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LAS VEGAS–Not only did Dell EMC pile on the new servers, storage arrays and all kinds of other new-gen data center equipment at its user convention last week at Dell EMC World, it also added a new set of services specifically aimed at helping customers “get” IoT and new cloud-based apps.
Services generally don’t make a lot of news. New products are supposed to have services available to go with them, in case you can’t figure them out.
If you don’t know, IoT stands for internet of things. You’d be surprised at how many people still don’t recognize that acronym. “Never take anything for granted”; that sentence should be tattooed on every professional IT service person’s forearm.
With all this as background, eWEEK consulted for a bit with Barb Robidoux, Dell EMC’s Senior Vice-President of Marketing for Services & IT.
“We take the rapid adoption and optimization of these (IoT) digital technologies very seriously – in fact, this is the very essence of our mission,” Robidoux told eWEEK.
Perhaps the best way to explain how these new IoT services work is to illustrate them through a few examples of real-world problems and how they were solved.
Example No. 1: Monetizing the IoT
This is always the question the CFO asks: Okay, if we invest in an IoT strategy, how is it going to pay us back?
“IoT could ultimately drive a multi-trillion dollar impact on the global economy, according to Internet of Things Institute, but how will we take advantage of all that data?” Robidoux told eWEEK and also wrote in a recent blog. “Your company doesn’t need a big data strategy; they need a business strategy that includes big data, analytics and the enabler: IoT. In addition to being one of the few tier-one IoT appliance providers in the market, Dell EMC is making IoT adoption easier with a new service and coming workshop.
“The IoT Technology Advisory service helps organizations identify the IoT capabilities required to leverage big data from sensors, beacons, mobile phones, wearables and other connected devices. The IoT Monetization Workshop will deliver data, analytics and technology roadmaps that enable organizations to start their IoT journey sooner rather than later.”
Expediting the Use of Azure and Hybrid Cloud
With some industry analysts estimating the Infrastructure/Platform as a service (IaaS/PaaS) market will grow by nearly 20 percent CAGR in the next few years, ease of adoption is an important in making a buying decision, Robidoux said. The management control of these platforms will be done via data management platforms in the cloud—most likely hybrid enterprise clouds that are being tested right now.
Speaking of the cloud, hybrid or otherwise, Dell Technologies earlier this month announced a deal with Microsoft to run its own enterprise cloud on Azure—a huge win for Microsoft. This new hybrid cloud platform is designed to offer a fast track for building and maintaining hybrid clouds that run on Microsoft Azure Stack. It’s all about standardizing on the Microsoft Azure ecosystem with its automated IT service delivery for both traditional and cloud-native applications.
This is a new hybrid cloud platform designed to offer a fast track for building and maintaining hybrid clouds that run on Microsoft Azure Stack. It’s all about standardizing on the Microsoft Azure ecosystem with its automated IT service delivery for both traditional and cloud-native applications.
Dell EMC Cloud for Microsoft Azure Stack is scheduled to be ready for prime time in the second half of 2017. New services, as one might imagine, will come along for the ride.
“Our new Microsoft Azure services will help customers implement and integrate Azure Stack into their existing environments and optimize hybrid operations. For example, we can help Azure adopters build new delivery capabilities, such as DaaS using Microsoft SQL Server, new application APIs, and new IaaS services, and integrate these into service catalogs,” Robidoux said.
“Plus, using our expertise with hybrid cloud platforms, we’ve engineered an optimal rack integration that ensures a consistent build. Once the rack is in place, our engineers configure and integrate the hybrid cloud environment for a fully operational platform that’s ready to deliver services. All of this with the end goal of accelerating time to value.
The Data Migration Blues: A Common Ailment
Everybody knows that data migration is often the most challenging step in implementing new technology.
To change that, Robidoux said, Dell EMC is continuing to make improvements in its Intelligent Data Mobility (IDM) strategy and methodology—from physical and virtual mapping to requirements gathering and planning, from storage scripts to audit and clean up. The company also has a highly regarded data migration division, Boomi, that specializes in cloud integration services.
Another example of easing the embrace of new technology is in infrastructure adoption and productivity through personalized control and prevention—using sensors, IoT, analytics and self-service to remove blinds spots in deployment processes and take the “break” out of break-fix, Robidoux said.
“With insights and input from our customers and partners, we’ll soon be bringing the best of both worlds—EMC and Dell’s expert support and deployment—into a consistent, complete experience across our entire joint product line under the ProSupport and ProDeploy banners,” she said.