VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger: Dell, VMware Integration Will Enable 5G

VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger said the company’s tight integration with Dell Technologies will enable service providers to build 5G infrastructure that eventually will replace Wi-Fi.

At the virtual Dell Technologies World Digital Experience conference this week, Gelsinger (above right) and Jeff Clarke (above left), chief operating officer and vice chairman of Dell, spoke about how the two companies will enable service providers to build 5G networks. The two executives said 5G will extend cloud operating models to the edge and force a modernization of proprietary mobile networks.

Gelsinger said VMware is leading the charge with software-defined, virtualization and Open RAN, while Dell Technologies is working with VMware to bring service providers fully integrated 5G-enabled offerings at scale.

“Jeff, we did exactly this in the data center and I would argue there was never a more important time, or opportunity for us, to demonstrate the value of our integrated innovation,” said Gelsinger.

[Related: Michael Dell’s 5 Boldest Remarks At Dell Technologies World]

VMware’s recently unveiled Project Monterey opens the doors for both companies to drive net- new 5G deals in the service provider and telecom space. Project Monterey is a rearchitecture of VMware Cloud Foundation from the hardware up to support all the new requirements of modern applications. It leverages a new hardware technology called SmartNIC in partnership with Nvidia to deliver maximum performance, zero-trust security and simplified operations to VMware Cloud Foundation. Dell is the leading infrastructure partner in Project Monterey, which includes VxRail, a co-engineered hyperconverged infrastructure between VMware and Dell that is the worldwide HCI market leader.

“VxRail is playing a leading role [in Project Monterey] and the partnership that we just announced with Nvidia also opens up enterprise AI as well as partnering with us in this rearchitecture of the data center. We also see this architecture will accelerate the rollout of telco 5G,” said Gelsinger. “We’ll deliver a high-performance secure platform, built for the powerful applications we expect from this 5G transformation.”

Another integrated offering aimed at enabling 5G is Dell EMC Ready Solution for the VMware NFV Platform, which delivers scalability in a cost-effective package. The prevalidated offering includes a mix of open standards-based Dell EMC cloud infrastructure—including PowerEdge servers— VMware vSAN, optimized software, vCloud Director or VMware Integrated OpenStack, as well as support for Kubernetes.

“[5G] is a huge deal, not just huge for the service provider, but I also think enterprise 5G will displace Wi-Fi globally,” said Gelsinger. “Service providers have to ‘cloudify’ their infrastructure to capture the advantage of an open software-defined approach.”

Gelsinger also touted at Dell Technologies World how VMware and Dell are fueling the hybrid cloud world with the Dell Technologies Cloud. The foundation of the Dell Technologies Cloud is Dell EMC VxRail and VMware Cloud Foundation.

“Very simply, the VMware Cloud on Dell EMC is full speed ahead and just finishes that fabric of our multi-cloud, hybrid cloud strategy. The full software-defined data center, vSAN, NSX, vRealize and of course vSphere—we’re seeing great interest in our mutual customers from Citibank, Harley-Davidson, Rolls-Royce, Yamaha and many others,” said Gelsinger. “We are going great with the Dell [Technologies] Cloud.”

The virtual Dell Technologies World conference concludes Thursday.