In his opening speech, Michael Dell, CEO of the company, placed special emphasis on the importance of data to gain a competitive advantage in today’s market. In that sense, he highlighted the role of Dell Technologies: “We are taking the next step with a multi-cloud ecosystem that embraces the Edge, where Artificial Intelligence processes and moves data across 5G networks in highly automated environments.” In the same vein, he argued that the debate between on-premises or off-premises is over: “The future is multi-cloud featuring workloads and data flowing seamlessly across the environment,” he assured.
In the same vein had expressed Jon Siegal, SVP, ISGProduct Marketing of the company, a pre-event session for the press: “Dell is qualified to be a leader in this cloud ecosystem for our customers,” he said.
Dell announced that the company is building an ecosystem to enable true multi-cloud and offer the Edge, which he defined as “the next frontier where data is managed at the point of creation.” He added, “This is an automated, intelligent synchronous cycle of connecting, protecting, analyzing and enhancing data”.
At this point, he stated that all future projects will create huge amounts of distributed data and distributed computing power. “Ten percent of data in the world today is processed outside the data center, but by 2025, 75 percent of enterprise data will be processed outside the traditional centralized data center or the cloud. 5G will handle the volume of data at the Edge, which means the distributed future will be much bigger than we can imagine,” he noted. But he warned of the risk that this larger attack surface poses, with particular emphasis on ransomware.
Dell dedicated his final message to the 200,000 channel partners who confirm the company’s ecosystem. “The channel will be at the forefront of the market opportunity ahead,” he assured. “We have an aggressive roadmap to add more capabilities, features and functionality to take advantage of that opportunity”.
Main announcements
Dell Technologies announced new cloud experiences, an extended ecosystem and offerings to help customers manage and protect applications across data centers and multi-cloud environments. “These new offerings are designed to help organizations easily store, protect and control their data and applications across ever-increasing platforms and locations,” it said in a statement.
“Our customers require help reducing complexity and are looking for solutions that use a common approach to managing data wherever it resides – from the public cloud, the data center and at the Edge,” said Chuck Whitten, co-chief operating officer, Dell Technologies. “We are creating a portfolio of software and services that simplify multi-cloud and on-premises offerings and environments”.
“We are taking bold actions to deliver solutions that are connected and highly digital to create a superior healthcare experience for consumers,” mentioned Karen S. Lynch, president and CEO of CVS Health. “Our strategic collaboration with Dell is helping to accelerate the value of our technology investment for our associates and consumers”.
Cyber recovery on-premises and in public clouds
According to a recent Gartner report, end-user investment in global information security and risk management will reach $168 billion by 2022, up more than $13 billion from 2021 . As cyber protection continues to become a higher priority, Dell offers new options for managed cyber recovery and public cloud cyber recovery solutions for multi-cloud environments.
Dell is boosting its APEX portfolio with Dell APEX Cyber Recovery Services. This is the first in a series of new APEX solutions that deliver a cloud experience and simplify recovery after a cyber attack. Dell manages the day-to-day operations of the cyber recovery vault and provides data recovery support. The company also offers an as-a-service experience with standardized configurations, simplified Dell-assisted recovery options and the experience of nearly 2,000 isolated vault solutions deployed worldwide.
“Sixty-seven percent of our customers lack confidence in recovering their data after attacks. With this solution they can feel secure from destructive attacks. Customers are more resilient with recovery operations from an intelligent, isolated data vault,” Chad Dunn, VP APEX, Product Management, said at the press preview session. “We will be working with partners in this area”.
Dell expanded the reach of its multi-cloud ecosystem and accelerated access to its data protection offerings for public clouds with the launch of Dell PowerProtect Cyber Recovery for Microsoft Azure. The new service will join a wide range of Dell offerings available in the Microsoft Azure Marketplace and will enable organizations:
– Implement an isolated cyber vault in the public cloud to more securely protect data and isolate it from ransomware attacks, which improves cyber resilience and helps reduce the impact of cyberattacks.
– Provide flexible recovery options if a cyberattack occurs, including recovery within the data center, to a new Azure private network or to an unaffected Azure environment.
Dell continues to build on its collaboration with AWS by introducing CyberSense for Dell PowerProtect Cyber Recovery for AWS. With this offering, organizations will be able to:
– Use analytics, scan metadata and complete files, and implement machine learning and forensic tools for detection, diagnosis and accelerated data recovery.
– Monitor files and databases to determine if a cyberattack occurred and identify the most recent undamaged copy of data to accelerate a more secure and confidential recovery.
Use of data storage services in public clouds
Based on Project Alpine, introduced in January 2022, Dell demonstrates how its storage software could be used in public clouds, such as AWS and Azure. Project Alpine will provide data mobility and consistent operations on-premises and in public cloud environments. Organizations will have the ability to quickly deploy or easily consume Dell storage software and services that deliver great public cloud performance, efficiency and protection on top of the industry-leading enterprise storage foundation.
With Dell storage software in the public cloud, customers will be able to seamlessly transfer data to the cloud and take advantage of cloud analytics services. Developers can write applications once and deploy them where needed to create a cloud-native experience in a multi-cloud environment.
“With respect to automating, customers tell us they want the flexibility to innovate with security and confidence, and have more value from information no matter where it is, and this is the premise of our multi-cloud ecosystem,” Shannon Champion, VP Primary Storage, HCI, CI, Product Marketing, explained to the press.
Dell and Snowflake Collaboration
Dell and Snowflake will work together to connect data from Dell’s enterprise storage to Snowflake’s data cloud. As a first-of-its-kind technology solution, this collaboration will give customers greater flexibility to operate in multi-cloud environments, meet data sovereignty requirements and easily turn data into valuable information wherever it is located.
Dell and Snowflake customers will be able to use on-premises data stored in Dell’s object storage with Snowflake’s data cloud while retaining their data locally or seamlessly copying it to public clouds. In the second half of 2022, the companies will look to implement product integrations and joint go-to-market initiatives.
“As a leader in the data storage industry, Dell Technologies provides customers with the tools they need to extract insights from their data no matter where it resides,” said Jeff Boudreau, president, Dell Technologies Infrastructure Solutions Group. “With the industry’s first collaboration between on-premises storage systems and the Snowflake data cloud, we have the ability to expand Dell’s SaaS provider ecosystem to gain valuable insights from data on-premises and in public clouds”.
“Snowflake’s mission is to mobilize the world’s data by empowering organizations to eliminate silos and bring data together to unlock greater value and deeper insights,” added Christian Kleinerman, senior vice president of product at Snowflake. “This collaboration with Dell will enable organizations to get more value from their on-premises data, while leveraging the performance and simplicity of the Snowflake platform and the powerful collaboration capabilities of Snowflake Data Cloud”.
In response to an inquiry from this media outlet, Jon Siegal assured, “More than ever we are arming our channel partners to be trusted advisors, so they can see a key role in the service and help their customers to regain control of their multi-cloud designs”.
