Technology giant Dell reached out to small to medium-size businesses July 14 by integrating hardware management into Microsoft System Center through new Dell Management Packs, Pro Pack and Update Catalogs for Systems Center Essentials 2010 for end-to-end management.
Starting at approximately $5,000, Microsoft Systems Center Essentials 2010 offers a solution with a single console to help businesses manage a range of IT tasks. Designed for SMBs with up to 50 physical or virtual server operating systems and 500 client devices, the solution combines systems management for virtualized and nonvirtualized environments, offering companies a Microsoft Hyper-V virtualization environment, including assessing the physical environment and determining whether nonvirtualized servers should be virtualized, and if so, virtualizing them.
“This solution eases systems management of servers and storage for SMB customers with a single, integrated tool,” said Sally Stevens, vice president of Dell’s server platform marketing department. “Customers can deploy, monitor, update and manage their IT assets through the combination of Dell OpenManage and Microsoft System Center Essentials 2010 without having to worry about additional fees or complex bundle schemes. At Dell, our agenda is to empower people with technology.”
Through integration with Systems Center Essentials 2010, Dell SMB customers can use Dell Management Packs to proactively manage Dell PowerEdge tower, rack and blade servers; Dell PowerVault MD series and EqualLogic storage arrays; printers; and client devices through a single user interface, as well as automatically discover newly commissioned Dell hardware instead of relying on manual processes to bring hardware under management.
Other functionality includes the ability to save on manual labor each week through the automation of regular hardware and software updates with Dell Update Catalogs, and leverage Dell Server Pro Packs with Pro-Tips to proactively manage virtual machines, including the ability to migrate virtual machine workloads to other devices during instances of hardware maintenance.
In continued support of Dell’s collaboration with Microsoft, Dell offers consulting services to simplify the adoption process for Microsoft System Center Essentials 2010. These services offer guidance to explore the features and functionality of Microsoft Systems Center Essentials 2010 in a proof-of-concept environment, as well as assisting in the assessment, design and pilot testing and implementation.
“Small and medium-sized businesses have unique IT requirements and solutions that help easily manage their resources using standardized tools,” said Fred Broussard, research director of enterprise system infrastructure software for IDC. “The ability for users to manage their technology infrastructure, end-to-end, from a single user interface is a great advantage. This approach is very pragmatic and can help customers integrate, deploy and manage their IT assets more effectively.”