Dell unveiled a brand new series of full-featured, enterprise storage arrays designed for mid-sized fibre channel deployments at a media briefing held recently. Available first in the Asia-Pacific region and planned globally later in 2014, the new Dell Storage SC4000 Series arrays demonstrate Dell’s continued innovation to bring full-featured, enterprise-class storage to cost-efficient, high-performing, smaller-scale solutions.

The new storage array series, with an all-flash solution that can cost up to 76 percent less than competing pure flash arrays, is the latest addition to Dell’s customer-driven enterprise data center portfolio of purpose-built solutions designed to make IT more efficient and practical.

“The Dell Storage SC4000 Series represents the latest example of Dell redefining the economics of enterprise storage and a huge opportunity for our customers, channel partners and Dell,” said Sumir Bhatia, General Manager, Enterprise Solutions, Dell South Asia. He added that Dell can now offer enterprise-class, fibre-channel arrays in a high-performing, affordable solution designed for mid-sized deployments.

“These arrays offer the advanced capabilities of larger-scale enterprise storage to help medium-sized organizations become more competitive, while enabling Dell to address an entirely new storage market segment with our world class solutions and support.”

In 2014 and 2015, mid-tier, fibre channel-networked storage arrays and networked attached storage are expected to represent an estimated $5.5 billion market worldwide, an opportunity previously untapped by full-featured Dell Storage technology. Additionally, the vast majority of the Asia-Pacific region’s mid-tier storage array sales this year are estimated to be fibre channel-networked (79 percent), compared to 39 percent in North America.

Bhatia said that the SC4000 series was first launched in Asia, prior to European and US markets, because it was designed and built taking in to consideration the requirements of Asian customers. He said that this was a clear indication of Dell’s commitment to Sri Lanka and the Asian region.

“Dell and Intel have a very long history of collaboration. Even at a local level we have been working very closely on most of the solutions we offer,” said Indika De Zoysa, Country Business Manager Sri Lanka, Intel EM Limited. “We are seeing increased investment in Sri Lanka by global IT companies as there is a lot of automation and digitization taking place in many areas in the country, be it schools, government departments or the private sector. As IT leaders in the world, we can be relied on to provide the right solutions for the various needs of the country.”