Dell Intros OpenManage Integration Suite for Microsoft System Center

February 17, 2010

Dell's OpenManage Integration Suite for Microsoft System Center is a portfolio of software tools designed to help customers efficiently , securely, and cost-effectively utilize and manage standards-based IT resources.

“With Dell’s OpenManage Integration Suite for Microsoft System Center, we’re offering a comprehensive solution that assists organizations with the management of their Microsoft-based IT environments, all at no charge to our customers. This solution gives our customers the tools they need to become more efficient and to achieve exceptional performance from their Microsoft environments.” — Sally Stevens, vice president of Platform Marketing, Dell.

These software tools enable large enterprises, public organizations and mid-size companies to gain visibility, control, and flexibility of their Windows-based IT environments.

Dell’s OpenManage Integration Suite for Microsoft System Center helps customers get IT assets up and running quickly by streamlining the most time consuming administrative tasks such as bare metal deployments, server provisioning, and BIOS driver and firmware updates. In addition, these tools give businesses added flexibility in scheduling non-disruptive IT maintenance tasks and help IT staff allocate resources to projects that support business objectives.

“IT professionals continue to look for solutions that help them more easily manage their PCs using standardized tools,” said Bob O’Donnell, vice president for IDC. “Delivering an open, end-to-end solution makes it easier for customers to integrate, deploy, and manage their IT assets. An approach like this is very pragmatic and helps minimize software migration issues while making adoption of Microsoft computing architectures more accessible.”

With Dell’s approach, IT administrators can select and download the management tools they need, helping optimize resource utilization for their business. Additionally, Dell has increased the storage capacity of its PowerEdge R510 server to offer an ideal platform for Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 and other data-intensive applications.

Through the integration of Dell Lifecycle Controller with Microsoft System Center Configuration Manager and the utilization of Dell Server Deployment Pack, customers can increase productivity and operational cost savings through efficient, simple, and secure remote deployment and provisioning of servers. This solution helps reduce time and expenses required to send IT personnel to remote sites for server install and deployments. Additionally, the operating system deployment process is designed to install the correct drivers in the appropriate directory – saving time associated with preparing update packages.

Dell provides integration tools for Microsoft System Center Management applications that cover a large spectrum of Dell hardware devices including Dell PowerEdge blade, rack and tower servers, MD-series and EqualLogic storage products, business clients (Dell Precision workstations, Latitude laptops and OptiPlex desktops) and network printers. As a result, customers can efficiently and cost-effectively manage their heterogeneous computing environment with solutions that support flexibility, choice and value.

Dell continually optimizes performance across its PowerEdge server line to help ensure customers the most productivity out of the business applications they rely on most. Recent tests conducted by the research firm Principled Technologies determined that two PowerEdge R510 servers with eight hard drives and Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 can support up to 10 times the mailbox size while delivering Exchange Mail Server performance equivalent to two legacy HP ProLiant DL385 servers with Microsoft Exchange Server 20031. Migrating to Microsoft Exchange 2010 on a Dell PowerEdge R510 solution can also save up to $24,000 in total cost of ownership (TCO) in a year over that same HP system.

In addition, the PowerEdge R510 now supports 24 terabytes of internal storage, making it an ideal server solution for growing Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 or other application data sets. In this configuration, large enterprise, mid-size and public sector customers can quickly and efficiently begin taking advantage of new Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 features, including support for 10GB mailboxes, reduced disk I/O, enhanced mobility, greater fault-tolerance and enhanced voicemail and email integration. For customers that require additional capacity, new Dell PowerVault MD1200 and MD1220 storage arrays provide an ideal direct-attached storage platform with the performance of up to 6 Gb/sec SAS hard drives.

In continued support of Dell’s collaboration with Microsoft, Dell offers consulting services to simplify the adoption process for Microsoft System Center, helping to minimize risk and disruption to a customer’s daily operations. The services include Dell ProConsult Technology Introduction, which offers expert guidance to rapidly explore the features and functionality of Microsoft Systems Center in a proof-of-concept environment, and the Dell ProConsult FastTrack service for Microsoft System Center, which offers expert assistance with an assessment, design and pilot testing and implementation.

Dell ProSupport and ProConsult services continue to help companies make the transition to the latest Microsoft software platforms such as Exchange Server 2010, Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 with Hyper-V virtualization technology. Recent success stories from companies like Super Group, a leading supply-chain management firm, and Betfair, one of the world’s biggest betting communities, are using Dell PowerEdge servers and Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Hyper-V for virtualization to improve productivity, and reduce costs.