Today Dell EMC announced a new entry-level storage array it says can compete in the SMB space. The Dell EMC PowerVault ME4 is intriguing as it utilizes standard SAS3 12Gbps infrastructure to provide starter units in the $13,000 range. The ME4 series is expandable topping out at around 4PB of data stored and dual RAID controllers. Beyond the raw specs, the Dell EMC PowerVault ME4 has a lot of software that comes standard with the appliances including replication, snapshots, 3-level tiering, VMware integrations, encryption (SED), distributed RAID, simple management tools including an HTML5 management interface and more. Dell EMC quotes a 15-minute installation which is important in the SMB segment it is targeting.
We think this is a really interesting development for a few reasons. Not the least of which is that at $13,000 for the base configuration, Dell EMC is nearing the upper end of the SMB NAS vendors like Synology and QNAP. These companies have rackmount offerings in the $5,000 to $8,000 range without the ability to scale to multi-petabytes, and same support options. The Dell EMC PowerVault ME4 has ProSupport base and an option for ProSupport Plus as well as ProDeploy. We see this as a major move by Dell EMC since the PowerVault ME4 is going to make a lot of the higher-end SMB NAS customers look towards a more robust solution.
Dell EMC PowerVault ME4 Specs
Here are the key specifications for the Dell EMC PowerVault ME4 series:
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PowerVault ME4 Series Specifications |
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Chassis Overview |
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Chassis format |
All-in-one (single/dual controllers, internal drive bays, networking) with expansion options |
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Rack size |
2U or 5U |
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Controllers |
2 hot-swappable per chassis (dual active) Single/dual controller support for 2U Dual controller support for 5U |
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Processor |
Intel® Broadwell-DE Processor 2 cores 2.2GHz |
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Internal storage |
ME4012: 12 x 3.5” drive bays (2.5” drive carriers supported) ME4024: 24 x 2.5” drive bays ME4084: 84x 3.5” drive bays (2.5” drive carriers supported) |
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System memory |
8GB per controller |
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Expansion Capacity |
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Expansion enclosures |
ME412: 12 x 3.5” drive bays (12Gb SAS)ME424: 24 x 2.5” drive bays (12Gb SAS)ME484: 84 x 3.5” drive bays (12Gb SAS) |
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Min/Max drive count |
ME4012: 2/264ME4024: 2/276ME4084: 28/336 |
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Max raw capacity |
ME4012: 3.1PB (with ME484 expansion)ME4024: 3PB (with ME484 expansion)ME4084: 4PB |
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NAS Support |
Supported with NX Series Windows NAS appliance |
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Storage media |
SAS and NL-SAS drives; different drive types, transfer rates, rotational speeds can be mixed in the same system:
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Network and Expansion I/O |
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Host interface |
FC, iSCSI, SAS (supports simultaneous multiprotocol FC/iSCSI) |
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Max 16Gb FC ports |
8 per array (support auto-negotiate to 8Gb) |
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Max 10Gb iSCSI ports |
8 SFP+ or BaseT ports per array (BaseT only support auto negotiate to 1Gb) |
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Max 12Gb SAS ports |
8 12Gb SAS ports |
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Max multi-protocol ports |
4 ports 16Gb FC SFP+ 4 ports 10Gb iSCSI SFP+ |
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Max management ports |
2 per array (1Gb BASE-T) |
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Disk expansion protocol |
12Gb SAS |
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Disk interface expansion ports |
2 12Gb SAS (wide-Port) per array (1 port per controller) Up to 9 2U expansion enclosures per 2U base array Up to 3 5U expansion enclosures per 2U base array Up to 3 5U expansion enclosures per 5U base array |
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Functional |
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Array configurations |
All-flash, hybrid or all HDD arrays |
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Storage format |
Native SAN or DAS |
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Data Optimization |
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Auto-tiering |
Up to 3 primary (media-based) tiers |
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RAID support |
RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10, 50 or Adapt; any combination of RAID levels can exist in single array |
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Adapt |
Distributed erasure coding that reduces rebuild times when drive failures occur |
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Thin provisioning |
Active by default on all volumes, operates at full performance across all features |
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Snapshots |
1024 maximum snapshots per array |
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Data Mobility and Migration |
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Replication |
Replicates with other ME4 Series Arrays Asynchronous block via FC or iSCSI Target/source relationships may be one-to-many or many-to-one |
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Volume copy |
Copy complete standalone volumes |
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Data Protection, Disaster Recovery, Security |
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Business continuity |
VMware Site Recovery Manager |
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Data-at-rest encryption |
Self-encrypting drives (SEDs) in SSD or HDD formats Full Disk Encryption (FCE) based on AES-256 Drives certified to FIPS 140-2 Level 2 |
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Key manager |
Internal controller key management |
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Management |
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Management |
ME Storage Manager (MESM) HTML5 GUI, CLI, REST |
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VMware vCenter |
Support VMware vCenter plugin to manage the ME4 arrays through vCenter. |
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Scripting |
CLI Microsoft PowerShell API RESTful API |
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Supported host OS |
Windows 2016 and 2012 R2 RHEL 6.9 and 7.4 SLES 12.3 VMware 6.5 and 6.0 |
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Virtualization integration |
VMware vSphere (ESXi) vCenter; SRM Microsoft Hyper-V |
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Physical Base System |
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Rack size |
ME4012 (2U), ME4024 (2U), ME4084 (5U) |
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Base system height |
ME4012: 8.79 cm (3.46 inches) ME4024: 8.79 cm (3.46 inches) ME4084: 22.23 cm (8.75 inches) |
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Base system width |
ME4012: 48.30 cm (19.01 inches) ME4024: 48.30 cm (19.01 inches) ME4084: 48.30 cm (19.01 inches) |
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Base system depth |
ME4012: 60.29 cm (23.74 inches) ME4024: 60.29 cm (23.74 inches) ME4084: 97.47 cm (38.31 inches) |
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Weight (max configuration) |
ME4012: 32.00 kg (71.00 lbs) ME4024: 30.00 kg (66.00 lbs) ME4084: 135.00 kg (298.00 lbs) |
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Weight (empty) |
ME4012: 4.80 kg (10.56 lbs) without drivesME4024: 4.80 kg (10.56 lbs) without drivesME4084: 64.00 kg (141.00 lbs) without drives |
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Physical Expansion Enclosure |
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Rack size |
ME412 (2U), ME424 (2U), ME484 (5U) |
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Expansion height |
ME412: 8.79 cm (3.46 inches) ME424: 8.79 cm (3.46 inches) ME484: 22.23 cm (8.75 inches) |
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Expansion width |
ME412: 48.30 cm (19.01 inches) ME424: 48.30 cm (19.01 inches) ME484: 48.30 cm (19.01 inches) |
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Expansion depth |
ME412: 60.29 cm (23.74 inches) ME424: 60.29 cm (23.74 inches) ME484: 97.47 cm (38.31 inches) |
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Weight (max configuration) |
ME412: 28.00 kg (62.00 lbs) ME424: 25.00 kg (55.00 lbs) ME484: 130.00 kg (287.00 lbs) |
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Weight (empty) |
ME412: 4.80 kg (10.56 lbs) without drivesME424: 4.80 kg (10.56 lbs) without drivesME484: 64.00 kg (141.00 lbs) without drives |
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Base System Power |
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Power/wattage |
ME4012: 580W ME4024: 580W ME4084: 2200W |
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Heat dissipation |
ME4012: 1980 BTU ME4024: 1980 BTU ME4084: 7507 BTU |
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Voltage |
ME4012: 100-240 VAC ME4024: 100-240 VAC ME4084: 200-240 VAC |
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Frequency |
50/60 Hz |
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Amperage |
ME4012: 7.6-3.0A (x2) ME4024: 7.6-3.0A (x2) ME4084: 11.07-9.23A (x2) |
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Expansion Power |
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Power/wattage |
ME412: 580WME424: 580WME484: 2200W |
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Heat dissipation |
ME412: 1980 BTU ME424: 1980 BTU ME484: 7507 BTU |
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Voltage |
ME412: 100-240 VAC ME424: 100-240 VAC ME484: 200-240 VAC |
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Frequency |
50/60 Hz |
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Amperage |
ME412: 7.6-3.0A (x2) ME424: 7.6-3.0A (x2) ME484: 11.07-9.23A(x2) |
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Environmental Operating Conditions |
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Operating temperature |
41 – 95°F (5 – 35°C) |
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Non-operating temperature |
-40 – 149°F (-40 – 65°C) |
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Operating humidity ranges (non-condensing) |
10% to 80% with 29°C (84.2°F) maximum dew point |
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Non-operating humidity (non- condensing) |
5% to 95% with 33°C (91°F) maximum dew point |
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Service & Warranty |
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Services |
Dell ProSupport with deployment and consulting services. Optional ProSupport Plus is available offering proactive and preventative services to improve performance and stability. Dell Optimize is available for additional ongoing strategic counsel and guidance from a highly-trained system analyst. |
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System sizing |
Dell EMC Midrange Sizer Tool |
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Drive warranty |
All SSDs and HDDs are warrantied for full lifetime wear-out replacement with valid service agreement |
“Processor Intel® Broadwell-DE Processor 2 cores 2.2GHz”
Is this a typo, 2 cores?
Seems not, based on that it would be a Intel® Pentium® Processor D1508, a low-power low-cost 25W hyper threaded chip
@schonzen: sure that’s why they need upto a 2200 Watt redundant powersupply. To me this looks like the better copy/paste work with the drawback of also copying the faults.
@Misha: They don’t need 2.2kW power supply for controllers, but for drives (2200W is in 5U unit, if I got it right). Dual core @ 2.2GHz should be enough if software is properly designed.
It is 580w in 2U model