Storage-SMB

Winner: Dell EMC PowerVault

The Dell EMC PowerVault ME4 Series is a block storage array that delivers powerful features in a simplified, affordable offering to small and midsize businesses. The PowerVault ME4 offers easy deployment—with the ability to configure and provision the system in just 15 minutes—and numerous software capabilities such as Distributed RAID and auto-tiering. Updates to the PowerVault ME4 over its predecessor system include a 4X increase in IOPS; double the back-end connectivity; and the introduction of expanded capacity. The system is able to offer 16 TB in hard drive space with the ability to scale up to 4 PB in a 15U rack space, improving storage density by 25 percent.

Finalist:

IBM FlashSystem 5000 and 5100

Standout features of the IBM FlashSystem 5000 and 5100 include Easy Tier, which uses AI to detect storage usage patterns by workloads and automatically moves data among tiers of storage, optimizing the use of different media with differing price and performance characteristics.