New Paths to Microsoft Hybrid Cloud with Dell EMC

Today, Microsoft is hosting its annual Windows Server Summit – a virtual event that we encourage you to join wherever you may be!  One of the major themes is “Innovations in Microsoft Hybrid Strategy: a deep dive into Microsoft’s hyper-converged technologies and how to add hybrid services from Azure.”

As one of Microsoft’s biggest partners, Dell EMC has collaborated with Microsoft to develop hybrid solutions for years. Our Azure-dedicated portfolio today includes support for both Azure Stack and Azure Stack HCI.  Azure Stack, an extension of Azure on-premises that can run on Dell EMC hyperconverged engineered systems, allows users to consistently build and run cloud applications anywhere across the Azure ecosystem, using the Azure Portal with Azure IaaS and PaaS services. With Azure Stack HCI, a BYO on-prem private cloud solution, users can run virtualized workloads in a familiar and flexible way – but with the efficiency of Dell EMC hyperconverged infrastructure – and connect to Azure public for hybrid scenarios such as cloud backup and cloud-based monitoring.

These two different offerings provide our joint customers with the ability to choose how they achieve a hybrid cloud environment in Azure that addresses their unique goals. Today we’re pleased to announce that Dell EMC has expanded our Azure Stack HCI portfolio with Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes supporting Windows Server 2019.

This new offering leverages the Windows Server Datacenter license to provide software defined storage, using Hyper-V virtualization down to the storage level.  These multi-node clusters provide cost effective volumes with high performance and low latency, using common management tools.  In addition to our previous 15 use case-driven configurations under WSSD, Dell EMC has added:

◈ Windows Server 2019 to all 15 configurations, offering more choice and expandability

◈ Our newly released storage dense PowerEdge R740xd2 as a new chassis platform, allowing for more demanding workloads

◈ QuickStart – a 4 node, 2 switch configuration that’s an easy to order and deploy, end-to-end high availability solution

◈ Dell EMC PowerSwitch 25GbE networking to increase throughput

◈ A new upgrade service, taking customers from existing Storage Spaces Direct Ready Node architectures to Windows Server 2019 with continued support entitlement

◈ Integrated and unified systems management with the OpenManage Integration 7.1.1 for Microsoft System Center Virtual Machine Manager that simplifies cluster creation and maintenance tasks

2019 has also been a big year for Dell EMC Cloud for Microsoft Azure Stack as we’ve released several additions to our platform:

◈ In March, we announced Dell EMC’s Tactical Azure Stack to bring Azure-based services from the cloud to the edge. This ruggedized version of Azure Stack provides an Azure-consistent cloud in a harsh, mobile, or forward-deployed environment.

◈ Today, we’re announcing Azure Stack is now available on our PowerEdge R840 platform. As an all-flash system, it is a four-socket server validated and tested for Microsoft’s hybrid cloud solution.  Designed and configured to support high performance and data-intensive workloads in Azure Stack environments, the R840 enables customers to leverage the maximum levels of computing resources and SSD capacity available in a 2U footprint.

◈ We’re also excited to announce we now offer a metered usage consumption model for Azure Stack infrastructure, with Flex on Demand from Dell Financial Services. This measured service capability aligns with the OPEX type consumption model that customers desire.

Dell EMC has a long history of co-engineering with Microsoft and these new enhancements further strengthen our joint portfolio across hyperconverged infrastructure and hybrid cloud solutions. By working together to deliver innovative services faster and more frequently, we can become a real partner of change for our customers in this Digital Transformation era.