Dell announces its latest Unity XT OE 5.2

Dell Technologies makes the Unity XT’s latest Operating Environment (OE) 5.2 available. This software release delivers several important storage technologies designed to simplify how users address capacity expansion and recover data faster, expand disaster recovery topologies, increase storage utilization and cost-effectively upgrade Unity XT systems while lowering CapEx/OpEx.

The 5.2 release brings feature/function parity across the family of Unity XT Hybrid Flash and All-Flash arrays. The new features, which also apply in part to Unity XT AFAs, target the continuing market relevancy for HFAs as a compelling storage solution for small to mid-size enterprises (SME) with general purpose workloads that don’t need the speed and low latency of All Flash/NVMe architectures. With Unity XT HFAs, these workloads greatly benefit from how Unity XT balances the performance of flash with the cost effectiveness of disk without compromising availability, affordability or features – including multi-cloud interoperability. For the right workloads, Unity XT HFAs offer practical and economic advantages relative to (and sometimes in conjunction with) AFAs.

The OE 5.2 release will have an immediate impact on 80,000+ Dell Unity and Unity XT installed systems worldwide, with significant software enhancements enabling users to -

Perform online data-in-place controller upgrades when more performance, capacity and system limits are required ensuring their initial investment is protected

Support for new synchronous file replication configurations with fan-out and cascading topologies enhancing disaster recovery operations for the business

Deliver additional system efficiencies with dynamic pool and inline data reduction software for both hybrid and all flash pools on Unity XT HFAs

Hybrid Flash Arrays remain a compelling storage solution for many enterprises. It’s why IT managers with a good understanding of their latency requirements can deploy lower-cost solutions such as Unity XT HFAs to meet the needs of general-purpose workloads that run their organization. Through effective workload evaluation, businesses can potentially lower their storage infrastructure costs significantly without compromising performance, availability and features while benefitting from a markedly more aggressive total cost of ownership (TCO) profile.

Additionally, Unity XT HFA customers have access to the broad functionality within the Dell storage ecosystem including AppSync for integrated copy data management, Connectrix for enterprise network performance, PowerPath to enable intelligent multi-pathing, CloudIQ with predictive storage analytics, metro node appliance that enables synchronous replication over metro distances, Storage Automation & DevOps Resources for integrating workload automation flow and many more.

Unity XT customers also benefit from Dell Technologies Services to help overcome obstacles and navigate their digital transformations. By identifying goals, measuring progress, streamlining costs and accelerating innovation, Dell Technologies Services helps customers discover true organizational agility.