Dell Technologies Delivers Hybrid Cloud Innovation with Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure

October 5, 2023
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Dell Technologies today announced the availability of Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft, a new fully integrated turnkey system developed in collaboration with Microsoft that extends the Microsoft Azure hybrid cloud experience to data center and edge environments.

It is the first offer in the Dell APEX Cloud Platform family and the first available Premier Solution for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI. This new Azure Stack HCI solution category only includes platforms that provide the fastest time to value for Azure hybrid cloud through the deepest levels of integration with Microsoft. 

“Dell Technologies and Microsoft have a long history of hybrid cloud innovation and collaboration to help customers deploy apps and data wherever they need them. Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure is the latest innovation to stem from our long collaboration,” said Karolis Macionis, regional director, APEX, Dell Technologies, Asia Pacific and Japan. “This new platform will enable organizations in the region to simplify their Azure management, accelerate application delivery, and offer flexibility to run their workloads across the cloud, edge, and data center.”

Dell APEX Cloud Platforms are next-generation infrastructure that deliver consistent operations and more control over workload placement by extending the choice of cloud ecosystem on-premises. These platforms offer customers greater flexibility and investment protection over time by combining the best of Dell innovation in automated infrastructure management and orchestration, software-defined storage, and next-generation compute.

Simplifying Azure on-premises

The opportunity to extend Azure cloud services to on-premises environments is significant. According to an ESG study on multicloud application deployment trends, 48% of customers surveyed are expanding on-premises deployments[1]. Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Azure provides an optimal way for customers to bring Microsoft Azure to their data center and edge locations.

This new platform builds upon decades of Dell and Microsoft collaboration. It combines Dell’s expertise in delivering software-driven management and orchestration and software-defined storage with Microsoft’s leadership in cloud services and container orchestration.

“More of our customers are asking us to bring the power of Azure wherever they need it out in the real world, whether that is in their factories, retail stores, quick service restaurants, or distributed locations. Through our partnership with Dell, we can project just enough Microsoft Azure to those locations at the edge,” said Douglas Phillips, corporate vice president, Azure Edge + Platform. “This new solution gives our mutual customers a seamless experience from cloud to edge, wherever their data lives, so they can spend less time managing infrastructure and focus more on transforming their business.”

Enhancing Azure hybrid cloud

The Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure is designed to address several key IT priorities.

  • Simplify management: This new offer delivers consistent Azure operations across on-premises locations and public cloud via native integration with Azure Arc. Deep integration and extensive automation enabled by Dell’s APEX Cloud Platform Foundation Software would deliver greater benefits to customers compared to past solutions. For example, the automated deployment wizard results in an 88% reduction in deployment steps compared to existing integrated systems, allowing customers to save more time when deploying the platform.
  • Accelerate application delivery: Through optimized delivery of Azure Kubernetes Service (AKS) hybrid, and Arc-enabled app and data services, the platform helps accelerate application delivery. Customers will be able to simplify management with deep integration and familiar tools. Users can also enforce consistent security and compliance policies across the Azure landscape through integration with centralized Azure management and governance services.
  • Fastest time to value: To ensure customers get the fastest time to value and ongoing full stack support, Dell ProSupport Infrastructure Suite provides a single source of solution level-support for Dell hardware, system software, and Azure HCI. Onsite diagnosis, residency, data migration, data disposition, and education services cover tasks commonly required in a multicloud environment, allowing internal staff to focus on other priorities. 

Going above and beyond

While the new Premier Solutions for Azure Stack HCI category represents the highest level of required automation, integration, and collaboration with Microsoft, Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure takes this even further.

  • Lifecycle management: Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure delivers near instantaneous availability of new releases and patches – within just four hours of a Microsoft release. Single-pane, full-stack lifecycle management ensures the complete infrastructure stack always remains compliant.
  • Unique automation: The platform provides automated cluster expansion, enabling rapid addition of on-premises infrastructure to meet workload requirements.
  • Edge offerings coming soon: The specialized nodes based on the Dell PowerEdge XR4000 edge-optimized server platform to help customers extend Azure to the edge while minimising cost, footprint, and complexity.
  • Ultimate flexibility coming soon: Dell Technologies will support additional storage configurations with Dell software-defined storage, making it the only offer to support linear scaling of storage resources independently from compute resources, helping customers address workloads with diverse performance, and scaling needs.

Meeting customer and partner needs

Dell has heard overwhelming excitement about this solution from customers and partners alike. Kyndryl, a strategic partner of Dell and Microsoft, is expanding its solutions with managed services for this platform.

“In a rapidly changing IT landscape, Kyndryl is helping customers modernize their mission-critical environments to a hybrid cloud operating model. As a strategic alliance partner with Dell and Microsoft, we are excited for the availability of the new Dell APEX Cloud Platform that will provide a consistent Azure operation across on-premises and Azure public cloud,” said Kevin Powell, vice president, Private Cloud Services, Kyndryl. “We are committed to delivering services that help customers utilize the latest industry technology innovations from our ecosystem partners to deliver leading edge hybrid cloud solutions.”

Through customer conversations, Dell is seeing existing customers familiar with the operational outcomes delivered by its automated software are excited to adopt the APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure to extend their Azure deployments on-premises.

“More than 5,000 organizations around the world look to LoopUp to help them bring global communications to the cloud to support flexible work, increase productivity, simplify complexity, and reduce cost,” said Chris Stanley, VP of Network Operations, LoopUp. “Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure’s deep software integration and lifecycle management will help us scale and deliver cloud telephony innovations faster and get the most value from our Azure hybrid deployment.”

Orange Business, another strategic partner for Dell and Microsoft, is also excited about the transformative power Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure could hold for their customers.

“As organizations increasingly turn to hybrid cloud strategies to help power digital experiences for their employees and customers, they need an efficient solution to easily manage it all from edge to core data centers to public cloud,” said Olivier Ménez, marketing director of Digital Services at Orange Business. “Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure includes deep integrations and automation that will help us easily build and manage our customers’ data and applications in hybrid environments.”

Delivering hybrid cloud innovation

Dell’s customers can now get their hands on Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure to see first-hand how it can help them unleash innovation by simplifying the Azure hybrid experience.

[1] ESG “Multi-cloud Application Deployment and Decision Making” May 2023