In recent years Dell has bought a few compagnies, starting with Equallogic and then some of the most interesting in the industry. I do not know why we had to bid for 3Par, we’ve got Compellent which is actually a nice fit to the Dell storage IP.
Equallogic is a fascinating product, I’ve been working with the PS-series since beginning of 2005, and the story has never changed. I had the pleasure to meet the founders back in 2006 in Nashua, NH, and I then found my call for Equallogic. The idea behind, which I usually call a “good-old collective” from the 60’s. All arrays work together, but they are also independent in their own rights. Some are the skinny ones with SSD and SAS disks, the fatter arrays are the PS65xx’s with 48-disks, and divided in to different departements (called Pools in EQL). With all arrays placed in up to 4 pools, it’s like working in a company with different departments, and all are working for the same goal