DellEMC World 2019 – Modern datacentre highlights

Earlier this month I had the pleasure of attending DellEMC world this year where I picked up the following key points that show the seismic shift in the datacentre area which really resonated with my experience in the industry:

• Artificial Intelligence – with the massive data explosion occurring today we are creating more data than ever; this in turn allows business to gain better insights using AI and ML models to harness this data. AI is already being implemented to drive operational efficiencies and data insights helps business make informed decisions.
  
  
• Hybrid Cloud - the age old debate of Private or Public cloud is over, what is commonly being architected is a hybrid multi-cloud strategy which provides the best of both worlds in terms of value, flexibility and capability. However, a multi-cloud environment requires the standardised tools for operation, automation, network and security controls to truly enable service, operations and infrastructure consistency.
  
  
• Edge Computing – is becoming more relevant as this is made possible with compute power becoming denser, more compact and with 5G networks on the horizon it’s possible to provide high speed connectivity to the most remote areas. It’s predicted that services will be deployed in a more distributed fashion where data analysis can be processed immediate at the edge before delivering outputs back to datacentre

Furthermore, the post-merger Dell Technologies feels like more and more like a single company, with one vision, one strategy and a huge product portfolio to enable customers to achieve their goals.  If I was to single out a few announcements the following three things really caught my eye this year:

• Azure VMware Solutions
• VMware Cloud on DellEMC
• VxRail HCI Appliances

Azure VMware Solutions – this was an announcement I thought I would never see but I’m glad it’s arrived.  The Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Dell Technologies CEO Michel Dell and VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger were all on stage together announcing effectively VMware solutions such as vSphere, NSX, vRealize being delivered into Azure as a public cloud service.  This is huge as it means VMware solutions can be architected from On-prem to AWS and Azure fulfilling the multi-cloud strategy that we have all been waiting for.

The four main components which make up this Azure service are as follows:

• vSphere ESXI Hypervisor
• vCenter Server
• vSAN Software defined storage
• NSX-T

With this development it will be possible to manage your entire on-prem / off-prem VMware estates with the same tool set, vRealize operations and automation can extend to Azure.

NSX-T will enable virtual networks to span across your multi-cloud architecture so VM’s can even vMotion from On-premise to public cloud.  Network, Security profiles will effectively follow the VM’s wherever they are moved.

The new services will allow customers to build hybrid cloud solutions based on the same VMware tools used on-premise to Azure. 

I believe that this will enable customers to simplify:

• Datacentre or cloud migrations
• Hybrid Cloud infrastructure with elastic resources on demand
• Cost efficient disaster recovery services
• VDI implementations

VMware Cloud on Dell EMC (Project Dimension) – last year at VMWorld VMware announced“Project Dimension”, well this is what it has become.  With the new connected Dell Technologies this has been completed which allows customers to consume resources aimed for on premise environments , also like a “Datacentre as a Service”

So, what does this give you?

• VMware Cloud on DellEMC web portal enables you to see all your deployed assets, brings in ordering and consuming resources, management and monitoring services
• Dell Engineering services will install and deploy hardware at your designated on-premises site
• Consumption model cost is per month for HW + SW + Support + Managed services (cloud like economics)
• Hardware includes VxRail Appliances, Dell S Series Switches and VeloCloud SD WAN Appliance
• Single point of contact for a fully managed and maintained experience from Dell & VMware Support services

Written by Richard Choi, Solutions Architect