Unstructured Storage Innovations for AI and Data Management

Harnessing AI with open, flexible architecture.

Organizations need the latest technologies to stay ahead in the fast-paced world of AI and data. Dell Technologies PowerScale and Data Management portfolio, key components of Dell’s AI-Ready Data Platform, offers innovations that effectively unify and manage various datasets for AI workloads.

Simplifying Data Management with No Vendor Lock-In

Earlier this year, we introduced the Dell Data Lakehouse, a cutting-edge solution built on open-source frameworks. This innovation allows users to query all enterprise data, regardless of source, before consolidation. Key features include an open architecture, strong data governance and Dell’s WarpSpeed technology, which optimizes indexing by learning query patterns. The Dell Data Lakehouse for AI provides a complete solution stack for discovering, querying and processing enterprise data from any location or source, using a federated query engine powered by Starburst. Dell’s open ecosystem ensures flexibility and control, avoiding vendor lock-in and optimizing data management strategies.

Dell object and file storage integrates seamlessly with the data lakehouse, ensuring rapid data access and efficient organization through contextual meta data. The scale-out design allows businesses to independently scale compute and storage resources as needed. Dell’s services team also provides strategic data management advisory services, guiding organizations through every step of their data management journey, from discovery and cataloging to orchestration, helping to accelerate the value of AI projects.

Unstructured Data Discovery and Context

Dell is excited to announce a new software enhancement that simplifies metadata export to an Elasticsearch database, making querying more efficient. With the ability to search billions of files and exabytes of data, Dell’s metadata export and update feature plays a crucial role in enhancing data discovery and management. By seamlessly integrating advanced solutions like Elasticsearch and the Dell Data Lakehouse, organizations gain access to an open and flexible platform that significantly enhances data discovery and management.

Dell’s PowerScale metadata advancements, accessible in Elasticsearch and open formats, facilitate a global view across geo-distributed clusters, breaking down data silos and enabling enriched search capabilities. By combining metadata with additional inputs from federated data sources, Dell enables businesses to unlock deeper contextual insights and make smarter, data-driven decisions.

Key Outcomes for Metadata Tagging:

  • Enhanced data searchability across various systems, improving the ability to quickly find and utilize critical information.
  • Streamlined data management through automation, reducing the need for manual intervention and improving efficiency.
  • Enriched data insights, allowing for deeper analysis and more informed decision-making by augmenting metadata with additional content.
  • Seamless integration with existing data infrastructures, promoting flexibility and scalability in data management strategies.

A Deep Dive into the Latest PowerScale Advancements

Denser Storage Solutions

Dell’s expanded portfolio of unstructured data storage includes the introduction of 61 TB SSDs. These drives increase storage capacity and enhance rack density, allowing organizations to manage larger datasets and demanding workloads without additional space. Dell PowerScale’s design also focuses on reducing storage power consumption, cutting operational costs and promoting sustainability. Security is improved with Self-Encrypting Drives (SEDs), providing Data at Rest Encryption to ensure compliance and protect sensitive information.

Expanded Networking Capabilities and Performance Enhancements

PowerScale has enhanced its networking features, now supporting 200Gb Ethernet and introducing new front-end InfiniBand capabilities. With 200GbE connectivity, PowerScale enables direct GPU feeding, which is crucial for accelerating data transfer and enhancing application performance, particularly in machine learning and AI tasks. These advancements result in significant data throughput, improving streaming read and write speeds. This higher bandwidth is essential for maintaining high GPU utilization during intensive computational tasks, reducing checkpoint windows, shortening training times and enabling faster model iterations.

Driving AI Innovation Forward

Our latest PowerScale innovations redefine what’s possible in unstructured storage and data management, offering advanced metadata capabilities, expansive storage capacity, robust security, faster networking and exceptional performance improvements. For businesses of all sizes, Dell’s innovations present a powerful toolkit (storage, including ObjectScale and PowerScale, as well as Data Management and Professional Services) for more effective data management and utilization for next-generation AI use cases.

Additionally, Dell Validated Designs for AI workloads provide customers with pre-tested, documented configurations and scalable blueprints, ensuring reliable and efficient deployment. These solutions help accelerate implementation, reduce risk and optimize performance, making it easier for organizations to harness the power of AI.

Are you ready to transform your data capabilities for AI? Tune into Making AI Real with Data event to discover PowerScale’s latest offerings and propel your organization into the future of data management. Hear from our experts as they discuss and unveil the future of unstructured storage, data management and AI.

Learn more about these solutions on our website. Contact your Dell account executive to explore Dell PowerScale and Data Management for your data needs.

About the Author: Prasanna Vijayakumar

Prasanna Vijayakumar is a Senior Product Marketing Manager for Dell’s Unstructured Data Solutions portfolio. In this role, he addresses a variety of topics, including the Dell AI-Ready Data Platform, cost optimization, productivity enhancement, and business growth acceleration. Prasanna leverages his extensive experience in product and solutions marketing to tackle IT challenges and streamline data center management. Prasanna possesses expertise in SaaS, IaaS, XaaS, Edge, Cloud, Analytics, Public and Private Cloud, MEC, IP Network Transformation, and IMS-related technologies. His mission is to help businesses enhance their market leadership and customer satisfaction by delivering compelling and differentiated value propositions and stories.