Dell Technologies Announces Next-Gen Data Protection Products

Dell Technologies on Tuesday introduced the next generation of its foundational Data Domain data protection portfolio — the new Dell EMC PowerProtect DD series of appliances. The company also announced Dell EMC PowerProtect software enhancements and PowerProtect Cyber Recovery enhancements.

In April at Dell Technologies World, the company introduced Dell EMC PowerProtect Software, the next-generation data management platform and the integrated PowerProtect X400 systems, laying the foundation for the refreshed product line. A critical customer challenge raised by a recent Dell EMC Global Data Protection Index study is that between 2016 and 2018, survey respondents reported having a 569% increase in data under management — that’s about 9.7 petabytes of data being managed by organizations in 2018.

Dell EMC’s Ruya Atac-Barrett

“Data is growing at an insane clip and it’s also getting more complicated in terms of the IT landscape. So, while you’re trying to accommodate this influx of data, customers also need to be able to address issues around global scale — data is no longer contained within four walls; it’s at the edge, in the core, it’s moved to multicloud systems. So, the problem is getting more complicated,” Ruya Atac-Barrett, vice president of marketing, data protection at Dell Technologies, told Channel Futures. “In April we announced the concept of powering up our portfolio and really pushing the envelope of what are the next-generation systems that are looking at addressing some of these massive challenges that customers are facing.”

The new Dell EMC PowerProtect DD series appliances are the next generation of the Data Domain storage appliances. They’re designed to simplify and provide operational efficiencies for data protection for multicloud workloads. The new appliances offer faster performance, greater efficiency and scalability to meet customer’s future demands.

In terms of performance, Dell reports seeing up to 38% faster backup and 36% faster restores due to the algorithms being used, how the company is leveraging PowerEdge systems available across the portfolio, and the latest software.

Other system features: The new appliances now include instant access and instant restore of up to 60K IOPs for up to 64 virtual machines and support faster networking speeds with 25GE and 100GE. The new Dell EMC PowerProtect DD can provide up to 1.25PB of usable capacity in a single rack.

There are three new models of the Dell EMC PowerProtect DD series appliances: the PowerProtect DD 6900, the PowerProtect DD 9400 and the PowerProtect DD 9900. Global availability is Monday, Sept. 30.

The existing Data Domain 3300 has been rebranded and is a part of the company’s new appliance umbrella. The PowerEdge DD 3300 will be the entry system in the portfolio on the hardware side. It’s the first system to move on to the PowerEdge architecture as well, leveraging the PowerEdge System. Additionally, the Data Domain Virtual Edition will be rebranded as the PowerProtect DD Virtual Edition — for customers who are software-defined and aren’t interested in buying a hardware appliance.

“This announcement is big news for our channel partners who’ve been waiting for the next generation of Data Domain,” said Atac-Barrett. “The PowerProtect DD is a huge refresh opportunity for partners and we have a very engaged channel partner community on these products.”

The Dell EMC PowerProtect DD series runs the PowerProtect software, but the vendor also offers customers choice, or the ability to use other backup software solutions.

“We’ve been committed to choice but we think there’s value in buying our software in terms of really getting that fine-tuned performance and efficiency,” said Atac-Barrett.

The latest Dell EMC PowerProtect Software enhancements exemplify the vendor’s agile development strategy that includes quarterly releases. Enhancements include cloud disaster recovery, further integration with VMware in the form of vSphere integration, and more efficient data management capabilities, including interoperability with the new PowerProtect DD Series Appliances. The software enhancements are available now.

Finally, Dell EMC PowerProtect Cyber Recovery enhancements address the increase in instances of ransomware and cyberattacks. The enhanced software is designed to minimize the impact of a cyberattack and provide faster recovery of mission-critical systems. PowerProtect Cyber Recovery now supports workloads protected with PowerProtect software and stored on PowerProtect DD series appliances. This integration enables customers to strengthen their cyber resiliency with automated data recovery in the instance of large-scale data loss. The software updates also are available now.