Virtualization.com

News and insights from the vibrant world of virtualization and cloud computing

Dell

Dell Invests $1 Billion In Cloud Data Centers, Service Enhancements

by Leave a Comment

Dell today announced it is increasing its investments in new technology solutions and services.

In its current fiscal year, Dell will invest $1 billion to deliver solutions, services and cloud-based delivery options to help customers capture the benefits from new compute and information delivery advancements.

Over the next 24 months, Dell will build multiple data centers around the world to provide its customers access to public and private cloud technologies and its IT outsourcing capabilities. These new data centers will allow customers to take advantage of Infrastructure-, Platform- and Virtual Desktop-as-a-Service offerings as well as IT outsourcing.

Dell will open 12 Global Solution Centers this year and is planning 10 more over the next 18 months, to better bring open, capable and affordable solutions to organizations around the world. This global network of solution centers will provide a backdrop for customers to learn about Dell’s industry-focused solutions and domain expertise.

Announced today, Dell vStart accelerates and simplifies virtualization adoption by providing an easy way to purchase a complete virtual infrastructure solution delivered ready to run physical and virtual workloads. With vStart, an entire functioning virtual infrastructure solution is delivered ready to run up to 100 or 200 virtual machines from a single management environment – including Intel Xeon-based Dell PowerEdge servers, Dell EqualLogic storage, Dell PowerConnect switches, deployment services, hypervisors, and essential virtualization management extensions.

Dell vStart currently supports VMWare and support for other hypervisors is planned in the coming quarters.

Also today, Dell and Microsoft announced a three-year strategic initiative to help customers quickly deploy and manage virtualization and private cloud technologies. Management solutions will be based on Dell’s Virtual Integrated System, Dell Advanced Infrastructure Manager and Microsoft System Center and will deliver improved integration across the physical, virtual and application layers. Virtualization solutions will be based on Microsoft Windows Server Hyper-V.

Future jointly-engineered solutions based on Dell’s hardware and virtualization management technologies and Microsoft’s hypervisor and systems management technologies will simplify virtualization management, reduce costs and remove barriers to cloud adoption.

Dell Introduces PowerEdge C5000 Line Of Microservers

by Leave a Comment

Designed to help hosting and Internet companies achieve greater efficiencies in their data centers, Dell has introduced its third generation of microservers, the PowerEdge C5000 line, including the PowerEdge C5125 and C5220.

Packing up to 12 nodes into a 3U chassis, this new series of microservers allows applications to run on individual dedicated physical servers “without compromising on price, power or density”.

Microservers are a new class of server designed for those use cases where multi-core CPU architecture and extensive virtualization are overkill. What these systems provide are multiple low-cost dedicated servers where one CPU is perfect for running single applications.

The PowerEdge C5125 and C5220 come with up to 12 server nodes in 3U chassis supporting both AMD and Intel architectures, respectively. Additional features on both microservers include 4 x DDR3 UDIMMS, 2 x 3.5-inch or 4 x 2.5-inch HDDs, 2 x GbE ports, IPMI 2.0 management, iKVM, individually serviceable nodes, as well as a shared power and cooling infrastructure.

Dell To Buy Virtualized Storage Solutions Provider Compellent For $820 Million

by Leave a Comment

Dell has announced its intent to pick up Compellent, a provider of virtualized storage solutions with automated data management features, for $27.75 per share in cash for each share of Compellent (that’s a total equity value of approximately $960 million).

The aggregate purchase price is about $820 million, net of Compellent’s cash.

With the acquisition, Dell aims to broaden its portfolio of enterprise-class storage solutions:

The acquisition of Compellent will deliver on Dell’s commitment to provide its customers solutions that are open, capable and affordable. Dell delivers an open and integrated approach to data management that drives efficiency and dramatically reduces costs by streamlining operations.

The transaction, which has been approved by both companies’ boards but is still subject to approval by Compellent’s shareholders and customary closing conditions, is expected to close in early 2011.

Dell recently lost a bidding war for storage company 3PAR, against HP.

HP To Acquire 3PAR After Dell Walks Away From Bidding War

by Leave a Comment

The bidding war between HP and Dell for data storage company 3PAR is over.

The winner? Hewlett-Packard, with a $2.4 billion offer. That was 83 percent above Dell’s first offer and more than three times what 3Par stock was trading at then.

The only silver lining for Dell?

It is entitled to receive a $72 million break-up fee from 3PAR upon the termination of its merger agreement.

Make sure to read this good article from the AP following Dell’s withdrawal from the bidding war.

3PAR Bidding War, Continued: Dell Matches HP’s Bid, HP Ups The Ante

by 1 Comment

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you’ll be aware that Dell recently agreed to acquire data storage company data storage company 3PAR for for $18 per share or roughly $1.13 billion. Earlier this week, HP proposed to acquire 3PAR instead, offering as much as $24 per share in cash, or roughly $1.6 billion.

Yesterday, Dell matched HP’s bid, offering $24.30 per share, or approximately $1.6 billion.

Didn’t take long for HP to respond, though: the company’s latest offer goes as high as $1.8 billion.

A good old-fashioned bidding war indeed.

The Battle Over 3PAR: Dell Bids, HP Outbids, Dell Ponders New Bid, Third Suitor Emerges

by 1 Comment

Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past few weeks, you’ll be aware that Dell recently agreed to acquire data storage company data storage company 3PAR for for $18 per share or roughly $1.13 billion. Yesterday, HP proposed to acquire 3PAR instead, offering as much as $24 per share in cash, or roughly $1.6 billion.

Dell is obviously studying the situation and, according to a single source cited by Bloomberg this morning, the company is preparing to trump HP’s offer.

3PAR, meanwhile has said a third possible suitor had expressed interest in taking over the company, but that company’s identity hasn’t been revealed.