Envisioning the Future of Computer-Assisted Surgery

Increasing safety and accuracy while lowering costs

Medivis is a medical technology company that designs augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) software for advanced surgical visualization. The company brings together the sharpest minds in a variety of fields, including neuroanatomy, radiology, mixed-reality technology, graphics engineering, user-experience design, database architecture, web application development, 3D modeling and more. This wealth of expertise has resulted in several groundbreaking technologies that improve surgical outcomes for patients while driving cost savings for medical institutions.

For example, SurgicalAR integrates the latest advancements in AR, AI and computer vision to overlay images directly onto a patient, enabling superior precision and real-time decision making. With SurgicalAR, physicians can focus more attention on their patients, improving patient safety while lowering costs to the healthcare system.

“The surgical world continues to primarily rely on two-dimensional imaging technology to understand and operate on incredibly complex patient pathology,” says Medivis CEO Dr. Osamah Choudhry. “It is viewed on monitors, and it is viewed like slices of data, such as CT or MRI data. But patients and their problems are three dimensional. And imaging is so dense now with data that it does not need to be visualized in just one format, cross-sectionally.”

Dr. Choudhry explains that imaging can now be done using advanced visualization, where images are reconstructed in 3D views. Medivis takes this approach to a higher level, reconstructing images holographically in its SurgicalAR platform.

Working with Dell Technologies

SurgicalAR is designed to work in conjunction with a picture archiving and communications system (PACS) — a large server and storage system that stores all the hospital’s medical imaging files — to enable a complete data processing and storage solution. This is a compute-intensive process, so Medivis uses Dell Precision workstations and NVIDIA GPU-accelerated Dell EMC PowerEdge servers to perform the parallel processing required to create the holographic rendering in real time.

Dr. Choudhry notes that partnerships with global companies have enabled Medivis to move its technology from the lab to the operating room in a relatively short timeframe. “Working with partners like Dell Technologies, we can really scale out, because Dell has so much experience within the healthcare industry,” he says. “Dell works with virtually every hospital in the country. So, we are able to work with them to deliver the solution in a way that fits best in hospital workflows.”

In subsequent generations of the technology, photorealistic 3D images will be rendered in real time, using advanced algorithms to modulate light and calculate what different shadows would look like within a scan. These algorithms will be powered by high performance computing (HPC) systems that perform hundreds of millions of calculations in real time.

“It gives me goosebumps to think about what is going to be possible in the not too distant future with this technology,” Choudhry says. “It is the best of all worlds because we are working on exciting technology, and it is visual technology that really captures the public’s imagination. But, at the same time, it can really be used to help patients.”

Source: delltechnologies.com

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Creating Safer, Smarter Environments with Intelligent Video Analysis

Artificial intelligence capabilities have opened a whole new world of possibilities for analyzing video feeds in real time. With AI, your organization can gain immediate benefits from monitoring video feeds to help improve customer service, operational efficiency, health and safety, and much more.

That’s all the upside, of course. On the flip side, there are the challenges that come with operating AI systems at the edge and at scale. Many struggle with the breadth of labeled input data and the data science to train deep learning models for video analysis. Teams also need experience and deep application knowledge to find the right hardware, software and media processing algorithms for a robust solution.

How do you get there? Look to Dell Technologies. Through a partnership with Deep Vision, an IntelliSite™ company, a new Ready Solution for AI has been engineering-tested and validated for intelligent video analytics at the edge.

This groundbreaking solution enables your organization to use AI with pre-trained models to create safer and smarter work, play and living environments — sooner, rather than later, and with better results. It offers an easy path forward for retail, healthcare, manufacturing and other organizations that want to use video technologies to protect health and safety — and improve customer experiences.

This solution is based on Dell EMC PowerEdge servers and the Deep Vision AI computer vision software. It’s designed to perform video transcoding and deep learning inference within an edge‑deployable solution. Solutions can be built on a wide range of server options to help you find your ideal balance of compute, memory and GPU performance, all at the right cost.

Getting started

With the combined products and solutions expertise of Dell Technologies and Deep Vision, you now have the foundation to deploy AI for video analysis at the edge more easily and with less risk than you would face if you built a solution from scratch.

To further speed deployment and reduce risk, Dell Technologies experts are available to help you design a solution tailored to your specific needs. You also have the assurance of knowing that Dell Technologies Services — ranging from consulting and education to deployment and support — are available when and where you need them.

Source: delltechnologies.com

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Why I’m Optimistic About 2021

We’ve emerged from 2020 – a year that presented significant challenges while earning us a few new stripes. We learned what it means to be resilient and agile. We adapted to different ways of working and learning. We rallied together even when apart – offering support and encouragement. And quite often, technology was at the center of it all. Keeping us connected, informed and in business.

I’m incredibly optimistic about 2021.

Longstanding technology trends accelerated in response to the pandemic and the economic downturn – and from here, it’s only going to move faster.  We live in a world that is hybrid and highly distributed. We’re on the cusp of widespread connectivity driving real-time, automated and intelligent outcomes at the edge enabled by 5G.

That’s a strong foundation for an economic rebound and growth across the technology sector. Estimates from both IDC and Gartner see IT spending grow mid-single digits in 2021. That includes a rebound in infrastructure growth across servers and storage, and growth in hybrid cloud. Our own 2020 Digital Transformation Maturity Index tells a similar story, with 80% of organizations globally fast-tracking digital transformation programs. What’s clear is organizations of all sizes and segments are investing in the next phase of their transformation.

In that next phase, three IT priorities stand out and will lead growth in the IT sector in 2021.

The stay at home economy is here to stay

The world has embraced the flexibility to work and learn from anywhere – and the PC is rising to the challenge. IDC reported that more than 300 million PCs shipped in 2020. Home use is shifting from one PC per household to one PC per person in that household. And when the workforce does re-enter traditional workspaces, they’ll have outdated PCs needing a refresh to keep up with the demands of a hybrid workforce. Devices that feature intelligent software to personalize and fully-optimize the user experience for new collaboration apps, video conferencing and data-intensive workloads outside of the traditional office. And of course, they’ve got to be secure.

Those PCs bring demands of their own. They contribute to the increased infrastructure spend we’re expecting to support the management and provisioning of apps, services and security in a hybrid world.

We’re living on the Edge

Widespread connectivity is enabling more and more automated, intelligent devices, cars and machines at the edge – accelerating even faster with the rollout of 5G.

For perspective, 10% of data is generated outside of a data center today. But by 2025, 75% of enterprise data will be processed outside a traditional centralized data center or cloud for more real-time processing and analytics. By 2024, we’ll see an 800% increase in applications at the Edge. As a result, there will be an estimated $700 billion in cumulative CAPEX spent on edge IT infrastructure and data centers. The edge is where the data and the money are – driving new investments in hybrid-cloud solutions delivered as-a-Service.

You can’t talk about the edge without talking about the telecom industry. The proliferation of 5G requires open, industry-standard software-defined network architectures, requiring telecom network providers to “cloudify” their networks. The digital transformation we’ve seen underway in the enterprise is now alive in telecom – creating a $150 billion market for IT. Sure, it’s early days – but they’re important. The investments made in 2021 will lay the groundwork (quite literally) for the connected digital cities and landscape of the future.

Simple to consume, easier to plan – everything as-a-Service

By 2024, over 75% of infrastructure at edge locations and 50% of data center infrastructure will be consumed as-a-Service. And for good reason – IT should be easier to deploy, consume and manage. In 2020, that message was loud and clear when IT priorities and budgets underwent an overnight overhaul. Cloud and as-a-Service experiences have set new expectations for how simple IT can and should be. Organizations need greater control and more choice.  It’s how they free up IT budget for the stay-at-home economy and edge opportunity. And it is why Dell Technologies is committed to delivering our portfolio as-a-Service with Project APEX.

This is my shortlist. There’s a lot to do to be ready for what’s next in the Data Era. And that’s good news for the tech industry. When I think about the rebound ahead and the innovative breakthroughs technology will make possible – including the development and distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine – there is a lot to be optimistic about. My tech optimism is fully grounded in the reality of what promises to be a better year – a better decade – ahead.

Source: delltechnologies.com

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Data Scientist Career Opportunities: Unlocking Top Data Scientist Jobs

Data Scientists are high in demand. It is considered the sexiest job in the IT industry. Companies depend on Data Scientists to get the most out of the data collected by them. If you are also planning to enter into this career, these Data Science Certifications will help you prove your worth.

The various Data Science Certifications make you industry-ready data professionals. They will encourage you to develop the skills which are required in the industry for solving real-time problems. The recruiters use these certificates to validate your skills and knowledge. Having some of these certificates will aid you a lot in your journey of becoming a Data Scientist. You can go for this program after the completion of the Associate-level program. This program includes advanced topics such as Natural language processing, Hadoop, Pig, data visualization methods, etc.

Data scientists come from various educational backgrounds, but most of them will have technical schooling of some kind. Data science degrees include a broad range of computer-related majors, but they could also include areas of math and statistics. Training in a business or human behavior is also standard, which bolsters more definitive conclusions in their work.

There is a nearly endless amount of information, and there is an almost infinite amount of uses for data scientists. If you are interested in this captivating work, then let’s take a closer look at the career as a whole. Explore what they do, who they serve, and what skills they require to get the job done.

Data Scientist Role and Responsibilities

Data scientists work closely with business stakeholders to get their goals and learn how data can achieve them. The design data modeling processes create algorithms and predictive models to extract the business needs, analyze the data and share insights with peers. While every project is different, the method for gathering and analyzing data generally follows the below path:

• Ask the right questions to start the discovery process.
• Acquire data.
• Process and clean the data.
• Integrate and store data.
• Primary data investigation and exploratory data analysis.
• Pick one or more potential models and algorithms.
• Apply data science techniques, such as machine learning, statistical modeling, and artificial intelligence.
• Measure and improve results.
• Now final result to stakeholders.
• Make adjustments based on feedback.
• Repeat the process to determine a new problem.

Common Data Scientist Job Titles

The most common careers in data science cover the following roles:

• Data Scientists: Design data modeling methods to create algorithms and predictive models and make custom analysis
• Data Analysts: Manipulate large data sets and apply them to identify trends and reach meaningful conclusions to inform strategic business decisions
• Data Engineers: Clean, aggregate, and combine data from various sources and transfer it to data warehouses.
• Business Intelligence Specialists: Recognize trends in data sets.
• Data Architects: Design, create, and maintain an organization’s data architecture.

Although the purposes of data scientists and data analysts are often conflated, their responsibilities are quite different. Data scientists develop modeling data processes while data analysts examine data sets to identify courses and describe conclusions. Because of this distinction and the more technical nature of data science, a data scientist's role is often considered more senior than a data analyst; however, both positions may be attainable with similar educational backgrounds.

Most companies look for data science professionals with advanced degrees, such as a Master of Science in Data Science. Candidates for data science positions usually start with a foundation in computer science or math and make on this with a master’s degree in data science, data analytics, or a related field.

Alternatively, some students may find that a degree in data analytics is a better fit for their career goals. Studying data analytics teaches students how to use statistics, analytics systems technology, and business intelligence to achieve specific goals. Students discover how to get a logical, data-driven path to solving a complex problem with this foundational knowledge. They also learn how to overcome data barriers, such as dealing with uncertain data sets and reconciling data from various sources.

The Bottom Line

Data Scientist is a fast-growing field, and there are many voices out there sharing what you require to learn, in what order. The variety of information can be confusing, powerful, and depressing.

Know that you can rely on this breakdown as the ultimate guide to what you do need to learn to land that first Data Scientist job, along with prescriptions for where to begin, depending on your particular background. The investment in a career as a Data Scientist is enormous, no matter if you are starting or expanding on existing abilities. But the payoff, we promise, is even more significant.

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Clusters in a Cloud

As the “race to embrace” Kubernetes unfolds, major “hyperscalers” such as Microsoft Azure, Google Cloud and Amazon AWS have provided their users’ services to deploy and manage them. They are portals for easier management, pre-built templates, cloud portability, and more agile processes within a cloud structure. Respectively, they are referred to as Azure Kubernetes Services, Google Kubernetes Engine, and Elastic Kubernetes Service. These services provide low-cost playgrounds for developers to generate secure platforms in the cloud and change customer end user experience with fewer overhead costs and without interruption. In some ways, the services mimic the agile and seamless foundation that Kubernetes provides a developer where the customer and end user receive faster, bug-free outputs.

During everyday activities that consumers enjoy including ordering coffee to go, hailing an Uber, using Instacart for grocery shopping or monitoring a delivery; somewhere there are unseen applications running these tasks. With agility and mobile application development “on the fly”, data protection and data management tools enable faster, more trustworthy ways to span updates to the edge without disruption. While there are many use case examples of cloud development, Dell Technologies’ PowerProtect Data Manager provides the momentum to finish the race.

Dell Technologies Data Manager supports all three services mentioned; AKS, GKE and EKS. The infrastructure is made up of Data Manager on-premises or in the public cloud and PowerProtect DD Virtual Edition as storage or their storage disks as target(s). By having DD Virtual Edition as a target it creates an extension of flexibility for the administrators to protect clusters from an on-premises storage disk, hosted on the service instance in the public cloud.  In addition to the rich service features that are provided by the end platforms, all the enterprise-features are additionally accessible via Data Manager. These extra features include policy creation, application consistency, cluster restores between clusters, and self-service. With multi-cloud models of development, developers can simply deploy applications in a cloud that provides the best services for the application; AWS RDS (Relational Database Service) and Google ML libraries are such examples. Orchestration comes in through management on-premises and connecting Kubernetes clusters to seamlessly migrate the data between clusters powered by DD Virtual Edition at the cloud target; thereby achieving a true multi-cloud experience wherein YOU the consumer meet SLAs in record setting timeframes!

Source: delltechnologies.com

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Reduce Product Development Costs and Increase Innovation

I know that the headline sounds contradictory. Maybe you’re scratching your head and asking yourself how is that even possible but read on! All will be revealed.

For decades, product development organizations have traditionally used heterogeneous, component-level hardware and software for their designs, depending largely on in-house mechanical and electrical engineering to differentiate their products. However, as the well-known song goes, the times they are a changing. If your organization is involved in product development, you’ve already seen first-hand how the Edge is transforming business model and product functionality goals.

A new product system lifecycle

Remote monitoring, AI and virtualization are transforming the product system lifecycle from design through production and service. Huge volumes of data, the advanced connectivity of 5G plus the adoption of new technologies are all driving digital disruption. Business value is moving from products to the data generated by products, and the business insights they deliver. As a result, workload demands are becoming ever more complex with increasing demand for standards-based, integrated computing platforms.

New customer demands

This all means that new demands are being placed on product developers and solution builders. In addition to delivering on the technical side, you now have to think about supporting your customers to generate new revenue streams, build as-a-service models, create account stickiness, and ensure end user satisfaction. However, ever-changing specifications, schedule and cost overruns continue to present challenges.

Key trends in product development

What impact does all this have on technical decision-making? As part of a global research study in partnership with Intel and Dell Technologies OEM Solutions, VDC Research surveyed over 700 product decision-makers and engineers to gain insights into best practices and key business and technical trends.

Respondents were drawn from a diverse range of industries including automotive, aerospace and defense, healthcare, industrial automation, and transportation. Hot off the press, the report makes for interesting reading. I’ve highlighted some key findings below but we’re looking forward to sharing more with you at our upcoming webinar on February 18th.

Partnership rocks

At a top level, the research reinforces the undisputed power of partnership. By strategically outsourcing more of the integrated compute and related development, test, and management with Tier one partners, VDC Research found that you can bring differentiated solutions to market faster and at lower cost. In particular, there are huge benefits and cost savings associated with leveraging commercial hardware systems instead of relying on traditional in-house, component-based engineering.

Dramatically cut development cost and reduce time to market

The results speak for themselves and will transform how product development is managed. For example, did you know that companies using commercial hardware platforms cut their total development cost by 70%, compared to those sourcing only component-level technology?

In fact, commercial hardware platform users are 2X as likely to complete their projects ahead of schedule than those that rely on component-level technology from third parties. As you can imagine, this speed translates into earlier revenue returns and expanded product profitability. One organization reported that the use of a Tier 1 commercial solution helped improve profitability by over 50%.

More time for innovation

Time is money. The study shows that organizations sourcing complete commercial hardware platforms are able to devote nearly 2X more of their time in developing differentiating IP, such as that focused on analytics and cloud connectivity, instead of spending it on lower-value tasks. In fact, bringing in additional expertise and leveraging third-party services increases the likelihood of beating schedules by a staggering 4X!

Improve scale & service

And that’s not even to focus on the additional benefits associated with scaling up and after-sales services. A Tier 1 technology provider can help you manage supply chains, provide global serviceability, and offer broader ecosystems with supporting technology and expert partners.

A business imperative

You cannot afford to ignore these results. It’s a no-brainer! You have to focus your time where it matters most. It’s time to urgently re-valuate your design choices, review your network. It’s time to refocus your efforts on cutting costs, while simultaneously driving innovation and ROI. You have to select the right technology and the right partner to help you optimize your solutions and keep pace with both market dynamics and the evolving requirements of end users.

Dell Technologies OEM Solutions and its expert partner network are ready to collaborate with you to design solutions to meet current challenges, while focusing on tomorrow’s opportunities. We do this, using either industry-standard or customized hardware, all built around open standards to allow you and your customers to focus on your IP and pivot fast to address new opportunities. 

Source: delltechnologies.com

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400GbE Finally Hits the Mainstream

The continued growth of hyperscale networks and the increasing number of distributed and mobile workloads being supported by modern networks is driving the need for increased network speed for data centers and cloud services. While 100GbE ports have shipped for some time, Dell’Oro Group predicts 400GbE and higher speeds will account for more than 28% of port shipments by 2024.

A number of additional factors are driving the rapid shift to 400GbE. Server densities and processor capabilities continue to increase, and organizations are adopting more hyperconverged systems. Data centers are adopting bandwidth hungry applications like HPC and virtualization, moving to cloud-based applications, and looking for ways to pack more capacity into the same space. In addition to providing greater bandwidth, 400GbE requires one-fourth the number of connections to the spine as 100GbE, reducing port density, simplifying cabling and allowing more room for expansion.

Most organizations will still see significant value in 100GbE technology and will not rip and replace their 100GbE network backbones, instead looking to solutions that enable a smoother migration to 400GbE where port speeds can be increased via software.

As modern data center networks increase in complexity, there is a growing demand for automation driving digital transformation within the network infrastructure. When the Dell EMC PowerSwitch Z9432F-ON is paired with SmartFabric OS10, the built-in SmartFabric Services features enable autonomous fabric deployment, expansion, and life-cycle management for software-defined infrastructures and can easily manage the entire infrastructure from a single pane of glass for a more agile, reliable, and simplified network. Similarly, with Dell EMC SmartFabric Director software, organizations can automate the configuration of data center networks using an intent-based approach, providing enhanced visibility of both the virtual overlay network (VMware NSX-T) and the physical underlay of Dell EMC PowerSwitches.

The new Dell EMC PowerSwitch Z9432F-ON also supports multi-rate high-speed connections so that organizations can provision the appropriate port speeds as business needs require and ensure a smoother migration path. This flexibility can greatly help organizations to minimize the need for hardware upgrades as the network scales and traffic patterns change since the Z9432F-ON 400GbE ports can be configured to handle connection speeds of 10/25/100/400 GbE within one rack unit (RU).

ESG’s initial review of the Dell EMC PowerSwitch Z9432F-ON reveals that organizations can facilitate high performance and low latency connectivity throughout their data center fabrics and into hybrid clouds.

In this video, Bob Laliberte, senior analyst, discusses modern networks requirement for open, flexible solutions that enable rapid expansion, delivery high performance and maintain operational efficiency.

Source: delltechnologies.com

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Dell EMC PowerStore Metro Node Enables Automated Business Continuity

In the data era, information needs to be always available. This is reflected worldwide by regulations requiring synchronous data mirroring to prevent outages and critical data loss. Most institutions now require a business continuity plan in addition to a disaster recovery plan for IT that provides “continuous availability” to keep business application data intact and current after a site or data center outage. In addition, few companies today can sustain 24-hour data center operations, so many IT business continuity plans now require automatically initiated site failover in case of an outage to further reduce the possibility of critical data loss.

Introducing Dell EMC PowerStore metro node

With that in mind, Dell Technologies is introducing Dell EMC metro node, purpose built to address these business continuity challenges. Unlike some industry active-passive solutions, metro node provides true active-active metro configurations by allowing simultaneous writes at both sites and supports Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and Recover Time Objective (RTO) equal to zero. Zero RPO means there’s an expectation for zero data loss. Zero RTO means the time to recover is zero time or immediately. In addition, PowerStore metro node is designed to automatically initiate an instant site failover through its unique virtual machine (VM) witness technology.

Why is metro replication important to business continuity?

Only metro synchronous replication, which includes fully mirrored storage systems with an active-active configuration, can provide RPO and RTO equal to zero. You can implement PowerStore metro node with the full confidence that your data will always be available and accessible within metro Round Trip Time (RTT) boundaries of less than 10 milliseconds.

“The PowerStore metro node was fully capable of synchronizing our workloads across two separate PowerStore arrays while delivering superior performance,” said Bryan Peroutka, Technical Solutions Architect at World Wide Technology. “It features a very quick, responsive and easy to navigate interface and it’s very space efficient, only adding an additional 2U to our PowerStore footprint. It’s an ideal addition to any company’s business continuity strategy.”

Key benefits of metro node

Volume/LUN level granularity

Allows the replication of specific LUNs for application level granularity, significantly reducing TCO and improving flexibility by giving you the choice of which workloads to replicate.

Non-disruptive addition of consistency groups

Supports consistency group add/delete operations without disruption. This provides operational flexibility with zero downtime and means you can add or remove volumes to consistency groups without breaking the replication.

Multi-Platform Support

Enables replication between different Dell EMC array types.

Avoid degradation to array performance

Metro node replication has zero performance impact on the storage array.

No additional host software

It’s self-contained and does not require any software to be deployed on the hosts or a host reboot.

Provides multiple capabilities and configurations

In addition to synchronous metro replication, PowerStore metro node can also support local configurations for continuous application availability, data mobility to non-disruptively relocate workloads and enables storage technology refresh without application downtime.

Compact form factor with high performance

The PowerStore metro node cluster is comprised of two 1U units which support 32Gb/s Fibre Channel.

Source: delltechnologies.com

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Transforming Storing – and Processing – of Video Data

Innovation in technology changes more than just the tools organizations use. It also fundamentally changes how organizations operate. This is quite evident for companies working with video. The exponential rise in data exacerbates throughput, efficiency, scalability, and reliability issues. To stay profitable, they must update their equipment as well as transform their internal work processes.

Consider the difficulties faced by EarthCam, a provider of webcam technology and managed services consisting of streaming video, time-lapse movies, and 360° reality capture. Every month, the company brings millions of high-resolution images into their network. To date, their database contains over a billion files ranging from one to 24 MB in size. The vast number of files created complexity in their storage system. One way to manage different types of data is to put them in different silos. While this makes it easier to manage each type of data individually, it complicates overall storage management because each silo needs to be managed differently in terms of factors such as RAIDs, RAID groups, and protocols. Scaling was also challenging because each addition to the network increased the complexity of managing the overall storage array.

Read More: DES-2T13: Dell EMC Cloud Infrastructure Specialist Exam for Cloud Architects

Working with stored data was also quite inefficient. For many of its clients, EarthCam creates time-lapse movies, such as compressing images of a three-month construction project into a one-minute video. Each image in the time-lapse movie needs to be hand-selected from the tremendous number of images available and then enhanced to provide a consistent look and feel. Traditionally, the entire image set is downloaded to the editor’s workstation. Downloading this much data puts a strain on available bandwidth and causes delays across all network workloads.

EarthCam also wanted to reduce its operating costs without compromising efficiency, quality, or reliability. And, with rising success came the need to easily scale storage while simplifying overall management of the network.

Increased Efficiency, Productivity, and Operational Savings

Dell EMC PowerScale storage, the next-generation scale-out storage of the Emmy-winning Isilon lineage, is designed for applications with data requirements ranging from terabytes up to 10 petabytes – the right platform for EarthCam. Typical storage utilization tops out at 66%. The advanced capabilities of PowerScale – including globally coherent cache, load-balancing, and automated tiering – increase performance efficiency for every application and deliver 80%+ utilization.

EarthCam’s new system did more than just storing data. By adding a cluster of fast-performing PowerScale nodes, EarthCam was able to shift their video-editing platform to become local with image data. Now, instead of downloading an entire timeline of images, editors work with just the data they need to complete their job.

For example, for a time-lapse movie, editors can select the images to use from thumbnails rather than hi-res originals. These thumbnails are created on processing resources local to the stored images, reducing how much data needs to be downloaded by orders of magnitude. This in turn leads to direct operational savings, both in terms of bandwidth and the time it takes to complete a task. For EarthCam, working locally reduced processing time for the video production team by 20%.

The savings did not stop there. PowerScale doubled EarthCam’s storage capacity while actually reducing the rack space needed. Overall, they were able to achieve about 26X greater density and 100X faster sustained throughput compared to their previous storage implementation.

Seamless Scalability and Ease of Use

Another important requirement for EarthCam was simplified network management. Typical storage scaling is achieved by adding “bricks” of storage. The problem with this approach is that LUNs need to be set up and each node needs to be managed. With PowerScale, IT plugs in a new node and, without needing to reconfigure the data pool, data is immediately migrated over to the new node to balance the load across the entire array and maximize performance. Adding a node in this way is relatively seamless and can be completed with no downtime.

EarthCam was able to simplify day-to-day management by consolidating petabytes of different types of data in one location, eliminating the need for data silos and managing different storage systems. Single volume / single file system / single namespace consolidation both on-premises and in the cloud greatly simplifies workflows. Eliminating silos also enables greater collaboration between groups who can now share collaborative tools and data assets.

PowerScale InsightIQ and other tools provide greater visibility into storage processes and network loads. With such visibility, IT doesn’t have to work down into the stack to manage the network. For example, EarthCam can manage their network, such as changing performance on directories based on usage, without having to worry about specific LUNs, and such changes take just minutes to apply. In short, a single person can manage petabytes of different types of data. This frees up IT personnel from managing data storage, enabling them to focus on optimizing applications and how data can be used more efficiently.

Upgrading to next-generation PowerScale technologies has been seamless as well. After plugging in new PowerScale nodes, the OS can be configured to begin evacuating data from nodes to be retired into the new nodes. The entire migration can take place with zero downtime.

Ease of use has translated directly to the bottom line for EarthCam: since implementing PowerScale, they have had an 82% reduction in systems administration resources and been able to maintain five nines (99.999%) uptime.

Transforming a business doesn’t have to be hard. The fact is, simplifying transformation is the core job of technology companies. At Dell Technologies, we understand that increasing the efficiency of business operations is just the first step. Part of bringing innovation to market is helping facilitate the business transformations that are essential to the process of growth.

Source: delltechnologies.com

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Our Partner Promise: Together, We Stop at Nothing

Over the last year, the pace of digital transformation has quickened beyond what any of us could’ve predicted, with no sign of slowing.

Together with our partners, we’ve empowered customers to meet this rapid pace of change, from the edge to the data center, through distributed work and modern consumption, with cybersecurity, 5G infrastructure, digital experiences and data management. We’ve connected remote workforces, transformed the way teachers teach and students learn, and enabled heroic workers on the front lines.

At Dell Technologies, our mission is to drive human progress. We believe that technology should be a great equalizer, not an opportunity for division. And so as I assumed the role of Global Channel Chief in September 2020, my mission was to accelerate this momentum and continue to empower our partners to drive positive impact in our shared communities.

With that in mind, I am excited to announce our new Partner Program promise, which serves as the north star for how we engage with our partners: Together, We Stop at Nothing.

Put simply, our partners should know that when they work with Dell Technologies, they have our unwavering commitment to help them succeed. Every investment we’ve made this new Program year is designed to help our partners deliver customer outcomes faster and fuel robust growth.

And while we’ve made enhancements to our 2021 Partner Program, I want to emphasize that in a time of continued uncertainty for many businesses, our Program structure and our partners’ engagement with us will remain consistent. We are staying the course to support our partners as we always have, while investing in key focus areas to drive our joint success.

So, what’s new this Program year? We’ve focused on three key areas based on partner feedback:

◉ Increased opportunity for new customer and line of business acquisition. We’ve simplified our New Business Incentive, and together with the new Power up program, there’s even more opportunity for partners to sell across the Dell Technologies portfolio and win new buyers.

◉ Accelerated growth and profit potential with access to our holistic portfolio, including VMware. We’re providing Solution Provider partners     the choice to transact VMware licensing directly through the Dell Technologies Partner Program with an aligned base rebate.

◉ A more streamlined and personalized end-to-end experience. This includes our new Incentives Center which gives partners a comprehensive view of all their program incentives in one place, as well as greater pricing transparency through the Solutions Configurator.

For more detail on specific investments and enhancements, please view our 2021 Partner Program Kickoff videos on our Partner Portal.

Thank you to all of our partners for being on this amazing journey with us. Technology may be the enabler, but our partners are the true transformers. As we enter into 2021, we’re prepared for whatever tomorrow brings, and we’re ready to seize tremendous growth opportunities with our incredible partner community. Because when we work together, we can achieve anything.

Together, We Stop at Nothing.

Source: delltechnologies.com

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Tech Data Paves Path to Success for Reseller Partners

Tech Data is one of the world’s largest IT distributors and solution aggregators. Leading technology companies engage us for supply chain, logistics, warehousing and technical services. We also help resellers design and deliver competitive IT solutions that meet the unique requirements of their customers by providing servers, workstations, hyper-converged infrastructure, and other offerings from our partners such as Dell Technologies.

Competition in the IT reseller business is fierce. Resellers bid against each other for jobs — often against the partner vendors whose hardware, software and services they use to create solutions. To help resellers thrive amid these dynamic challenges, we educate them about emerging technologies and help them identify and maximize sales opportunities. Our employees have found that it’s often easier to meet these requirements by partnering with Dell Technologies due to the comprehensive portfolio which simplifies solution designs. Furthermore, the complimentary marketing and education services available from the partner portal minimize costs, save time and increase agility — for our teams and for our partner customers.

Generating demand with fewer resources

For example, many resellers have an abundance of technical expertise but need help with marketing. Instead of having our teams invest significant time in guidance, we direct partners who leverage Dell Technologies offerings to the partner demand generation center. Accessible from the Dell Technologies partner portal, the partner demand generation center provides tools for simplifying the management of campaign calendars, product rebates and client relationships. Up-to-date market insights and solution trends also help teams quickly establish sales priorities as well as prospective customers to maximize efficiency.

Being able to give our reseller customers access to the partner demand generation center improves our competitiveness and value, with almost no effort by our teams. And our partner customers gain expert marketing insights and management tools without having to add people or software.

Saving time with on-demand information

The other tool our engineers, specialty teams and sales representatives use all the time on the Dell Technologies partner portal is the knowledge center. It’s where they go whenever they need to learn, put together training and stand up a demo involving Dell Technologies products. That’s because they can quickly get answers to questions like, “What’s the Dell portfolio of solutions that enable AI, security, cloud and digital transformation?” And unlike results from a web search, they know they can trust all of the information. 

Minimizing costs with ready-to-go content

Successful marketing campaigns require a lot of communication and strategy. To save time and cost, our resellers and our internal teams take advantage of ready-to-go resources available through the digital marketing tool on the partner portal. It provides marketing campaigns, playbooks, email messages and web pages that individuals can publish as is or customize as they wish. By taking advantage of the digital marketing tool and not having to start all our efforts from scratch, we’ve improved our marketing efficiency by 25%.

Boosting agility drives growth

Agility has always been important for success. However, it became critical when COVID-19 hit. The playbooks and other resources on the Dell Technologies partner portal helped us rapidly shift our marketing strategies and generate new business by hosting effective virtual events. We’re also developing offerings to help our partners drive growth. For example, in this quarter, we’re hosting a comprehensive social-selling boot camp to help them build up core competencies within their sales organizations by leveraging all the content that Dell provides.

Source: delltechnologies.com

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Dell EMC VxRail Goes Beyond Exceptional

The Business Value of Dell EMC VxRail and VMware Cloud Foundation on Dell EMC VxRail, that shows how VxRail makes the exceptional expected.

Since the launch of VxRail almost five years ago, Dell Technologies has relentlessly innovated the platform, rapidly releasing new functionality and platform enhancements, improving serviceability, and supporting new use cases to deliver the most value to you – whether in the core, at the edge, or in the cloud. Today, we’re introducing new VxRail updates that continue our commitment to bring the platform beyond exceptional.

Growing possibilities with new VxRail hardware configurations

One of the more astounding findings from the IDC study is that customers are able to increase the number of new application features by up to 73%. Thousands of possible VxRail platform configurations and native VMware integration are key to enabling customers to continuously innovate at this level. In other words, VxRail can be configured for any workload while also providing a simplified and reliable operating environment, enabling organizations to spend less time managing infrastructure and more time focused on business initiatives.

In June of last year, we added to our configuration possibilities with AMD EPYC processors on VxRail E Series – our low profile, cost-effective platform ideal for space-constrained locations. In our efforts to go beyond exceptional, we asked ourselves, why stop at the E Series? That’s why we are announcing an all new 2U platform, VxRail P675F and P675N, based on 2nd Gen AMD EPYC processors offering additional choice and flexibility when selecting compute. VxRail P675F and P675N are part of the VxRail P Series, our most performance-intensive platform for business-critical workloads like SQL or Oracle database applications. Compared to the 1U E Series with AMD processors, the AMD 2U P Series has multiple, larger PSU options. This allows for a broader range of CPU offerings, larger memory configurations, and additional PCIe cards (NICs or FC HBAs).

The P675F and P675N configurations also include additional graphic options with the NVIDIA Tesla T4 and NVIDIA Tesla V100S GPU. These GPUs provide enhanced performance for graphics intensive workloads like AI, data analytics, deep learning, and high-performance computing.

Finally, we have further expanded use case possibilities with the introduction of the Intel x710 NIC Enhanced Network Stack (ENS) driver support. ENS is a networking stack mode that provides improved network operations by dynamically prioritizing network traffic to support demanding workloads that require higher levels of performance. Imagine a popular streaming service is set to debut the latest big blockbuster movie. Since opening day will likely strain networking resources, service providers will want to dynamically prioritize their network infrastructure for these eager viewers waiting to catch the first glimpse of the movie.

Adding exceptional value with new VxRail HCI System Software

The IDC study talks about how our customers have experienced 68% more efficient IT infrastructure teams, in part due to the extensive automation built into VxRail HCI System Software. VxRail HCI System Software delivers extensive automation, orchestration and lifecycle management to streamline operations.

VxRail continues to build on providing a seamless customer lifecycle management experience with the latest release of VxRail 7.0.130. With this release, we expand the LCM ecosystem to support the ENS drivers for the Intel x710 NIC. We also introduce a new health check feature that allows users to run the latest set of health checks so that you can to take advantage of improved and enhanced health checks as soon as they are available. You can run this outside of the upgrade window, so you’re ready when it’s time to upgrade. Together, these enhancements expand the automation of the LCM and simplify the planning and scheduling of upgrades.

This release also includes a support procedure to expand a 2-node ROBO to a 3-or-more-node cluster. As more and more business happens at the edge, organizations need IT solutions with greater performance and more storage in order to meet the requirements of these data intensive applications. The ability to grow your ROBO VxRail clusters allows you to rapidly innovate to respond to changing IT initiatives and expand workload possibilities.

Source: delltechnologies.com

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How SK Telecom is Monetizing the 5G Opportunity

The telecommunications industry has been talking about 5G for so long that it’s easy to forget 5G deployments are still in their infancy. The architectures have been painstakingly mapped out, the use cases thoroughly discussed, and the projections for revenue impact clearly outlined. The only question that remains unanswered for wireless operators is perhaps the most crucial question of all: Where are the best 5G revenue opportunities for our business right now?

It’s a question that wireless operators would have posed to industry analysts or market research firms in the past. Increasingly, however, they’re asking their 5G vendors to not only help them integrate their 5G technology but also help them innovate with it by identifying profitable 5G use cases, co-designing solutions, and co-developing a go-to-market strategy. It’s a question that, frankly, many 5G equipment vendors would just as soon avoid. That’s because most of those vendors are one step removed from enterprise customers and have little experience developing, deploying, and marketing enterprise solutions. And that’s part of what sets Dell Technologies apart from most 5G vendors because we build business solutions every day.

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A great example of this new kind of vendor-operator partnership is the work we’ve been doing with SK Telecom – check our previous blog – Building One of the First MEC Solutions. SK Telecom is one of the world’s biggest wireless operators and is at the forefront of developing innovative MEC solutions that will drive new edge applications. They are leveraging Dell Technologies industry defined Dell EMC PowerEdge XE2420 server to power their recently announced 5G MEC Platform. Now, SK Telecom, along with Dell Technologies and VMware, have announced their fully integrated MEC solution called “OneBox MEC”. The OneBox MEC combines the SK Telecom 5G MEC Platform, Dell Technologies PowerEdge and PowerSwitch technologies, and VMware’s vSphere and Tanzu Kubernetes into one fully integrated MEC approach. This fully integrated solution is designed for enterprises that require a fast, secure MEC platform to support their application needs (in other words, nearly every enterprise).

What makes this solution so unique isn’t just the technology behind it, although there is that. It’s the people behind it. Members from SK Telecom, Dell, VMware, and Intel all came together to build a business case for the solution before they built the solution. And they didn’t just build it and wish SK Telecom luck. They stuck around to formulate an effective go-to-market strategy and continue to help SK Telecom market the solution today to ensure it generates real revenue. It’s that kind of “long-haul,” ROI-driven relationship that wireless operators are now looking for from their 5G vendor-partners.

Edge computing is still something of a brave new world for wireless because it extends beyond the traditional wireless network into the enterprise’s network. We know from research that enterprises want this kind of managed, private 5G network service. In a new study from STL Partners (download study) co-commissioned by Dell, 40% of enterprises have issues with their current networking solution’s latency. In some industries, such as healthcare, dissatisfaction was even higher. Sixty-one percent of healthcare companies cited network performance issues with their in-hospital patient monitoring systems, and 70% of engineering and construction firms felt their current networks weren’t secure enough.

But we also know that operators have historically delineated network services at the customer’s demarcation point. With edge computing, that demarcation point is blurred, and that can feel, well, risky for some operators. For companies like Dell and Intel, however, supporting businesses is our bread and butter. And so, for operators, partnering with a vendor like Dell that has deep enterprise solutions expertise becomes a “stronger together” story.

This new, 5G-inspired spirit of partnership isn’t just between operators and vendors. For example, SK Telecom has joined forces with other regional operators to create the Bridge Alliance: a consortium of operators in the Asia/Pacific and Middle East/Africa regions that is committed to sharing knowledge and accelerating 5G solutions for their customers. One of the Alliance’s goals is to expand the use of edge computing in those regions, a subject that SK Telecom expects to learn (and share) a lot about in the coming months.

If there’s one takeaway from all this, it’s that wireless operators shouldn’t expect to enter the 5G market alone, with little or no guidance. They need their technology partners to step up and help them identify the best 5G revenue opportunities, build and market those solutions, and have a vested interest in that solution’s success. In addition, they need broad community support to share best practices and accelerate 5G adoption around the world.

We’ve talked about the profitability of 5G long enough. Now is the time for 5G vendors to make the profitability of their operator-customers their business.

Source: delltechnologies.com

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