Dell And IBM Pitch Midrange Storage OptionsDell And IBM Pitch Midrange Storage Options

IT managers now have more midrange storage options, as Dell Computer and IBM unveil two products.

Dell, fresh from its five-year, multibillion-dollar deal with EMC Corp. in which the PC maker will market EMC's midrange data-storage products, this week will debut its own suite of storage systems that combine its commodity computing expertise with high-end functionality.

Dell's PowerVault 755N, 750N, and 715N are based on Microsoft's Windows 2000 Advanced Server and Intel processors. The devices let companies exchange data among Windows, Unix, and Novell NetWare systems and include Dell's ActiveArchives, which lets companies make copies of data without shutting down any systems.

The preconfigured 715N will scale up to 400 Gbytes of capacity; pricing starts at $1,999 for 160 Gbytes. The 755N and 750N, starting at $8,700, are robust enough to support SQL Server databases and can store up to 7 terabytes of data. All three models are scheduled to ship this month.

The Dell devices are a viable low-cost option for business continuity, says Parker Mabry, director of network services at Morgan Keegan, a subsidiary of the Regions Financial Corp. investment firm. "We use the 735 as an application library. It's cheap, and it performs great," Mabry says. He's considering installing the new appliances at a disaster-recovery site 20 miles from Morgan Keegan's Memphis, Tenn., headquarters and at two remote offices.

And last week, IBM unveiled three midrange storage products, marking its entry into that market. The TotalStorage Fibre Array Storage Technology (Fast) 700 system can move data at a rate of 200 Mbytes per second and includes high-end data replication. The TotalStorage IP Storage 200i can move data over an IP network at increased speeds because of three 1.13-GHz Pentium III processors. IBM also extended the capacity of its network-attached storage appliances, which can now store up to 300 Gbytes of data. Average pricing for a 1.47-terabyte Fast 700 is $99,000; the NAS appliances range from $11,300 to $118,600. Pricing for the IP product hasn't been set. All three products are expected to ship this month.