Dell has unveiled more details surrounding its Apex services platform as part of the first day of its annual Dell Technologies World event.
First announced by the company in October of last year, the Apex Project aims to consolidate Dell’s 'as a service' cloud products as well as facilitate the process of acquiring, managing, maintaining, and servicing physical IT infrastructure by its customers.
Less than three months after launching a private cloud platform, Apex Cloud Services now also includes hybrid cloud and deployment, the latter of which was found to be up to 86% faster than a do-it-yourself hybrid cloud model, according to a recent Storage Review report, commissioned by Dell.
Apart from the addition to its Cloud Services, Dell has also unveiled Apex Data Storage Services, Apex Custom Solutions, as well as the Apex Console.
Apex Data Storage Services offers three performance tiers of block and file enterprise storage, with capacity starting as low as 50 terabytes. Available as one or three-year subscriptions, the new offering lets businesses “focus on data, not drives”, according to Dell CMO Allison Dew.
Apex Custom Solutions, described as “the industry's broadest infrastructure portfolio to customers as a service”, comprises Apex Flex On Demand and Apex Data Center Utility, which allow enterprises to customise their aaS experience based on their “specific technology needs, operational model, and consumption habits,” said Dew. While Flex On Demand provides Dell Technologies servers, storage, data protection, and hyperconverged infrastructure as a service, the Data Center Utility suite supplies custom metering and managed services applied across customers’ data centres.
“You can pick any infrastructure from Dell Technologies, and any level of management you would like. We then deliver it to you on an aaS basis. From storage or server racks, all the way to a complete data centre, APEX custom solutions can help you turn your IT infrastructure into a custom solution to meet your individual needs,” said Dew.
Lastly, Dell unveiled the Apex Console, which lets customers monitor and manage Apex services using actionable insights and predictive analytics. Described by Dew as a “real-time access to system health and performance of your services”, the console provides usage and spending reports which help businesses adjust their Dell services to their needs and budget.
The total economic impact of optimising and managing your hybrid multi-cloud
Cost savings and business benefits of accelerating the cloud journey
According to the CMO, staying on top of current tech trends and advancements can make managing digital transformation “a complex undertaking” for businesses.
“Enter Dell Technologies Apex, a breakthrough portfolio of aaS offerings that help simplify your digital transformation by increasing IT agility and control,” she said, adding that the new offerings are available starting 5 May.
Speaking at an introductory panel of Dell Technologies EMEA executives, SVP Claire Vyvyan highlighted the differences between Apex and the public cloud.
“It's very different because we can bring it at scale, we can bring it to the edge of your infrastructure, we can bring it to your data centre, (...) we can work with your preferred service providers rather than in big global data centres,” she told Dell Technologies World attendees. “And I think that's going to be really important in the future, when the proliferation of data is at the edge.”
