EMC introduces Unity solution to simplify, modernize data center

One of the global leaders in storage facilities, EMC Corporation at the ongoing 2016 forum holding Las Vegas, the United States of America, has released EMC Unity , a new family of storage systems that helps simplify and modernize the data center. 

Designed specifically for small, mid-sized and departmental enterprise IT deployments, the new product is the addition to the company’s all flash portfolio delivering highly affordable file and block storage for small and medium-sized IT departments. Speaking on the new product, Jeff Boudreau, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Mid-Range Solutions, Core Technologies Division at EMC said that , “EMC Unity offers modern data center simplicity and all-flash performance in an affordable package. 

Designed specifically to get the most out of all-flash media, he said that EMC is making it simpler and more affordable for both SMEs and enterprises to modernize their data centers. He explained that the solution features new Proactive Assist capabilities designed to give IT control, visibility and automated management of Unity storage systems. 

Since every business has its own unique storage challenges, he further explained that Unity has been designed to offer greater flexibility and deployment options than competing data storage offerings. Designed for all flash, Unity, according to him, provides some of the best flash economics in the industry. Additional inline data services, he said will be added in the future to further lower effective cost, adding that, Unity also introduces a new level of affordability for customers deploying hybrid arrays. 

Believing that data protection should be an integral part of the design and deployment of every data storage environment, he said that the solution offers tight integration with EMC Data Domain and EMC Data Protection Suite to ensure that workloads are seamlessly protected. According to him, All-flash Unity options also qualify for EMC’s Xpect More program, offering lifetime maintenance price protection, flash endurance protection and three-year money-back warranty.
 

Customer’s experience: 

Speaking on the product, Sean Wedige, CTO, Global Enterprise Solutions at Rackspace, said that, “At Rackspace, we deploy a lot of storage arrays – we have to in order to support our customers’ growing needs for storage. And it’s business critical for us to do that quickly, simply and without downtime. Unity’s simple user interface and inflight patching means we can count on the fingers of one hand the number of clicks needed for provisioning, and can help ensure we never have to come offline to add more capacity. Unity provides us with a new level of flexibility and affordability; benefits that we’re then able to pass on to our customers.” 

Analyst’s experience:
 

For Mark Peters, Practice Director and Senior Analyst, ESG, “Businesses with midsized IT needs don’t want a stripped-down or supposedly-simplified enterprise storage array – instead, such businesses need a solution that is built from the ground up with their needs in mind. With Unity, EMC is combining its decade of flash expertise with its trusted midsized storage market knowledge and leadership in order to deliver an all-flash solution that that has all of the features expected in the enterprise, but packaged affordably to meet midsized IT needs.”

 Partner’s experience:

From the partner’s perspective, Jack Rondoni, Vice President of Storage Networking, Brocade, testified that, “Legacy networks were not designed to achieve the maximum potential of flash. Brocade has created innovative networking solutions that can be combined with EMC storage arrays to deliver simple management, incredible performance and flexible deployment options. When leveraged together, EMC Unity and Brocade Fibre Channel and IP storage networking helps modernize the data center with the power and simplicity of flash.” In the opinion of Vinu Thomas, Chief Technology Officer, Presidio , “As our customers tackle big data apps, data lakes, data centers and hybrid cloud, it’s crucial to have multiprotocol storage systems that can deal with all types of data efficiently. That’s what EMC Unity delivers on. It also provides more density and performance at an affordable price, along with the simplicity and reliability IT professionals need as they modernize their data centers.”