Dell Technologies to provide next generation business continuity for hybrid IT

Author: Carly Weller

Schneider Electric has teamed up with strategic partner Dell Technologies to deliver an automated shutdown solution that is ideal for hyperconverged infrastructure. It focuses on the seamless integration of APC PowerChute Network Shutdown with Dell VxRail Clusters by communicating over the network with the APC UPS (Uninterruptible Power Supply).

Together, Dell and Schneider Electric are working on the next generation of ensuring business continuity for sprawling IT infrastructure with products that protect against unplanned power events. Developed in full collaboration with Dell Technologies, this new offer is part of Schneider Electric’s modernised EcoStruxure IT software, which is designed to make hybrid IT infrastructure more resilient, secure, and sustainable.

The modernisation of EcoStruxure IT addresses how Data Centre Infrastructure Management (DCIM) has changed tremendously since it first emerged as a software category. Today’s hybrid IT environment is challenging even the most sophisticated CIO organisations. We call this trend DCIM 3.0. Earlier this month, Schneider Electric announced that it has evolved DCIM from individual data centres to cover the full spectrum of sprawling, hybrid IT. The company is investing in EcoStruxure IT to provide more capability, flexibility, and deployment options than ever before for enterprises and colocation facilities everywhere in the world.

Avoid corrupt data and damaged hardware

The integration of APC PowerChute with Dell VxRail Clusters is part of Schneider Electric’s ongoing effort to reduce the complexity of the hybrid IT environment. When power is interrupted and UPSs extend past their battery runtime, the company’s partners can’t just flip a switch and shut down operations. They follow a protocol. And if they don’t have trained staff on site, they could be looking at the expensive possibility of lost work, corrupt data, and damaged hardware at their traditional data centres and also at hundreds or thousands of unattended distributed sites.

But PowerChute integrated directly with the Dell VxRail API enables a safe shutdown of virtual machines followed by the VxRail cluster including hosts; often referred to as a graceful shutdown with no loss of work, no data corruption, and no hardware damage. This new offer includes the option for automatic restart so when the power returns, your systems return also, ensuring minimal downtime.

Simple and fast for partners to deploy with easy integration

Dell Technologies and Schneider Electric are making business continuity easy for its partners because they have figured out the behind-the-scenes technology to make this new product simple and fast for its partners to deploy with easy integration into their systems. PowerChute has been revolutionised in the past few years and in addition to a graceful shutdown and restart, it saves space and reduces hardware needs because you don’t need to deploy it on a separate machine.

We live in a time of complex, distributed IT architectures and this new offer is another way Schneider Electric and Dell Technologies are joining forces to leverage complimentary portfolios of products and services to create innovative, end-to-end technology solutions that are easy to purchase, deploy, and operate. To learn more, please watch this helpful video, visit our Dell Technologies Alliance page, and learn more about our EcoStruxure IT software.