Dell EMC Eases the Way to Windows Server 2016 and Azure Hybrid Cloud

By Charles King, Pund-IT, Inc.  October 5, 2016

Two weeks ago, in the September 21st issue of the Pund-IT Review, I wrote about the new Validated System for Virtualization that Dell EMC announced at VMworld 2016. As I noted then, the value of that offering rests in its ability “to be flexibly scaled and adjusted to meet individual customers’ discrete requirements.” But the new Dell EMC Validated Systems for Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SQL, along with new Microsoft Azure Cloud Services show another dimension of the Dell EMC strategy that’s worth close consideration.

Extending flexibility to partners

These new solutions demonstrate how the value of Dell EMC’s Validated Systems and strategy also extends to the company’s partners. By creating a platform that can be easily configured for specific applications and workloads, the company should be able to seamlessly align itself with its partners’ strategic imperatives.

That’s certainly the case with the new Validated Systems for Microsoft SQL 2016 and Microsoft Exchange 2016. The former solution leverages the latest Dell EMC PowerEdge R830 servers to address modern data warehousing requirements, delivering OLTP performance that Dell EMC says is up to 30X faster than previous generation solutions.

The latter solution is built on Dell EMC’s PowerEdge R730xd servers, and can support email environments ranging from about 200 to many thousands of end user accounts. Along with exceptional scalability, Dell EMC says that the new Validated System offering can lower total cost of ownership (TCO) through resource consolidation, optimized storage design and efficient systems management.

Those are solid value propositions for Dell EMC, but they should also help to highlight Microsoft’s go-to-market strategy for its new Windows Server 2016 solution family. If they are to succeed, every updated operating environment requires vendors to present them in terms of their practical performance and economic benefits. That’s certainly the case in these new solutions. Plus, Dell EMC’s ability to quickly get these new, highly scalable offerings out the door should help many customers hit the “buy” button.

Easing the way to Azure

The new Validated System offerings were also, not surprisingly, closely linked to a new suite of Azure Cloud Services, including;

  • Azure Cloud Back-up – a flexible, secure, scalable backup solution in Microsoft’s cloud management portfolio. With no capital investment and consumption-based pricing,
  • Azure Dev/Test Labs– which allows developers and testers to quickly create and provision Windows and Linux environments with reusable templates and pre-provisioned environments in Azure, and
  • Azure Business Continuity Solution – enables enterprise class business continuity via Azure services delivered with Dell EMC consulting, provisioning, break/fix support, and single-source pay-as-you-go billing.

The larger point of these offerings is to simplify the processes required for businesses to adopt and migrate to hybrid cloud environments. Dell EMC introduced its original Hybrid Cloud Systems (DHCS) for Microsoft (Azure) in October 2015, and the new Back-up, DevTest and Business Continuity offerings significantly expand the services and benefits that Dell EMC and Microsoft customers of every size can adopt and enjoy.

Final analysis

In the past, strategic business IT solutions tended to focus on individual vendors and be relatively one dimensional in terms of supporting specific applications or use cases. The emergence and continuing evolution of cloud computing has fundamentally changed that dynamic, as well as the ways in which vendors partner and collaborate.

Dell EMC’s Validated Systems architecture and offerings clearly demonstrate how one vendor’s innovations can benefit itself, its partners and their common customers. That was the case with the original VMware-focused Validated System for Virtualization, and it remains true for the new Validated Systems for Microsoft SQL and Exchange, and Azure Backup, DevTest and Business Continuity services.

The new solutions should also enhance the cost and performance of core business applications, and bring complex hybrid cloud processes and technologies further into the mainstream. Additionally, quick succession of these wholly different offerings suggests the likelihood that additional new Dell EMC Validated Systems solutions are in the offing.

That should qualify as good news for Dell EMC partners, and will also be welcomed by business customers of every stripe.

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