The new hybrid cloud combines VMware’s forthcoming VMware Cloud on Dell EMC with Dell Technologies Cloud Platforms, and is designed to be a building block for a complete digital transformation strategy.
Pat Gelsinger and Jeff Clarke onstage
LAS VEGAS – A major theme of the flurry of announcements on Day One of Dell Technologies World here was the power of the integrated capabilities of the Dell Technologies companies. One of its manifestations was the new Dell Technologies Cloud, a new set of cloud infrastructure solutions that leverages VMware software and Dell EMC hardware, designed to make hybrid cloud environments simpler to deploy and manage.
“I’m excited to announce Dell Technologies Cloud, an operational hub for your cloud,” said Jeff Clarke, vice chairman of products and operations, Dell Technologies, in the event’s opening keynote. “It is hybrid done right, through strong integration with VMware. It provides a consistent cloud operating model, no matter where your workload resides, and you get consistent infrastructure and operations across all or cloud environments.”
While Clarke introduced several new offerings in the keynote, he later indicated during a media Q&A that he thinks this one is particularly important.
“It comes as a factory-configured ready-to-go platform building block,” he added.
“What is really exciting about Dell Technologies World this year is the focus on Day One around the power of Dell Technologies as a whole, which Michael has been building towards for quite some time,” said Matt Baker, SVP, Strategy and Planning, Dell EMC. “The Dell Technologies Cloud is part of this increased focused on end-to-end solutions, and is really made up of a number of parts.” Those are the new Dell Technologies Cloud Platforms as well as VMware Cloud on Dell EMC, the new Data Centre-as-a-Service offering that was also announced on Monday.
“This is really the pulling together of major components across Dell Technologies,” Baker said. “The hybrid cloud operating platform is a first step, in combining Dell EMC systems and the VMware Cloud Foundation platform. It provides a seamless experience between the logical level and physical level. That strong platform is Step One, and combined with our public cloud partnerships, you can move from logical on-prem to off-prem environments.”
Baker emphasized the importance of consistency in a hybrid cloud operating environment, and stressed that the Dell Technologies Cloud will provide this.
“It gives a consistent operational environment that lets customers leverage on-prem and off-prem investments that helps accelerate digital transformation initiatives, and includes validated designs with support for VMware Cloud Foundation,” Baker said.
Dell Technologies is also emphasizing that the flexibility of the hybrid cloud environment offers considerable cost savings over the public cloud. They pointed to IDC research indicating that the Dell Technologies Cloud can reduce total cost of ownership by up to 47 per cent compared to native public cloud.
Michael Dell regularly takes press questions at this event, and in the Q&A forum he bristled at a suggestion that the Dell Technologies Cloud is simply a rebranding and duplication of the VMware Cloud Foundation.
“The Dell Technologies Cloud also includes Dell EMC infrastructure,” he emphasized.
It will, however, be a while before customers cam deploy it. While the Dell Technologies Cloud Platforms are available now, the Dell Technologies Cloud Data Centre-as-a-Service is not. It is entering beta deployments now, and the plan is to have limited customer availability in the second half of 2019.
