from remote

locations. This unified management

not only reduces complexity and

the potential for errors, but it also

allows the management of multiple

PowerEdge VRTX deployments from

one tool, enabling businesses to save

on the costs of time and travel for the

IT staff as well.

Business and organizations that

deploy PowerEdge VRTX stand to gain

a number of benefits. Not only does

the integrated design of PowerEdge

VRTX deliver easier IT management

compared to disparate solutions

for server, storage, networking,

and management, but PowerEdge

VRTX also takes up less space than

traditional server, storage, and

ROBO and SME locations are using PowerEdge VRTX because it delivers

the simplicity, efficiency, and versatility they need from an IT platform.

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networking installations. PowerEdge

VRTX can be deployed in either a

tower or rack configuration and it

is designed to be non-disruptive

in ROBO and SME environments,

and runs no louder than a hallway

conversation.

In addition, a PowerEdge VRTX

deployment requires no special power

and cooling requirements and uses

just four cables, including redundancy:

two for power and two for networking.

A traditional deployment of four

servers along with storage and

networking components requires 28

cables.

Moreover, a TCO analysis by

Principled Technologies found that

PowerEdge VRTX offered 26% lower

five-year TCO, $21,000 in savings, and

a 33-month payback period compared

to legacy tower servers.i When

compared to a public cloud service,

Principled Technologies found that

PowerEdge VRTX had a 63% lower

five-year TCO, $172,000 in savings,

and a 13-month payback period.ii

PowerEdge VRTX Use Cases

ROBO and SME locations are using

PowerEdge VRTX because it delivers

the simplicity, efficiency, and versatility

they need from an IT platform.

Virtualization: ROBO and SME

environments are using PowerEdge

VRTX as a platform for enterprise-

class virtualization using either

Microsoft Hyper-V or VMware

vSphere. PowerEdge VRTX deploys

rapidly and is a robust high-

availability solution that protects

all virtualized applications. The

easy-to-use, integrated monitoring

and management tools monitor

both physical and virtual resources.

Customers are also integrating the

Comprehensive Data Protection of

PowerEdge VRTX with reliable backup

and recovery solutions to protect

data in small business and ROBO

environments.

Email Hosting: Microsoft Exchange

Server 2013 virtualized on PowerEdge

VRTX demonstrates how this

integrated platform, along with

Windows Server 2012 with Hyper-V,

provides a resilient, virtualized

architecture for critical application

like email. For remote offices of larger

organizations, cross-site resiliency

protects against a VRTX at one site

experiencing an outage by enabling

a second VRTX site to keep email and

other services up while the affected

system is recovered. Small businesses

are leveraging intra-site resiliency that

allows PowerEdge VRTX to restart

Exchange virtual machines from a

failed server node to an available node

through clustering. Finally, Hyper-V

failover clustering with Cluster Shared

Volumes (CSV) enables administrators

to keep applications like email up

and running even during scheduled

maintenance.

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Unified Communications &

Collaboration: UCC provides email,

calendars, peer-to-peer conferencing,

instant messaging, team sites, and

file sharing to businesses of all sizes.

PowerEdge VRTX can be deployed

as a platform for Microsoft Exchange,

Lync, and SharePoint Server 2013 to

deliver a full suite of productivity tools

to solve collaboration and productivity

challenges. ROBO and small business

locations have on-site control of their

communications and content with

PowerEdge VRTX, as well as efficient,

centralized application management.

Using a virtualized environment for

consolidation and availability, and

with near-continuous data protection,

PowerEdge VRTX helps protect

important business data and ensure

applications are available when

needed.

Database Applications: Some

organizations use PowerEdge VRTX

as a backbone for enterprise-class

database applications such as OLTP

with Microsoft SQL Server 2012. In

a configuration that includes four

Dell PowerEdge M620 server nodes,

virtualization with Microsoft Hyper-V,

four 1Gb PCIe NICs, and 1Gb Ethernet

pass through, PowerEdge VRTX

allows small business and ROBO

environments to host database

applications on-premise without the

cost and complexity of a data center.

PowerEdge VRTX Success Stories

Cadac Group of The Netherlands

specializes in IT solutions that create,

manage, and share digital design

information. It builds its own software

for improving and optimizing design

processes, as well as document

management. The company has 12

branches worldwide and is driving

growth across Asia Pacific, Europe,

and the U.S. Cadac Group needed to

replace an existing backup and restore

solution with one that helped increase

productivity while also reducing

administration and costs. It deployed

Dell AppAssure running on the Dell

PowerEdge VRTX integrated solutions

platform.

“The beauty of the Dell PowerEdge

VRTX chassis is that we gained a

complete solution for our remote site,

including servers, storage, networking,

and cabling,” said Paul Smeets, CTO

at Cadac Group.

Japan’s NEWJEC Inc. needed to

revamp its existing HPC environment

and consolidate it onto a compact

data center solution. It deployed

Dell PowerEdge VRTX to deliver

a more powerful and compact

HPC environment with enhanced

processing power to the business.

NEWJEC saw processing speed

increase 60%, the new platform can

now handle 25 times more data, and

power consumption was reduced by

46%.

“We had reached maximum physical

capacity with our existing physical

servers and storage and could no

longer scale up to add more PCs and

workstations,” said Yukitomo Kuroda,

Manager, Information Systems Group

at NEWJEC. “The compact VRTX was

a perfect solution.”

The consulting and training company

Myian Sdn. Bhd. of Malaysia wanted

to optimize operations and expand

its geographical reach. It needed an

Dell PowerEdge VRTX provides ROBO and SME office sites with

an IT solution that enables them to achieve greater simplicity,

efficiency, and versatility.

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DiscoveranIntegratedITPlatformDesignedforBranchOfficesandSMELocations

5

infrastructure that could support its

online customer technical training

efforts, allowing it to operate across

geographies without the need for a

physical presence in each country.

Furthermore, the company wanted to

reduce its operating costs, needed

a small server footprint to reduce

physical space requirements, and

sought a solution with management

system with minimal complexity.

Once the company found Dell

PowerEdge VRTX there were no

alternatives. It reduced operating

costs and offered a compact, high-

value IT solution that was bundled into

just one system.

“Compared to what hosting

companies would normally charge

for the costs of a rack-mount, we

were able to save more than 70% in

operational costs by going with the

Dell PowerEdge VRTX system,” said

Noel Teng, Director, Myian Sdn. Bhd.

“We were expecting hurdles during

i http://www.principledtechnologies.com/Dell/VRTX_performance_TCO_0713.pdfii http://www.principledtechnologies.com/Dell/VRTX_vs_cloud_0613.pdf

setup, yet it took only 30 minutes to

set up the PowerEdge VRTX platform,

a fraction of the time we expected.

That’s how technology should be.”

Conclusion

Dell PowerEdge VRTX provides

ROBO and SME office sites with

an IT solution that enables them to

achieve greater simplicity, efficiency,

and versatility. PowerEdge VRTX is a

unique, converged IT platform that

integrates server, storage, networking,

and management into a single,

compact, quiet chassis.

ROBO and SME locations are using

PowerEdge VRTX to support a wide

range of applications that enhance

the IT capabilities available to

their employees, including email

and unified communications and

collaboration, database applications,

and more.

To learn more about how PowerEdge

VRTX can benefit your business or

organization, visit www.dell.com/us/

business/p/poweredge-vrtx/pd

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