Home > Storage > Data Storage Essentials > Storage Admin > The Next Generation PowerMax - Balancing Performance with Efficiency and Sustainability > The Next Generation PowerMax: The Industry’s most secure and energy efficient mission critical storage system
Even before the dramatic rise in energy costs beginning in 2022, Dell engineering realized that the current methods of improving system performance simply by running things faster and hotter was no longer a tenable solution for modern enterprises who are trying to meet and deliver on Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) requirements. Using the traditional industry design methods for next gen systems which simply bolted on faster processors and faster bus speeds onto to existing architectures would deliver the performance improvements enterprises are after, but at potentially dramatic increases in energy consumption. Dell engineering realized that the energy increases these next generation storage systems required would not be in line with many enterprise ESG goals, and this could create significant headwinds for the new systems adoption regardless the performance increases they provide.
Dell engineering addressed this concern by building a next generation storage platform which delivers the performance, security, and reliability that the PowerMax brand is known for, but also establishing itself as the most energy efficient mission critical storage system in the industry. This next generation platform is the PowerMax 2500 and 8500 systems. These systems were designed to include the following efficiency improvements when compared to the previous generation PowerMax systems:
As seen in the above design goals, achieving a performance-power efficiency balance was a primary design tenant of the Dell next generation PowerMax system. The new storage architecture successfully met these design goals and delivered the following remarkable and verifiable efficiency improvements over the previous generation PowerMax systems:
NextGen PowerMax design goal | Delivered result | Benefit to customers |
Increased performance efficiency (IOPS / Watt) | Up to a 2.8x improvement in IOPS / Watt | The Next generation PowerMax systems deliver a remarkable leap in performance efficiency. The systems deliver industry leading performance while achieving it in a much more efficient manner. |
Increased storage efficiency (TBe / Watt) | A 5x improvement in the effective capacity (TBe) / Watt | A 5x improvement in effective storage capacity per watt enables Next generation PowerMax customers to store significantly more data while greatly minimizing power consumption. |
Increased storage density | Up to a 14x improvement in effective capacity (TBe) / rack unit (U) delivering over 8 PBe in only 10U | This remarkable 14x improvement in storage capacity per rack unit maximizes data storage density, enabling organizations to store significantly more information in limited space. The Next generation PowerMax allows customers to optimize resource utilization, reduces infrastructure costs, and facilitates scalable and efficient data management. |
Increased storage efficiency | A 5:1 data reduction guarantee | With its enhanced data reduction capabilities, the next generation PowerMax guarantees its customers a 5:1 data reduction capability, ensuring that the data stored in the system is efficiently compressed and without any unnecessary duplication |
Reduced operational costs | A five-year operational cost savings of $207,000 for electricity (@ $.21 / kWh) | The next generation PowerMax systems can significantly reduce their customers’ energy consumption and associated costs, providing a more sustainable and economically viable storage solution. |
Reduced carbon footprint | An equivalent 82% decrease in the total greenhouse gas emissions (382 Metric Tons) depending on the fuel source used for electricity generation. r.
| The Next generation PowerMax systems align with corporate environmental conservation and social responsibility initiatives, promoting a greener and more sustainable future. 382 Metric Tons of CO2 is the same amount of CO2 produced by burning 43,000 gallons of gasoline, or by powering 74 average US homes for a year |
The next generation PowerMax systems also deliver the above extraordinary efficiency improvements in a scalable manner, delivering a predictable linear increase in power consumption as the systems scale up and scale out. This liner scalability enables businesses to adapt to evolving storage performance and capacity demands while maintaining predictable operational efficiencies.
In summary, achieving an equilibrium between performance and efficiency is critical for storage system architectures in the era of data explosion and environmental consciousness. By adopting storage systems that deliver a balance between power-efficiency and performance like the next generation PowerMax, businesses can reduce operational costs, minimize their environmental impact, future-proof their storage infrastructure, and meet their sustainability objectives while meeting the ever-growing demands of data storage for their mission critical environments. The next section of this paper will go into significant detail on how the next generation PowerMax has achieved this equilibrium of performance and efficiency.