 CNC recommend the purchase of main line brand hardware, especially for the server component of the infrastructure. All CNC infrastructure solutions have at their core hardware from recognised market leaders, and the company has made a conscious decision to refrain from providing clone alternatives for fear of compromising on reliability and quality.
The main advantages of a Dell branded machine versus clone alternatives are as follows:
Dell
Advantages
- Reliability –
- Standardisation of components with a predefined upgrade path and lifecycle for new machines.
- Well documented architecture ensure upgrades and repairs can be carried out quickly and easily
- Guaranteed compatibility with main stream software applications
- Patches and new drivers are constantly updated and widely available
- Configurations and specifications have been tested so performance and reliability is optimised. For example CNC have carried out extensive testing with RAID array configurations to ensure optimum specification.
- Hardware warranties are extensive and the supplier can be relied on to honour these contracts
Disadvantages
- Cost –
- Brand name machines tend to be more expensive than clones; however, this must be weighed up versus the quality of components used and the peace of mind afforded by the use of a large, well established supplier; ie Total Cost of Ownership versus initial cost outlay.
Clone
Advantages
Disadvantages
- Service and support
- Post sales support resource from a clone vendor may be impacted by lack of resource
- Is hardware provision and support the primary business of the supplier?
- Clone suppliers may rely on cost cutting measures such as all-in-one components and lower grade components to be competitive
- Lack of documentation
- Hardware patches and drivers may be limited and not as up to date as those from mainstream suppliers
For the vast majority of our solutions, CNC specify Dell machines for both the server and PC components of the solution, and we often manage to negotiate substantial discounts on this hardware compared to web prices. If required, CNC can build and configure new machines to a client's specification prior to delivery, removing this time consuming task from internal resources.
Dell PowerEdge is the recommended server of choice for our LAN solutions:
Dell 2900 Range:
High performance in a rackable 2-socket tower, now with Quad-Core Intel ® Xeon ® processors, and reliability/availability/serviceability features. With massive internal storage capacity, high performance processing subsystem and enterprise-class availability/management features, the Dell TM PowerEdge TM 2900 is designed to reliably drive your business applications.
High performance for today and the future
Up to two single-core or dual-core Xeon processors with EM64T support, teamed with DDR-2 Memory and PCI Express deliver outstanding performance for today's 32-bit applications as well as tomorrow's 64-bit applications. The large memory support of EM64T helps deliver great performance for applications that require more than 4GB of memory. With dual-core processors, up to 8 simultaneous threads can help increase performance and efficiency.
The Dell 9G PowerEdge servers using the Quad-Core Intel Xeon 5300 series (Clovertown) processors have up to 40% greater performance per watt than the 9G PowerEdge servers using Dual-Core Intel Xeon 5100 series (Woodcrest) processors. *
Enterprise-class high availability
The PowerEdge 2900 is designed to keep applications running in even the most demanding environments. Hot pluggable technology on the PCI Express slots, hard drives and power supplies enable quick servicing on demand without taking the system offline. High availability features built into the processor, chipset and memory are designed to protect the server from failure.
Massive internal expandability
Start big and grow larger as your needs dictate. Up to ten internal hard drive bays and 7 I/O slots (all available) provide plenty of headroom, not only for today, but also for the future.
Scalable performance to protect your investment
Whether you are deploying 32-bit or 64-bit applications today, the PowerEdge 2900 is designed with the performance features that will enable a smooth transition and performance growth over time, allowing you to grow with your applications. A choice of single-core or dual-core processors to help deliver greater efficiency and scalability.
Industry-standard management to reduce your management costs
Common BIOS and drivers with PowerEdge 2900 servers means that you can develop your system image once and deploy it across multiple servers as needed. And when it's time to upgrade, you can cut down the amount of time needed to manage the software components of your system. Combined with the common management controllers, hard drives, common system board design and common memory upgrades across multiple PowerEdge servers, management is easy.
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