Dell Rolls Out Storage System, New Desktops

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Dell Monday unveiled a
storage device and two new desktops from its Dimension family, addressing
both the enterprise and consumers, respectively.

On the corporate side of the fence, Austin, Texas’ Dell rolled out a new
network storage system geared for business continuance, the goal of which is
to help technology systems to maintain operations through power outages,
technology failures, human error and natural disasters.

The Dell EMC CX400, a 2Gbps Fibre Channel array storage device
featuring data protection features, is being touted as an “ideal platform”
for multimedia and video streaming, Microsoft Exchange clustering,
medium-sized Oracle and SQL databases, for storage area network (SAN) and
direct-attach storage environments. The system supports data transfer rates
of 680MB per second, and up to 4.4 terabytes of data.

The array system, built under the aegis of Dell’s major partnership with storage giant EMC,
offers hot spare disk drives, multi-path failover, data snapshots and
cloning, and local or remote data mirroring. Available immediately and
priced at $60,000, the package includes installation and 3 years of service.

On the consumer side of the fence, Dell chipped in two new desktop PCs
targeting video editors and 3D gaming enthusiasts. The Dimension 4550 and
8250 systems feature integrated Ethernet connectivity and wireless
networking options to serve the consumers moving up from dial-up to
broadband, or those installing home networks.

The Dimension 4550 and 8250 use the same expandable minitower chassis, which
provides for up to two 3.5-inch external drives, up to two 5.25-inch
external optical drives, and up to two internal hard drives. In the
tradition of trying to lure consumers with PCS under $1,000, the Dimension
4550 is priced at $869 and features two front-accessible USB 2.0 ports for
connecting MP3 players or digital cameras and four USB 2.0 ports in the
back. Other specs for the 4550 include a 2.4GHz Intel Pentium4 processor,
128MB DDR-333 SDRAM memory, a 20GB hard drive, a CD ROM, a 15-inch monitor
and Windows XP Home.

The higher-end Dimension 8250, with a price tag of $1,379, features eight
USB 2.0 ports a 2.66GHz Intel Pentium 4 processor, 256MB PC1066 RDRAM, a
40GB hard drive, a 16x DVD, a 17-inch monitor and Windows XP Home.

With this announcement primed for holiday shoppers, Dell is also hyping
peripherals for 3D gamers, including the ATI Radeon 9700 PRO graphics card
as an option on both the 4550 and the 8250. As for home networking hobbyists
Dell offers its new TrueMobile 1184 wireless router and wireless USB
adapter. Both 802.11b-certified, the devices work seamlessly with Dell’s
wireless-enabled notebooks. Fitted with 4 Ethernet ports, the TrueMobile
1184 router, sells for $129; USB adapters are $69 each.

Dell’s strategy with its new Dimension desktops seems to be a toned-down
version of Microsoft
Windows XP Media Center; with the emphasis on high-end gaming and
wireless home networking fans, the systems maker is demonstrating its belief
that more and more consumers are interested in PCs for digital
entertainment. HP is also offering a Media Center PC soon.

“Our customers are increasingly using their desktop systems as the center of
their digital lifestyle. Whether customers use them to manage digital music
or photo libraries, create digital videos or play the latest 3D games, these
new systems bring a higher level of performance,” said Tim Mattox, vice
president of marketing for Dell’s Client Product Group.

Both the Dimension 4550 and 8250 come with standard 1-year limited
warranties plus 1-year at-home service.