4 New Dell-VMware Integrated Solutions Launched At VMworld
From a new Apex as-a-Service offering to bringing Kubernetes-native software-defined object storage to VMware, here are the four biggest Dell-VMware integration offerings launched at VMworld 2021 Tuesday.
Dell And VMware’s ‘Unparalleled Integration’
Although Dell Technologies’ spin-off of VMware is just weeks away, the two IT titans are continuing their powerful joint technology and innovation strategy as seen in Tuesday’s launch at VMworld 2021 of several co-engineered offerings.
The biggest launch Tuesday at VMware’s digital VMworld 2021 event is the Dell Technologies Apex Cloud Services with VMware Cloud new offer.
“This new solution has unparalleled integration for VMware environments for customers to run their most critical VMware workloads on,” said Varun Chhabra, senior vice president of product marketing at Dell Technologies. “This offer is really built to simplify our customers’ multi-cloud world.”
The Round Rock, Texas-based infrastructure and PC giant unveiled four significant offerings Tuesday with VMware integration at VMworld 2021—from the new Apex offering to bringing Kubernetes-native, software-defined object storage to VMware.
CRN breaks down the four biggest Dell launches at VMware’s highly anticipated VMworld 2021 virtual conference.
Apex Cloud Services With VMware Cloud Takes On Public Cloud
The new Dell Technologies Apex Cloud Services with VMware Cloud provides secure operations across multi-cloud environments in an Infrastructure-as-a-Service offering. The new Apex offering gives customers the ability to move workloads across multiple cloud environments and scale resources quickly with predictable pricing and costs.
“This solution is built to deliver that outcome-based approach that our customers tell us they love about the public cloud,” said Dell’s Chhabra. “Customers want to have the flexibility to be able to move workloads between different clouds without having a lot of overhead and friction. They also want to be able to run both traditional applications as well as cloud-native applications on the same platform. Apex Cloud Services with VMC [VMware Cloud] gives customers a consistent framework to work across different clouds and manage both their traditional and cloud-native applications in the same solution.”
The new offering combines Dell’s hyperconverged infrastructure VxRail with VMware’s compute, storage and network virtualization capabilities.
Businesses can deploy the offering in their data center, at an edge location or a colocation facility. Dell has preconfigured cloud instances on Apex to make it easier for customers to get started.
Apex Cloud Services with VMC also helps organizations safeguard their data, meet regulatory requirements and avoid cyberthreats with built-in cyber-resiliency.
“It’s really aimed at helping customers get that turnkey as-a-service experience so that they can focus on driving innovation and differentiation,” said Chhabra.
Apex With VMware’s Tanzu
Dell’s Apex Cloud Services with VMware Cloud can be used with VMware Tanzu, the company’s growing portfolio of containers and Kubernetes offerings.
With VMware Tanzu integration, customers can now build, test and run cloud-native applications alongside traditional applications. Customers can migrate workloads across multiple clouds with VMware HCX included in the service, which eliminates the need to rearchitect applications for different cloud environments.
Mark Lohmeyer, senior vice president and general manager of VMware’s Cloud Infrastructure Business Group, said as customers digitize their business with enterprise and modern apps, they expect their infrastructure to deliver “cloud-like simplicity” regardless of where it runs.
“Dell Technologies Apex Cloud Services with VMware Cloud helps customers achieve cloud simplicity and enterprise-class security and operations. The service brings the power of co-engineering between Dell Technologies and VMware to help customers adopt more agile and flexible cloud infrastructure to drive better business outcomes,” said Lohmeyer in a statement.
Chhabra said Dell and VMware are working hand in hand to drive simplicity in the multi-cloud era with Apex Cloud Services with VMware Cloud and Tanzu.
“No matter where this infrastructure is being run, customers can extend the same tools, the same skills and the security policies across all of their environments. So if a customer is using Apex Cloud with VMC in their private cloud or in a colocation facility or an edge location and wants to actually move the workload to a VMware-supported public cloud environment—or has a workload that they want to move back from a supported VMware environment in the public cloud—they can do so easily using the same tools that they use for running their on-premises infrastructure,” said Chhabra. “This way, customers have the freedom to dictate where their workloads reside solely based on what works best for their business model.”
Dell Technologies Apex Cloud Services with VMware Cloud is in private preview with planned availability by the end of Dell’s fiscal year, which ends January 2022.
‘The Next Evolution Of Object Storage:’ ObjectScale
Another sign that the strong partnership between Dell and VMware isn’t wavering is the launch of Dell EMC ObjectScale software with Tanzu.
“ObjectScale is the next evolution of object storage from Dell,” said Jon Siegal, senior vice president of product marketing for Dell’s Infrastructure Solutions Group. “We’ve taken our proven object storage system, ECS, and re-platformed it to be a software-defined Kubernetes native solution. So now IT can now deploy S3-compatible object storage within a VMware data center.”
Dell and VMware are bringing Kubernetes-native software-defined object storage to VMware vSphere with Tanzu and the vSAN Data Persistence Platform. By providing developers with self-service storage in a private cloud operating model, ObjectScale helps IT manage and scale using familiar VMware tools.
ObjectScale extends the reach of VxRail to power modern workloads such as AI, analytics and cloud-native applications that require S3. When coupled with VxRail, the ObjectScale software allows IT staff to apply their existing skills with VMware tools to support the cloud-native storage modern applications require.
“That’s a jointly engineered solution that takes the best of VMware and the best of Dell and really helps speed the digital transformation and helps essentially deploy modern applications more easily,” said Dell’s Siegal. “Now IT operations can now manage services like ObjectScale side by side and with a similar level of governance as the VMware virtual machines. Since ObjectScale is software-defined, it can be run in our market-leading HCI VxRail and PowerEdge server platforms.”
Dell EMC ObjectScale will become available globally in the fourth quarter of 2021.
AI-Validated Designs Between Dell, VMware And Nvidia
At VMworld, Dell unveiled its artificial intelligence strategy, looking to deliver the next generation of AI-powered applications by applying artificial intelligence to virtualized environments.
“We’ve been working with Nvidia and VMware together to democratize AI for every enterprise out there, making it easier to develop [and] manage AI wherever it is,” said Dell’s Siegal. “This is the first solution of Nvidia AI enterprise software on VMware vSphere, with Tanzu deployed with Dell EMC infrastructure.”
Dell Technologies Validated Designs for AI allow organizations to quickly and easily apply AI to data while also speeding up configuration and integration. The validated design is available on Dell EMC VxRail, PowerScale and PowerSwitch.
“So this allows AI data scientists to deliver the next generation of AI-powered applications in virtualized environments, while also still allowing them to support AI with tools that they’re familiar with like VMware vCenter,” said Siegal. “Also the integration with PowerScale can be leveraged to create a data lake storage for the AI data itself and to really provide speed along the way.”
Dell Technologies Validated Design for AI is now available globally.