The PowerVault NX1950 with Windows Unified Data Storage Server 2003, combining solutions from both Microsoft and Dell, is designed to deliver an alternative to traditional network-attached storage solutions.

"At Dell and Microsoft, we've listened to our customers and designed a system for a market segment that historically has been under-served and overcharged," said Darren Thomas, vice president and general manager, Dell storage and services. "Dell and Microsoft share a vision of redefining the economics of the storage industry through simplicity, affordability and capability."

The enterprise-class storage capabilities of Microsoft and Dell's combined, networked storage system is available with a price tag of $17,000. for configurations with 4.5 TB; the costs begin at $24,000. Microsoft revealed that clustering, drive expansion andSAN gateway capabilities will be introduced with integrated solutions by mid 2007.

"Customers want more powerful storage solutions to meet increasingly challenging business demands, yet networked storage technologies are still complex and costly," said Gabriel Broner, general manager of storage at Microsoft. "With Windows Unified Data Storage Server, Microsoft and Dell have focused on changing that dynamic. This is a significant step for Microsoft's Universal Distributed Storage strategy of delivering enterprise storage capabilities to a broader market."

The PowerVault NX1950 with Microsoft Windows Unified Storage Server 2003 can store both files and blocks of application data via the unified iSCSI block and file storage services and is a solution compatible with CIFS (Windows) and NFS (Linux, UNIX and Macintosh).

"Windows Unified Data Storage Server 2003 is a new Microsoft storage platform providing an advanced file server and IP SAN (iSCSI) capabilities, as well as unified management tools for easy deployment and maintenance in heterogeneous environments," said Microsoft in a press release.