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Dell India R&D Center is Dell’s second largest product development center. Founded in 2001, the R&D Center focuses on software development, Enterprise solutions, international product support, test engineering, and documentation. The R&D Center has steadily grown over the past five years. By 2002, the design center participated in DellTM OpenManageTM software development, as well as product, system, and operating system (OS) testing. In 2003, the Center took on additional activities, including storage testing; online diagnostics; and Dell Server Assistant, IT Assistant, and Connections development. The R&D Center moved from its original location to new premises in 2004 and graduated from a remote pool of engineers to a major design and development center. In 2005, it provided engineering contributions to all block releases and supported many platform releases. Dell India R&D Center’s state-of-the-art infrastructure includes specialized labs with a network of more than 1,800 PowerEdgeTM servers (3G to 9G); a rich set of storage systems; and keyboard, video, mouse (KVM) over Internet protocol (IP) capabilities. Test Engineering successfully piloted lab-to-lab connectivity between this Center and the Austin Design Center (ADC) in the second quarter of FY 06. Since then, the R&D Center has begun to include hardware from ADC using labto-lab connectivity as part of the test block efforts. The R&D Center labs are also used for product/solution demonstrations for Enterprise customers. Dell India R&D Teams The R&D Center has various engineering, documentation, and test groups. The Systems Management group handles products related to deployment, change management, and monitoring. The R&D Center currently has software development ownership of program interlocks, software releases, and module development for OpenManage Install, Deployment Toolkit, System Update Utility, Connections to Enterprise Management Frameworks, and Online Diagnostics. In addition, the team also supports development of Dell Server Administrator, Dell Update Packages, IT Administrator, Client Console (OpenManage Client Connector/Dell Client Configuration Utility), OpenManage Server Administrator, and Dell Remote Access Controller (DRAC) software. The Diagnostics group develops applications for CD/DVD drives, floppy drives, modem devices, and serial and parallel ports. The group has also contributed to the Online Diagnostic Service, a suite of diagnostics programs. OS Engineering works with ADC teams to certify and release Microsoft® operating systems and service packs after solving defects. OS Engineering also develops factory installation software for Dell Enterprise servers. Solutions Engineering works with its ADC counterpart to validate various Enterprise solutions, including multiple releases of the Linux OS; high availability, high-performance computing clusters, and virtualization, database, and customized solutions. This team contributes to Dell's scalable Enterprise strategy through performance studies and publications. Information Development (Info Dev) works with its ADC counterpart to deliver documentation for most of the client and Enterprise products, including switches, storage, servers, OpenManage, PDAs, displays, printers, portables, and desktops. Info Dev also manages vendor documentation of client products. Enterprise International Product Support (E-IPS) provides escalation support for OpenManage, Fiber Channel storage, and tape products. Dell India R&D Product Group (PG) Test was one of the earliest teams to boot-strap Product Group operations in India. The group now has six major test functions that focus on Dell's Enterprise product lines:
• Storage Product Test - Performs functionality tests on Redundant Array of Independent disks (RAID), tape, network-attached storage (NAS), and hard-disk drive products. This team has test ownership for all NAS products. The team also focuses on storage sustaining test efforts. • Server Product Test - Performs hardware testing on pre-ready-to-ship (RTS) hardware and audit testing of original development manufacturers. This team has extensive interactions with the ADC and the Taiwan Design Center (TDC). The team's server product testing lab is the latest addition to the PG Test lab portfolio. • Software Product Test - Tests Dell systems management software. The team also supports the development efforts of the Systems Management group. This team has total ownership of OpenManage original equipment manufacturer (OEM) testing and also validates the OpenManage software stack on pre-RTS hardware. • Enterprise System Test - Simulates Enterprise customer scenarios using servers, storage, and software as a complete solution stack. This team also performs specialized testing such as performance, scalability, and interoperability tests. The Enterprise System Test lab, with over 70 racks of servers and storage, has dedicated IP connectivity to its counterpart in ADC, enabling over-the-wire testing and re-production of defects. This capability also helps create a distributed data center environment. • Test Engineering - Focuses on test case design and test automation. The Test Case Design group develops test cases for Dell systems management software components and storage sustaining components such as NAS. The Test Automation group develops tools and scripts to automate test execution. • Materials Management - This team is part of the PG Test organization, but it supports all PG teams in Dell India R&D Center. The team provides services such as procurement, asset recovery and management through Mtrack, the hardware library, and prototypes. The assets handled include currently shipping and pre-RTS hardware and involve interactions with all regions within and outside Asia. Going forward, Dell India R&D Center will provide full system design of Enterprise and storage products, including board design, BIOS, chassis, system thermal characteristics and acoustics, and software porting. The Center also plans to double the number of engineers at the Center from 300 to approximately 600 over the next 12 to 18 months. Some of the new hires will be hardware designers.
• Storage Product Test - Performs functionality tests on Redundant Array of Independent disks (RAID), tape, network-attached storage (NAS), and hard-disk drive products. This team has test ownership for all NAS products. The team also focuses on storage sustaining test efforts. • Server Product Test - Performs hardware testing on pre-ready-to-ship (RTS) hardware and audit testing of original development manufacturers. This team has extensive interactions with the ADC and the Taiwan Design Center (TDC). The team's server product testing lab is the latest addition to the PG Test lab portfolio. • Software Product Test - Tests Dell systems management software. The team also supports the development efforts of the Systems Management group. This team has total ownership of OpenManage original equipment manufacturer (OEM) testing and also validates the OpenManage software stack on pre-RTS hardware. • Enterprise System Test - Simulates Enterprise customer scenarios using servers, storage, and software as a complete solution stack. This team also performs specialized testing such as performance, scalability, and interoperability tests. The Enterprise System Test lab, with over 70 racks of servers and storage, has dedicated IP connectivity to its counterpart in ADC, enabling over-the-wire testing and re-production of defects. This capability also helps create a distributed data center environment. • Test Engineering - Focuses on test case design and test automation. The Test Case Design group develops test cases for Dell systems management software components and storage sustaining components such as NAS. The Test Automation group develops tools and scripts to automate test execution. • Materials Management - This team is part of the PG Test organization, but it supports all PG teams in Dell India R&D Center. The team provides services such as procurement, asset recovery and management through Mtrack, the hardware library, and prototypes. The assets handled include currently shipping and pre-RTS hardware and involve interactions with all regions within and outside Asia. Going forward, Dell India R&D Center will provide full system design of Enterprise and storage products, including board design, BIOS, chassis, system thermal characteristics and acoustics, and software porting. The Center also plans to double the number of engineers at the Center from 300 to approximately 600 over the next 12 to 18 months. Some of the new hires will be hardware designers.
