Allen,  Here is some information that might help you with your location planning.  On the VNX8000 (and others) you will have max cable lenghts.   With regards to using different DAE's types that's fine, making the assumption that you use all the same DAE types here are the count limits assuming 1500 drive max  Max DAE#'s 25-drive (60), 15-drive (100), 60-drive (25)  Typically customers using the 60 drive DAE's are using EMC high density racks supporting a longer DAE and the proper cabling.  It is possible to use non-EMC rack's for the dense DAE's subject to an RPQ approval.  Hope this helps. Jeff.
I'm trying to plan for a deployment of a brand new VNX8000 and we need to account for future growth as we allocate floor space. I've been through a few different docs on this but I can't seem to find the answer I'm looking for. I know the backend configuration changed but I'm not sure how that might impact the overall physical expansion capabilities of the array. I also know that at launch the VNX8000 only supports 1000 drives. From that I think I can safely assume a maximum footprint similar to a fully loaded VNX7500 (maximum six racks).  I need to account for the potential future state (still to be delivered). So once the VNX8000 is capable of supporting it's target maximum number of drives, will that be acheivable using the standard 15 drive 2U DAEs? Or will it require a combination of the 25 x 2.5" drive DAEs and 60 drive DAEs? What would be the maximum number of cabinets for a fully loaded target state VNX8000?  Again, I know this is futures, but I have to account for potential future growth right now or we risk artifically limiting our expansion by deploying other hardware too close.
VNX8000 physical space requirements