Dell is tinkering with its PowerStore portfolio. Both security and increased efficiency in a multicloud environment are high on the agenda.

Dell announces new additions to its PowerStore portfolio. The range of storage services that combine storage and computing power in one box will initially receive a security boost. Dell does this by making Zero Trust adoption easier. In a Zero Trust security architecture, users and applications can access only the system resources and files they need, not the entire infrastructure. This reduces the likelihood of misuse and security leaks. Dell also improves overall security and recovery features.

Specifically, Dell is introducing five new security features:

• STIG hardening: Security guidelines of the US Security Technical Implementation Guides are followed. This aligns the PowerStore portfolio with the NIST Cyber​​Security Framework.
• Secure and non-editable snapshots: The snapshots in PowerStore are extra secured so no one can delete or modify them. This offers additional guarantees against, for example, a ransomware attack.
• Optimized policy system: Administrators can more easily manage access to PowerStore, enabling faster intervention in the event of security issues.
• More flexible snapshots: You can create up to four snapshots per system assembleallowing for more granular recovery.

More productivity

Dell also announces productivity news. The aim is to make more possible with smaller budgets through automation and integration in multicloud environments. To that end, demonstrates PowerProtect’s native integration with the cloud. PowerStore now makes it easier for users to create and configure backups in the cloud. It only takes two minutes, that’s what it sounds like. As always, deduplication plays an important role. Dell claims that backups can be compressed by a factor of 65.

For developers, Dell envisages tighter integration of Ansible and Terraform with the container storage modules. Its support should give developers the ability to more easily create automations in different environments.

More than PowerStore

Finally, Dell proposes five novelties that apply not only to PowerStore but to the entire storage portfolio:

• Dell PowerMax: For this secure storage, Dell introduces air gapfunctionality.
• Dell PowerFlex: Software-defined infrastructure gets faster speeds over NVMe/TCP and additional security.
• Dell object scale: This SD object storage platform gets an increase in S3 performance along with easier configuration and support.
• Dell CloudIQ: AIOps software will be enhanced with more analytics, AI and ML capabilities along with Vmware integration.
• Dell Unity XT: This hybrid storage platform also gets better support from Ansible for richer automation.

Availability

Dell says all PowerStore-related updates will be available worldwide throughout June. Then the ObjectScale improvements are also planned. The renewals for CloudIQ, Uniti XT and PowerMax are available now. PowerFlex upgrades will have to wait until the third quarter of this year.