The end is in sight for Dell's Unity XT All Flash (AFA) storage arrays. As of August 1, 2025, Dell will officially stop selling Unity XT AFA models. While this platform has provided reliable midrange storage for years, it's time to look ahead—and Dell PowerStore is the clear path forward.
Why the Change?
Unity XT has been functionally complete for some time, with few enhancements in recent years. Meanwhile, PowerStore, launched in 2020, has matured rapidly and now exceeds Unity XT’s capabilities in nearly every area. When it first debuted, PowerStore wasn’t ready to fully replace Unity XT, but regular feature rollouts have brought it to full parity—and beyond.
Dell has confirmed that Unity XT hybrid models will continue to be available. These, and Dell’s PowerVault ME5, remain the only dual-controller enterprise arrays in Dell’s portfolio that support spinning disks. For customers who purchase Unity XT AFA systems before the cutoff date, Dell will continue to provide five years of standard support and three years of software upgrades.
A Look Back at Unity XT’s Legacy
Unity XT followed the VNX platform, which itself evolved from the well-known Clariion and Celerra families. It was a major leap forward in midrange storage, offering:
- A unified architecture with simplified management
- Inline data reduction (starting with compression, then adding deduplication)
- All-flash performance at a more accessible price point
- A compact form factor for deployment flexibility
It also introduced advanced features such as Dynamic Pools, which decoupled parity from physical drive groups and enabled single-drive upgrades—a huge benefit as drives reached 15TB and data reduction stretched those drives even further. Unity XT also enabled hot in-place controller upgrades, eliminating the major downtime associated with legacy systems.
With Unity XT VSA, customers could deploy Unity XT’s enterprise-grade file and block services anywhere—including the cloud. And features like MetroSync brought high availability to the next level with synchronous file replication and near-zero downtime over metro distances.
Why PowerStore Is the Ideal Successor
PowerStore not only inherits all of Unity XT’s key functionality—it elevates it.
The platform offers:
- Built-in migration tools for NAS servers and block volumes from Unity XT
- Superior NVMe performance and scale-up/scale-out capabilities
- Streamlined management across multi-appliance clusters
- 5-1 Data Reduction Guarantee on block workloads
- A container-based architecture to take full advantage of cutting-edge technology of the underlying platform
- Integrated analytics and remote management through APEX AIOps (formerly known as CloudIQ)
For IT teams looking to modernize and simplify their infrastructure, PowerStore delivers both immediate benefits and long-term value.
Final Thoughts
With Unity XT’s end-of-sale date now official, there's never been a better time to evaluate your storage strategy. Dell PowerStore is a well-supported, powerful platform that’s built for the future. From personal experience using PowerStore in both production and beta environments, I can confidently say it’s a reliable, intuitive, and feature-rich solution.
If you're considering your next move after Unity XT, PowerStore should be at the top of your list.