VMworld: Dell Cloud Advancements Deliver Kubernetes Support and Hybrid Cloud Infrastructure Options

Dell Technologies announced advancements and options that allow organizations to benefit from Dell Technologies Cloud for both traditional applications and cloud-native environments.

More than half of organizations formulating hybrid cloud strategies have cited seamless compatibility with their on-premises infrastructure as the most important consideration, according to new research from analyst firm ESG.⁽²⁾ Dell Technologies Cloud, from the number one provider of cloud infrastructure ⁽³⁾, combines the power of VMware, Inc. cloud software and Dell EMC infrastructure to remove cloud complexity by offering consistent infrastructure and operations across private clouds, public clouds and the edge.

“Customers tell us they want operational consistency for their cloud infrastructure – an imperative for managing and scaling data-intensive workloads in hybrid cloud environments across on-premises, edge data centers and public clouds,” said Jeff Clarke, vice chairman, Dell Technologies. “Dell Technologies Cloud delivers this consistent hybrid cloud experience, now with additional infrastructure options to meet a wider variety of unique requirements. Customers also now can better align their developers and operations teams by supporting Kubernetes and cloud native development along with traditional applications in a single platform, supported wherever their applications reside.“

Adds Kubernetes support
Organizations continue to accelerate cloud-native application development while also running traditional, virtualized applications. To help organizations balance both imperatives, Dell Technologies Cloud will support automated deployment of VMware PKS on Dell EMC VxRail, adding integrated support for Kubernetes and containers. This helps organizations to more nimbly adopt flexible and secure cloud-native approaches. This introduction offers Dell Technologies Cloud Platforms customers a single, consistent platform for traditional and cloud-native workloads, streamlining deployment and operation with lifecycle management of multiple clusters and enhanced automation, performance and security.

Validated Designs
Dell Technologies Cloud Validated Designs offer additional infrastructure options for organizations building hybrid cloud environments. They consist of pre-tested infrastructure with deployment guidance using Dell EMC compute, storage and networking, validated with VMware Cloud Foundation. Organizations can meet the varied demands of workloads by independently scaling storage and compute, allowing infrastructure-intensive applications to be supported.

Validated Designs available include:

PowerMax systems

• Cloud Validated Designs for PowerMax and Unity storage arrays – Dell EMC storage arrays are the first to be validated with VMware Cloud foundation for using FC as primary storage, within workload domains, in addition to the NFS protocol. This offers customers deployment flexibility for workloads that have external storage-specific requirements including independent capacity and features such as integrated data protection.

Poweredge Mx7000

• Cloud Validated Designs for PowerEdge MX servers – With VMware Cloud Foundation interoperability, administrators can now gain maximum resource utilization, enabled by PowerEdge MX servers and OpenManage Enterprise – Modular Edition, allowing customers to dynamically provision storage and assign workloads to individual drives as needed

Cloud Data Center-as-a-Service available
Introduced at Dell Technologies World 2019, the fully-managed Cloud Data Center-as-a-Service offering, VMware Cloud on Dell EMC, is available to U.S. customers, making it the first to market VMware ‘Project Dimension‘ solution in customer data centers. Additionally, Dell EMC is a partner offering data protection for VMware Cloud on Dell EMC, allowing organizations to benefit from the added support of key Dell EMC data protection solutions while leveraging VMware Cloud on Dell EMC.

By providing tight integration of VMware cloud tools and VxRail hyperconverged infrastructure, this solution combines the hands-off operational simplicity and subscription-based pricing of the public cloud with the security, control and performance of on-premises infrastructure.

Flexible consumption options, and expanded services accelerate customer success
The availability of Flex on Demand allows organizations to deploy the company’s cloud and pay only for the technology they use. This includes access to elastic capacity and payments that adjust up or down to match usage. ⁽¹⁾ Flex on Demand simplifies buffer capacity for customers, charging only for utilized capacity, so they can enjoy public cloud-like agility on-premises without paying for all deployed capacity. This approach also gives organizations the freedom to innovate more quickly by paying for technology resources as needed to support new projects.

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Additionally, ProConsult Migration Services use a mature, repeatable migration framework that helps organizations rapidly realize the benefits of Dell Technologies Cloud offerings. This proven approach speeds time to cloud and enables customers to focus on higher priority initiatives.

Consistent operations for hybrid clouds across private and public clouds

Organizations have variety of options for Dell Technologies Cloud environments:

• Cloud Platforms – The combination of VMware Cloud Foundation on VxRail hyperconverged systems offers tan easy and fast path to a consistent hybrid cloud, complete with automated lifecycle management

• Cloud Validated Designs – Available, these integrate VMware Cloud Foundation with Dell EMC servers, storage arrays and networking, delivered as pre-tested infrastructure with deployment guidance, offering additional options to meet a set of workloads and customer needs.

• Cloud Data Center-as-a-Service – Offered as VMware Cloud on Dell EMC, this delivers a fully-managed hybrid cloud service for on-premises data centers and edge deployments

• Cloud Partner Clouds – Extending the consistent cloud experience to the public cloud, with support for VMware Cloud on AWS, Azure VMware Solutions, as well as the recently announced VMware for Google Cloud Platform, IBM Cloud and more than 4,200 VMware Cloud Provider Program providers globally

Availability:

• Cloud Platforms with VMware PKS on Cloud Foundation on VxRail has planned global availability in September 2019.

• Cloud Validated Designs are available globally with support for PowerMax and Unity XT storage arrays and PowerEdge MX servers.

• Cloud Data Center-as-a-Service, delivered as VMware Cloud on Dell EMC, is available in the US. Data Protection for VMware Cloud on Dell EMC also is available as an option.

Mark Bowker, senior analyst, ESG, said: “When it comes to a hybrid cloud strategy, compatibility between on-premises and public cloud provider tools and applications is the most critical issue. Dell Technologies Cloud offerings, with the global VMware user base and Dell EMC infrastructure, offers a unique way to deliver this compatibility with already well-known, consistent operations across on-premises, the edge, all of the top public cloud providers and the extensive VMware Cloud Provider Program network. The addition of Kubernetes support brings developers and operations teams closer together for a solution that is a win for them, the public cloud service providers and Dell Technologies.“

Scott Miller, senior director, strategic partnerships, World Wide Technology, Inc. (WWT), said: “Building on our deep roots in the data center, we have invested heavily in cloud, enabling us to build solutions that span these two worlds. With new Kubernetes capabilities from Dell Technologies Cloud, WWT can offer an industry-leading, purpose-built container solution to operationalize Kubernetes while minimizing cloud life cycle management for enterprises moving to hybrid cloud models. More specifically, the deep integration between VMware PKS, VMware Cloud Foundation and Dell EMC VxRail enables us to offer services that greatly minimize the complexity of the underlying cloud infrastructure and management for our customers.“

⁽¹⁾ Payment solutions provided and serviced by Dell Financial Services L.L.C. or its affiliate or designee (DFS) for qualified customers. Offers may not be available or may vary in certain countries. Where available offers may be changed without notice and are subject to product availability, applicable law, credit approval, documentation provided by and acceptable to DFS and may be subject to minimum transaction size. Offers not available for personal, family or household use. Dell EMC and the Dell EMC logo are trademarks of Dell Inc. Restrictions and additional requirements may apply to transactions with governmental or public entities. Flexible Consumption: At the end of the initial term customer may (1) extend original term or (2) return the equipment to DFS.
⁽²⁾ ESG Master Survey Results, Hybrid Cloud Trends, May 2019  
⁽³⁾ IDC Worldwide Quarterly Cloud IT Infrastructure Tracker, Q1 2019, June 2019

Resources
Blog: Bring More Applications to the Cloud with Dell Technologies Cloud Validated Designs‘
Blog: Ready, Set, Innovate: VxRail Empowers IT to Deliver Cloud Native & Traditional applications on a single, secure platform
Blog: Maximize and Protect Your Existing VMware Environment
Blog: The Smart Approach to Migrating Apps to Dell Technologies Cloud
Blog: Introducing Dell Technologies Cloud
IDC Whitepaper: Benefits of the Consistent Hybrid Cloud