When I was growing up (from a data protection perspective), backup was always a case of roll-your-own. If you were lucky, you’d get a dedicated server (if you were unlucky, it was also the print server, or even a test/dev machine). You’d attach some sort of storage to the server, install backup software, and then likely spend more time managing the OS, and the interaction of the components than you did the backup environment.
Data protection appliances exist for the same reason that Microsoft has a booming business in Exchange Online; it’s about ensuring the IT department does stuff that directly provides business value. Sure, email is important, but is there value in having an entire section of your IT department managing email? Likewise, data protection is important, but is there business value in having a traditional infrastructure stack requiring traditional management resources under the data protection solution? No. The value comes from focusing effort on the data protection itself.
The PowerProtect Data Manager DM5500 is Dell’s first data protection appliance based on PowerProtect Data Manager. The PowerProtect DP Series leverage Avamar, but the DM5500 takes the integrated appliance experience to the next level by offering the latest and greatest backup capabilities (including Kubernetes and VMware Transparent Snapshot Data Movement) — and brings the full stack management into the Data Manager interface.
Wrapped up in a 2RU enclosure leveraging the latest workhorse technology from the PowerEdge Server team, the DM5500 has a usable capacity between 12 and 96 TB, and comes with Cloud Tier out of the box. This makes it ideal not only for branch offices, but a large swathe of the small to medium market segment. With that focus, it’s also fast to deploy (we’re talking minutes), and supports both 10Gbit and 25Gbit networking.
There is some great official material available about the DM5500, and I’ll point you to some content that I strongly recommend looking at:
- Official release blog: Simplified Data Protection – the New PowerProtect Data Manager Appliance
- Infohub landing page: PowerProtect Data Manager Appliance (DM5500)
- Launch Panel Discussion: Secure your Multicloud (definitely watch the on-demand video here!)
- YouTube videos:
If you’re after an appliance that lets your data protection administrators focus on what’s important (managing data protection) and delivers blisteringly fast, efficient backup and recovery operations, make sure you check out the DM5500.