Dell Delivers Innovations with VMware to Power edge Solutions

News summary:

• Dell VxRail boosts application and networking performance with industry-first jointly engineered HCI solution support for Data Processing Units (DPUs) while new models expand VMware edge capabilities with smallest-ever systems
• Dell APEX adds managed VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid services to help improve developer productivity, and new compute-only options support more workloads and offer greater efficiency when scaling infrastructure at the edge
• Dell Validated Designs for AI adds AutoML, helping make it easier and faster for organizations to create and deploy AI-powered applications with automated machine learning

Full story

Dell Technologies is introducing new infrastructure solutions, co-engineered with VMware, that deliver greater automation and performance for organizations embracing multicloud and edge strategies.

“Customers tell us they want help simplifying their multicloud and edge strategies as they look to drive more efficiency and performance from their IT,” said Jeff Boudreau, president, Dell Technologies Infrastructure Solutions Group.  “Dell Technologies and VMware have numerous joint engineering initiatives spanning core IT areas such as multicloud, edge and security to help our customers more easily manage and gain value from their data.”

Business data and applications continue to grow in multicloud environments comprised of edge locations, public clouds and on-premises IT. Many organizations have already adopted a multicloud approach, and the number of applications running at the edge will grow 800% by 2024.¹  

“IDC’s global research shows many organizations are struggling to balance the rapidly rising complexity and cost of data center, edge and cloud operations with relentless business demand for better data integration, security and application performance,” notes Mary Johnston Turner, IDC research vice president, future of digital infrastructure agenda. “These organizations recognize the need for a consistent operating model tightly integrated with infrastructure platforms that support sophisticated, large scale data-driven workloads.”

“As increasing number of Indian enterprises move to the cloud, we are witnessing a growing demand for co-engineered solutions that help customers drive better business outcomes from their data residing on the cloud. As the only HCI system jointly engineered with VMware, VxRail delivers unique automation and orchestration capabilities that enable customers to accelerate business outcomes across core data centers, cloud and edge locations. With several additional offerings to its APEX portfolio, Dell Technologies aims to provide enterprises with a centralized operating model that is agile, flexible and fully supports the needs of modern enterprises.” said Mr. Manish Gupta, Vice President and General Manager, Infrastructure Solutions Group, Dell Technologies India. “This will not only help Indian businesses manage their workloads better but also enable them to develop AI-powered applications”, he added.

Dell VxRail delivers greater performance and smallest-ever systems at the edge

Dell is introducing several new VxRail systems and software advancements that improve performance on-premises and at the edge including the industry’s only jointly engineered HCI-based DPU solution with VMware.²

• Improved system performance: A result of co-engineering with VMware and its Project Monterey initiative, VxRail systems support new VMware vSphere 8 software that has been rearchitected to run on DPUs. Customers can improve application and networking infrastructure performance and improve TCO by moving these services from a system’s CPU to its new on-board DPU.

Support demanding workloads: Select VxRail systems now support VMware’s new vSAN Enterprise Storage Architecture (ESA). With up to 4x vSAN performance improvement³, customers can better support demanding mission-critical applications.

• Smallest edge systems: VxRail rugged modular nodes deliver high performance and scalability in the system’s smallest form factor to date.⁴ Modular nodes are ideal for edge use cases including healthcare, energy and utilities and digital cities because of VxRail’s industry-first, on-board hardware witness⁵, which allows for deployment in high latency, low bandwidth locations.

“The increasing demand for software-defined infrastructure services for networking, storage and security places more demands on already-strained CPUs. As more distributed, resource intensive applications are onboarded, there is a need to reimagine data center architecture to fully support the requirements of these applications,” said Krish Prasad, senior vice president & general manager, Cloud Infrastructure Business Group, VMware. “Dell VxRail with VMware vSphere 8 will deliver a foundation for next generation data center architecture by running infrastructure services on the DPU. This will enable greater network and application performance and a new level of sophistication in adopting Zero Trust security strategies to protect modern enterprise workloads.”

Dell APEX expands multicloud and edge support for VMware environments

Dell is adding several offers to its APEX portfolio for VMware workloads that speed development of cloud-native apps and better allocate compute and storage resources for applications at the edge.

APEX Cloud Services with VMware Cloud adds managed VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid services, which allows IT teams to help developers move faster by using a container-based approach to application development. With Dell-managed Tanzu services, customers can provision Kubernetes clusters through the vSphere user interface. Organizations also will be able to speed development efforts by building, testing and running cloud-native applications alongside traditional applications on the same platform. 

APEX Private Cloud and APEX Hybrid Cloud offer new compute-only options that allow customers to support more workloads and increase IT infrastructure efficiency by independently scaling compute and storage resources. Organizations can start small and scale their infrastructure as their IT needs change. Customers can use Dell’s industry-leading enterprise storage data services by connecting compute-only instances to Dell storage such as APEX Data Storage Services.

“APEX Hybrid Cloud lets us manage our multicloud environment seamlessly and gain better insights into our VMware workloads. It’s allowed us to reduce the cost of supporting applications and workloads by 20%,” said Ben Doyle, chief information officer, ATN International. “We stood up the Dell APEX solution quickly, and we easily moved 70% of our infrastructure to it in under three months. We look forward to working with Dell Technologies to expand our cloud footprint moving forward.”

Dell Validated Designs for AI – AutoML uses AI to democratize data science

Dell Validated Designs for AI – Automatic Machine Learning (AutoML) uses automated machine learning models to help data scientists of all skill levels develop AI-powered applications.

The solution includes tested and proven configurations of Dell VxRail hyper-converged infrastructure with H2O.ai, NVIDIA and VMware software to help customers speed time to insight from data with automation that delivers up to 18x faster AI models.⁶

Organizations report 20%⁶ faster time to value with Dell Validated Designs for AI, helping data scientists of all skill levels develop AI-powered applications faster. VMware Tanzu in Dell Validated Designs for AI provides greater container security and allows customers to run AI at the edge using VMware Tanzu services.

Availability

• New Dell VxRail solutions will be globally available beginning in the second half of 2022.
• Managed VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid for APEX Cloud Services with VMware Cloud are available now in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Australia and New Zealand with additional global availability forthcoming.
• APEX Private Cloud and APEX Hybrid Cloud updates are available in the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany in September with additional global availability forthcoming.
• Dell Validated Designs for AI – Automatic Machine Learning (AutoML) is globally available now.

1. Based on research by Vanson Bourne commissioned by Dell Technologies, “Global Data Protection Index 2021 Snapshot,” carried out February – April, 2021. 
2. Based on internal analysis of publicly available information, June 29, 2022.
3. Based on internal investigation by VMware. Actual results will vary.
4. Based on Dell internal analysis, August 2022.
5. Based on Dell analysis, August 2022. Expected availability January 2023.
6. Forrester Total Economic Impact™ Study of Dell Validated Designs for AI, commissioned by Dell Technologies and AMD, August 2022. Actual results may vary.