Dell Technologies has embarked on a long-term effort to unify its currently separate technology as a service and cloud computing programs under a single umbrella with a common ordering and management experience.
Named Project APEX, the initiative seeks to make building and running hybrid cloud environments combining on-premises, cloud-based, and edge compute resources simpler for Dell’s customers and partners.
Dell announced Project APEX on the opening day of its virtual Dell Technologies World conference for 2020, alongside its first turnkey storage-as-a-service solution, new instance-based hybrid cloud solutions, and expanded financing options through the Dell Flex On Demand program.
Core to Project APEX is a new management system, also introduced today, called the Dell Technologies Cloud Console that’s designed to enable centralized administration of Dell’s entire portfolio of cloud services and on-demand infrastructure offerings.
“With just a few clicks, customers will be able to browse a marketplace, choose which cloud products and services and solutions that they want, and then actually order and transact an as-a-service solution for their business,” says Sam Grocott, senior vice president of product marketing at Dell Technologies.
The Dell Technologies Cloud Console is in public preview now for select customers. Dell expects it to become generally available in the first half of 2021. At present, the system provides features for purchasing and expanding cloud resources. Over time, it will enable users to deploy, manage and optimize both cloud and on-premises products, and monitor their costs in real time. Eventually, it will provide visibility into third-party public cloud resources as well.
Dell Technologies Storage as-a-Service, which is also scheduled to arrive in the first half of next year, lets end users or their partners configure and procure consumption-based, on-premises file, block, and object storage deployments. Delivered via the Dell Technologies Cloud Console on a self-serve basis, the solution will include flexible pricing based on performance and capacity requirements as well as length of contract.
“We really think this is going to redefine and set the bar for on premises as a service experiences,” Grocott says.
Users will also employ the Cloud Console to order and manage Dell’s new instance-based cloud platform offerings, which are designed to make sizing, ordering, and deploying ready-made, subscription-priced infrastructure for specific workloads like virtual desktop infrastructure easier.
“They can easily self-service and guide themselves through making the right choice for whatever business outcome they’re looking for with a set of very intuitive, easy to choose, pre-configured hybrid cloud solutions that are going align to their enterprise workloads,” Grocott says.
Solutions including hardware, software, services, and deployment are available for $52 per instance a month and up. Buyers ordering new solutions will receive components within 14 days, Dell says, while organizations expanding an existing environment will receive purchased gear in as little as five days.
The new additions to Dell’s Flex On Demand pay-per-use program announced today are designed to simplify purchasing by offering pre-configured pricing on popular combinations of hardware, software, and services. Available through partners as well as directly to end users, the solutions are customizable. Resellers are eligible for front-end rebates worth up to 20% of contract value on storage and data protection sales and up to 10% on server transactions.
Dell introduced the Dell Technologies Cloud last April and Dell Technologies On Demand for on-premises infrastructure some seven months later. Both programs reflect the swift rise in recent years among technology buyers for as-a-service purchasing options. IDC, in fact, expects demand for pay-as-you-go procurement of on-premises equipment to triple by the end of 2021, and predicts that over 75% of edge infrastructure and over 50% of core data center infrastructure will be consumed as a service by 2024.
“While it’s a small percentage of adoption today on premise, it’s going to be a quick, big ramp as we go forward,” predicts Grocott, adding that customers want a consistent, centralized management experience for their onsite, cloud-based, and edge systems.
“They want to be able to manage their infrastructure under a single web interface that allows them to take control, understand, grow, shrink if need be, and then really understand how their on-premises infrastructure is evolving over time and take action if need be,” he says.
Dell is no stranger to IT as a service, Grocott emphasizes, and has been selling that way, chiefly to large enterprises, for a decade. In the second quarter of its current fiscal year, Dell recorded $1.3 billion worth of as-a-service sales to more than 2,000 customers, up 30% year over year.
“This is something we’re very familiar with,” he notes. “We just see an opportunity to make it a little bit easier and simpler to consume.” The company hopes to expand on-demand purchasing among SMBs as well.
“We see with Project APEX the ability to span from the biggest of big enterprises down to small business and everything of course in between,” Grocott says. None of Dell’s objectives for APEX will come together overnight though, he notes.
“This is something that’s going to happen over time, but it is directionally where we’re going with the portfolio.”
