Everything Begins at The Edge

We live firmly in the cloud computing age. Our adoption of the cloud and familiarity with everyday tasks like file sharing and cloud storage demonstrates our reliance on cloud-based processing. While cloud has been touted as the solution to myriad processing challenges, it is no silver bullet. It has its own challenges – bandwidth and latency, both of which have implications on the operational costs for an enterprise as well as speed of delivery of services.

Enter edge computing, which brings compute, storage and networking closer to the source where data is created, enabling faster processing of data and consequently quicker decision making and faster insights. The edge promises to accelerate data processing in the cloud, although it should not be viewed as a cloud alternative. Instead, edge should be seen as complementary to the cloud.

While the early goals of edge computing centered around lowering bandwidth costs and increasing reliability, the growth of IoT-generated data and the rise of real-time applications that require processing at the edge are spearheading its growth. According to Grandview Research, the global edge computing market size was valued at US$4.68 billion in 2020 and is expected to expand at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 38.4% from 2021 to 2028.

Evidently, edge is now everywhere – and the opportunities for edge computing are extensive.

Happening at the edge 

Any industry that generates data stands to benefit from the speed, scale and performance offered by edge computing. Take the financial services sector, where the use of edge computing technologies – coupled with Artificial Intelligence (AI), cloud and 5G – can provide banks with real-time insights to improve customer experience and enhance cybersecurity.

Edge computing also powers digital cities – enabling everything from intelligent traffic controls to the smart monitoring and management of water, waste and energy. With the help of the edge and AI, cities can even roll out advanced video, sensor and communication systems that offer round-the-clock monitoring of public spaces to efficiently maintain law and order.

Enterprises are in the perfect position to reap the benefits of data-driven innovation and services as 5G cellular connectivity, with its ultra-low latency and high bandwidth properties, takes hold in the region.

Future of the edge

The rise of the internet of things (IoT), smart devices and their synergy with 5G mobile networks have already resulted in the emergence of creative use cases for edge computing.

Strategic partnerships will be key to accelerating edge computing adoption, innovation and progress. For example, Dell Technologies is partnering with SK Telecom in South Korea on infrastructure that enables managed, private 5G network service. The collaboration will help customers use private mobility and edge computing to develop new services where data is created in industries that need reliable high-speed connectivity such as healthcare, retail and construction.

At iNET Corporation, an integrated telco service provider and Dell customer, data from drones and smart sensors is used to monitor construction sites. iNET was able to rollout a real-time edge monitoring solution with a streaming platform situated at a construction site that had no primary data center.

The Dell EMC PowerStore appliance deployed at the edge ingests, stores and analyzes real-time streaming data from the drones and smart sensors to make immediate decisions around resource allocation of equipment, material and people. iNET can also use the data to compare progress of the physical build alongside site renderings. Non-streamed data collected at the edge and sent to the storage appliance can be natively replicated to a larger appliance sitting at the core data center.

While focus is often placed on the edge’s geographic location, it is crucial to note that the edge is not a single entity, place or technology but a combination of components. With 5G technology adoption accelerating globally by 2024, the possibilities are immense, from clouds to edges to devices.

Edge is a “how” not a “where” 

Gartner, Inc. predicts that 75% of enterprise-generated data will be “created and processed outside a traditional centralised data center or cloud” by 2025. This will be done in an effort to process higher volumes of data produced by IoT devices and rapidly growing 5G networks.

Dell recently announced new edge innovations across our infrastructure and PC portfolio to help organizations simplify deployments and capture more value from data generated and processed outside the traditional data center and public cloud. These include:

◉ Dell EMC VxRail satellite nodes to extend automation and lifecycle management capabilities to smallest configuration to date for edge workloads.

◉ Dell EMC Edge Gateway which connects multiple edge devices across operational technology and IT environments to deliver real-time data insights.

With products and services engineered specifically for the edge, businesses can and will overcome constraints put forward by any challenging edge environment. The future starts today, not tomorrow – at the edge.

Source: delltechnologies.com

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Top Careers in Data Science: How to Become a Data Scientist?

"Data science" may describe various fields and positions, but generally, data scientists work in groups or independently to analyze data and address targeted problems. After gathering and cleaning data, these professionals use programming languages and software tools such as Tableau to visualize data, recognize meaningful patterns, and develop algorithms and experiments. The data scientist also presents their findings and suggest organizational solutions.

Data science ranks among the nation's most lucrative careers, as most companies must use data to report their real-world decisions. As a result, this profession continues to overgrow. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projects data scientist and statistician jobs to grow at above-average rates over the next decade.

Data scientists support companies make data-driven decisions by creating mathematical models to address real-world problems. They provide companies with a basis for a sounder, data-based decision-making instead of relying on gut feelings or the whims of executives.

Six Steps to Become a Data Scientist

Step 1: Preparation for Becoming Data Scientist

Future data scientists can start preparations before they even step foot on a university campus or launch themselves into an online degree program. Becoming skilled with the most widely-used programming languages in data science, such as Python, Java, and R, and refreshing their applied math and statistics knowledge will help aspiring data scientists get a head start. Entering college with an already established skillset frequently enhances students' learning rate. Most importantly, early exposure to data science knowledge requirements helps determine whether a data science career is even the right fit for you.

Step 2: Complete Undergraduate Studies

If available, the most sought-after majors for data science are statistics, computer science, information technologies, mathematics, or data science. If you are already going through a different undergraduate program and are not prepared to make the switch, then at least minoring in one of the areas is also suggested. Continue to know programming languages database architecture and add SQL/MySQL to the “data science to-do list.” Now is the time to start making professional networks by looking for connections within college communities, internship opportunities, and asking professors and advisors for guidance.

Step 3: Get an Entry-level Job

Companies are often eager to fill entry-level data science jobs. Search for positions such as Junior Data Analyst or Junior Data Scientist. System-specific training or certifications in data-related fields might benefit when looking for entry-level data science jobs. Make sure to touch upon your interview skills before beginning the process, mainly related to a data science career.

Step 4: Earn a Master’s Degree or a Ph.D. in Data Science

Data science is a field where career opportunities tend to be higher for those with advanced degrees like a Master’s or Ph.D. The in-demand graduate degrees for data science include the exact specifications for an undergraduate degree: data science, computer science, information technology, math, and statistics.

However, many companies also take STEM degrees in biotechnology, engineering, and physics. Also, remember that data scientists need to understand how to use enterprise-grade data management programs and how distributed storage and computation operate concerning model building and predictive analytics.

Step 5: Get Promoted As a Data Scientist

Additional education and experience are vital factors that lead to being promoted or becoming a data scientist in high demand. Businesses value results. Coupling technical solid skills with project management and leadership experience will generally chart a course towards more meaningful opportunities and higher compensation.

Step 6: Never Stop Learning

Staying appropriate is crucial to the ever-evolving field of data science. In this era of constant technological innovation, continuing education is a barrier against shifts in the career market. Data science is also the case since the field is not as established as other statistically and technologically focused careers. A career-oriented data scientist is constantly learning and growing with the industry. Continue to network and look for educational and professional development options through boot camps and conferences.

End Notes

Everything about the data science field is ultra-dynamic. We still understand many things, so settling on one aspect, process, or structure is difficult for businesses. You can do many other things to increase the chances of your data science career kicking off on the right foot. That would be anything from rubbing your soft skills to reaching out to recruitment agencies or even taking on some freelance work.

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Dell Technologies Future-Proof Program: Guarantee Outcomes

IT managers and personnel are critical in providing technology to their organizations. Responsibilities for IT departments include a wide variety of tasks such as maintaining existing hardware, installing updates, fixing outages and balancing the need for future data center demands with existing budgets. Dell Technologies understands the complexities of data center operations and offers the Future-Proof Program to simplify the IT decision-making process and alleviate concerns associated with changing technology.

The Future-Proof Program is a collection of offers, assurances and benefits that streamline and simplify IT ownership. The Future-Proof Program is divided into three different high-level pillars: Guarantee Outcomes, Maximize Investments and Navigate IT Futures.

This first blog of a three-part series will discuss the Guarantee Outcomes pillar. The Guarantee Outcomes category includes the Three-Year Satisfaction program, the Storage Data Reduction Ratio program and the Data Protection Deduplication program.

Three-Year Satisfaction

One of the Guarantee Outcomes elements of the Future-Proof Program is the Three-Year Satisfaction program. Dell Technologies stands by our products for the first three years of ownership. If during that time the solution does not meet or exceed all claims made on the Dell Technologies website or corresponding specification sheets, let your sales representative know. Dell Technologies will evaluate the environment and address any concerns. If the customer is still not satisfied, Dell will provide a prorated refund for the product for up to three years from the time of initial purchase.

Storage Data Reduction

Another Guarantee Outcomes element of the Future-Proof Program is the Storage Data Reduction Ratio program. The Data Reduction Ratio program encompasses a wide range of storage solutions including PowerStore, PowerMax, and PowerFlex, as well as several other product lines. Solutions from Dell Technologies leverage capabilities such as deduplication and inline compression to reduce data footprints. For example, as part of the Data Reduction Ratio program, PowerStore solutions offer 4:1 data reduction. The Data Reduction Ratio program helps IT decision makers size storage arrays for future growth requirements. Once the Dell Technologies storage array is deployed, if the expected data reduction ratio is not achieved, contact Dell Technologies for resolution.

Data Protection Deduplication

The Data Protection Deduplication program is the final element of the Guarantee Outcomes category of the Future-Proof Program. The Data Protection Deduplication program is specific for Dell Technologies data protection offers, including Data Protection Suite software and PowerProtect appliances. Dell Technologies offers a 25:1 data deduplication savings for Data Protection Suite software writing to PowerProtect DD series appliances and a 55:1 data savings for PowerProtect DP series appliances, which is an all-in-one data protection software and storage in a single appliance. Talk to your sales representative about your specific data types to determine a savings tailored to your environment. Dell Technologies stands by our products. If the expected data deduplication rate is not initially achieved, we will verify the system is configured correctly and resolve the issue.

The Three-Year Satisfaction, Storage Data Reduction, and Data Protection Deduplication programs are the three elements that create the Guarantee Outcomes pillar of the Future-Proof Program. The benefits enable IT decision makers to rest assured that Dell will stand by our products. Please visit the Future-Proof Program webpage for additional details. The next two blogs in this series will feature program overviews of the Maximize Investments and Navigate IT Futures pillars of the program. Talk to your sales representative to learn more about the Future-Proof Program and other benefits of partnering with Dell Technologies.

Source: delltechnologies.com

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Modernize Your New Year’s Resolutions with Cyber Resiliency

At the beginning of every year, countless individuals set goals for themselves hoping to spark positive change in their lives. These resolutions often have recurring themes including health and fitness goals, personal development and learning new hobbies.

But what about your resolutions and long-term goals for your business? In our digital, data-driven world it’s time to modernize New Year’s Resolutions to include cyber fitness in order to protect your organization’s most valuable asset – your data.

A recent Gartner® report investigated backup platform features that aid in protecting critical data from ransomware attacks and that accelerate recovery. To get you started, here are two key recommendations that can improve your organization’s cyber resiliency:

◉ Immutable Data Vault (IDV) – Gartner® defines an IDV as “an immutable, air-gapped tertiary independent copy of the backup in a secure environment for safeguarding backups against ransomware and insider attacks.”¹ Sophisticated ransomware attacks are now targeting your backups to gain control of your insurance policy to business continuity. PowerProtect Cyber Recovery offers secure file locking and retention capabilities that create unchangeable data copies within the Cyber Recovery vault. Using the Compliance Mode Retention Lock capability from Dell EMC PowerProtect appliances, data is prevented from deletion or change for a set time period. The lock cannot be overridden, even by an administrator with full privileges. PowerProtect Cyber Recovery takes this one step further with automated workflows that securely move business critical data to the Cyber Recovery vault via an operational air gap. When the air gap is in a locked state — no data can flow — there is no access to any part of the solution. When unlocked, which is done to update or sync data, the operation is controlled from the secure, vaulted side, not from production.

◉ Isolated Recovery Environment (IRE) –According to Gartner®, “an IRE is a dedicated isolated secure recovery environment equipped with resources to verify and recover data from an immutable backup copy and does not replace traditional backup and DR systems. An IRE is meant to recover in a protected environment, independent of the production environment, while hackers might still have access to the production environment.”¹ Dell EMC PowerProtect Cyber Recovery provides a physically and logically isolated vault that is disconnected from corporate and backup networks and restricted from users who don’t have the proper clearance.

Gartner® suggests that organizations should implement a combination of these two solutions. Specifically, “isolated recovery environments (IREs) with immutable data vaults (IDVs) provide the highest level of security and recovery against insider threats, ransomware and other forms of hacking. However, they are not immune to replicating compromised data from an attack, such as encrypted backup data and require significant additional investment.”¹ Organizations who implement IREs and IDVs still need to be able to identify known-good backups of their data, and this is where Dell Technologies comes in.

CyberSense analytics are fully integrated with PowerProtect Cyber Recovery and monitors files and databases within the backup copy to determine if an attack has occurred by analyzing the data’s integrity and helps accelerate data recovery within the security of the Cyber Recovery vault. After identifying clean copies of data, you can leverage Cyber Recovery to recover your data and resume business operations with confidence.

These resolutions will go a long way towards improving your cyber fitness and making 2022 your most cyber resilient year yet. At Dell Technologies, we stop at nothing to be your trusted partner for modern security solutions and services that enhance IT resiliency, reduce complexity and provide peace of mind that your organization and your data are protected. Learn more about Dell’s portfolio of IT security solutions here.

¹ Gartner, Innovation Insight for Leveraging Isolated Recovery Environments and Immutable Data Vaults, Jerry Rozeman, Michael Hoeck, 27 May 2021

GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved.

Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Source: delltechnologies.com

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The Beginning of a Beautiful Friendship with Storage

I recently undertook the task of having my family photos and movies digitized, including a few slides from Paris in 1965 that reminded me of the classic movie Casablanca.

At first, I thought I’d digitize everything myself, and I started looking into digitizing devices, but then I wondered whether these devices would provide the image clarity I was looking for and clean up some of the annoying dust and color distortions that happened over time.

I realized that I was better served trusting these memories to a service provider that focuses on these issues and has more powerful tools and devices than I can afford. And I realized that it was taking me a long time to do this analysis before I got anything digitized at all. With some of the 50’s films starting to decompose (beware the tell-tale vinegary odor), I knew I’d better turn to a specialist. The service I used did a great job, did the work quickly, and my family was delighted to see all of these images and films again.

It got me thinking about how businesses handle their enterprise data. How well do you understand which data is most important for your business stakeholders? How much time and energy are you spending with the management of underlying storage devices and infrastructure, making sure they’re up to date, available and have sufficient spare capacity? Wouldn’t that time be better spent managing the data and its meaning and value to the business?

If you’re rethinking how you manage your storage infrastructure, you’re not alone. Gartner® predicts that by “2025, 40% of newly procured premises-based storage will be consumed as a service, up from less than 10% in 2021.”*

With APEX Data Storage Services, Dell Technologies frees you from the daily burden of managing storage infrastructure. We take care of deploying the storage system (either at your premises or a colocation facility), activating the storage service that includes built-in buffer capacity, monitoring the environment, dealing with software patches and updates, and even providing you with recommendations to optimize your storage consumption through your APEX customer success manager.

In addition to these built-in capabilities, Dell Technologies has also introduced a set of Professional Services for APEX, to further extend the value of APEX to your business stakeholders. For APEX Data Storage Services, these include Data Migration Services, storage operations automation, storage operations integration and Residency Services.

Data Migration Services allow your business stakeholders to quickly gain the agility of APEX Data Storage Services by moving file and block data from legacy environments or public clouds. We’ve been helping IT organizations migrate data to accelerate the benefits of new storage infrastructure for years. Do you have data on older devices or disparate cloud sources that you’d like to manage more efficiently with the as-a-Service model of APEX Data Storage Services?

Many IT organizations are turning to automation to improve responsiveness to business stakeholder requests, but sometimes lack the experience with modern automation toolsets to automate their processes. With our storage operations automation, you can automate storage provisioning operations using infrastructure-as-code approaches with the experienced consultants of Dell Technologies Services.

While the simplicity of the APEX Console is a great way to present APEX Data Storage Services, many business stakeholders may prefer to consume these file and block services from their existing IT service portal. With storage operations integration capabilities from Dell Technologies Services, you can make APEX Data Storage Services for file and block storage visible and consumable in your existing ServiceNow IT service portal.

Many IT organizations are eager to shift their processes to a more agile model and see the value of APEX Data Storage Services to deliver such an as-a-Service foundation but lack the technical expertise for shifting storage operations to a more agile model. Our Residency Services provide technical experts to work alongside your IT organization as you make these operational changes. And our Education Services team have offers to help you understand APEX in more detail.

Reminiscent of a famous line from Casablanca, wouldn’t you like your business stakeholders, to turn to you and say “I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship”? As you engage with your business stakeholders, who better to be your trusted storage-as-a-Service partner than the company that you trust already for your enterprise products, solutions and services: Dell Technologies?

*Gartner, “Predicts 2022: Driving Toward Digital Infrastructure Platforms,” by Thomas Bittman, Jonathan Forest, Hiroko Aoyama, Philip Dawson, and Bob Gill, 21 October 2021. Read the full report here.

Gartner is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved

Source: delltechnologies.com

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How to Build Modern Edge Infrastructures with Edge Gateways

I had an experience recently that highlighted how dependent we are on infrastructure that we rarely see or interact with on a daily basis. I recently renovated my bathroom, and it was fitted with a nice shower tap. Everything looked great and shiny until I turned on the tap to have a hot shower. Instead of getting comforting hot water, I got soaked with freezing icy water. It was a harsh but excellent reminder that building infrastructure properly is hard and even the smallest parts can create havoc when not carefully selected.

So, what does this have to do with edge computing and edge gateways?

Fueling your car at the gas station, turning up the heat in your house, waiting for a traffic light, self-check-out at your grocery are things we do every day, and we take these technologies and the underlying infrastructure for granted. Only when it fails do we realize how dependent we are on these seemingly mundane technologies and this out-of-sight infrastructure

While edge computing is gaining momentum and highlighting the importance of 5G, data management, AI, security and multi-cloud in our daily life, we see that carefully choosing the pieces that will comprise this infrastructure is becoming of significant importance. When building an edge, the old saying that “the whole is greater than the sum of its parts” is true now more than ever.

Designing a resilient edge infrastructure is complex and made more so with recent supply chain challenges. All these critical bits need to come together as one:

◉ Software

◉ Compute

◉ Storage

◉ Networking

◉ Interfaces and sensors

When building edge infrastructure, most of the pieces are hidden and, like building a house, the infrastructure needs a solid foundation. We define the edge as the place where data is acted upon to create immediate, essential value. The place where the data originates forms the very foundation of edge computing and the edge gateway is the first piece of that critical edge infrastructure. The edge gateway is the crucial link between the sensors and the fabrics that connect it to the data center or multi-cloud environment. Its sole purpose is to translate, normalize and extract the data for further processing that can provide real-time actionable insights. The gateway is the foundation for your success at the edge, ensuring that higher-level edge functions and use cases are backed by the best possible infrastructure for the job.

By listening carefully to our customers, we understand that they need their edge compute solutions to address the following requirements:

◉ Uninterrupted, high throughput performance with secure seamless connectivity across the OT / IT environments and be compatible with a broad range of industrial I/O types, as well as wired and wireless edge infrastructure.

◉ Provide the latest and greatest compute technology with enough maturity to be long-term, stable and future proof, while still maintaining the ability to utilize legacy and future interfaces, like serial, General Purpose IO or CAN interfaces to communicate with PLC’s, actuators and sensors, but also USB and PoE options to drive cameras.

◉ Have extended-lifecycle components, which do not change over time. Frequent component updates can disrupt lifecycle management for customers that require longer-than-average infrastructure deployments.

◉ Advanced capabilities like security with TPM2.0, virtualization with VT extensions, manageability with iAMT, AI inferencing through OpenVino, WIFI6E, Bluetooth 5.2, Cellular 4G or 5G and multi-cloud agnostic should be an essential part for a gateway.

◉ Support for a broad range of deployment scenarios, such as: small or custom form factors, support for wide temperature ranges, fanless operation, tolerance for variable or irregular power, a watchdog timer and RAID capabilities.

◉ Ruggedized hardware that can survive shock and vibration.

The new Dell EMC EGW5200, now available for customers, has been purpose-built to meet these demanding requirements at the edge to give customers a worry-free journey and assures readiness for the data era around the globe. The EGW5200 is purpose-built to be usable at a wide variety of edge locations and diverse verticals such as manufacturing, retail, digital cities, healthcare, energy utilities and transportation. Adding in Dell Technologies services, global reach of certification and trusted supply chain provides customers with a trusted building block on which to design their edge infrastructure.

No one should be surprised by a cold freezing shower when you are expecting a hot shower. No edge infrastructure should be burdened with an edge gateway that does not meet the key requirements at the edge.

Source: delltechnologies.com

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Empower DevOps with On-premises Automation for Multi-cloud World

The rise of DevOps is leading businesses and IT administrators to rethink how they develop and manage their infrastructure. Being part of a DevOps team today requires the ability to write code that delivers end-to-end automation and management of IT operations. At the core of this new world are portable cloud-native applications, built from microservices and managed by Kubernetes that can be deployed on-premises and in-cloud.

But even the most sophisticated modern architectures can be hindered by a lack of control of containers and Kubernetes deployments. For example, a recent TechTarget study on cloud native enablement suggests organizational silos and infrastructure challenges led respondents to equally weigh their cloud native acceleration delays on scale, manual processes and complexity. And with complexity comes reduced developer productivity and substandard business outcomes.

Solving customer complexity and challenges

Dell Technologies collaborates with a broad ecosystem of public cloud providers to help our customers solve these challenges and place data and applications where it makes the most sense for their business needs. Our portfolio of DevOps-ready platforms support DevOps teams to produce faster business outcomes with intelligent, automated, on-premises infrastructure that eliminates manual processes and accelerates IT’s ability to rapidly provision compute and storage resources. DevOps-ready platforms let customers run their Kubernetes orchestration in the public cloud or on-premises. These platforms support every major hyperscaler and container orchestration platform on the market, including Amazon EKS, Google Cloud Anthos, Microsoft Azure Arc, Red Hat OpenShift, SuSe Rancher and VMware Tanzu, and are based on Dell HCI integrated systems and modern enterprise storage platforms.

Expanding our DevOps-ready platforms to offer even more choice

Today, Dell Technologies is deepening its support of Amazon EKS Anywhere with the addition of Amazon EKS Anywhere on Dell PowerStore and PowerFlex. EKS Anywhere is a deployment option enabling organizations to create and operate Kubernetes clusters on-premises using VMware vSphere while making it possible to have connectivity and portability to AWS public cloud environments. Deploying EKS Anywhere on Dell Technologies infrastructure streamlines application development and delivery by allowing organizations to easily create and manage on premises Kubernetes clusters. EKS Anywhere is also supported for Dell VxRail hyperconverged infrastructure.

Additionally, Dell is strengthening its partnership with SUSE, announcing support for SUSE Rancher 2.6 on VxRail to provide full lifecycle management support for clusters in Microsoft AKS, Google GKE and Amazon EKS anywhere, giving customers freedom to mix and match solutions that best fit their business strategy. “SUSE is excited that our joint customers now have the ability to run SUSE Rancher and RKE2 on-premises on VxRail, Dell’s leading HCI platform,” said Rachel Cassidy, SUSE senior vice president of Global Channel & Alliances. “VxRail’s integrated, full stack automation and lifecycle management streamlines infrastructure operations, reducing complexity to enable DevOps teams to focus on application development across multi-cloud environments. The latest release of SUSE Rancher and RKE2 fortify IT environments by strengthening security and compliance integrations while providing full lifecycle management for hosted Kubernetes clusters.”

With flexibility to run multiple container platforms on a single Dell DevOps-ready platform that automates cluster management, customers can achieve seamless connectivity to public clouds and finally realize how easy adoption of multi-cloud container orchestration deployments can be within the parameters of IT processes and governance. All the while, enjoying the reliability, security and world-class global support that comes with Dell infrastructure.

Being able to run traditional and cloud native applications on DevOps-ready platforms is also a key element to bringing together the traditional IT administration models that are often separated by function. Overall, these consistent, trusted platforms are attractive to the IT operators and/or DevOps teams who operate their own data centers for performance, regulation, security, compliance, and costs.

Dell Technologies developer portal is your DevOps playground

Dell Technologies has a history of supporting open ecosystems that put the customer first, and the latest way we are doing so is through an accessible development tool playground. To help organizations deliver applications and services faster, DevOps teams want easier access to open-source tools and products that can aid in the delivery of infrastructure-as-code and streamline CI|CD processes. Why not provide them through the infrastructure portfolio that is trusted and built on?

It is very exciting to announce a new destination for our DevOps organizations this week with the “Dell Technologies Developer” portal. This will serve as a one-stop shop for full-stack developers, DevOps engineers, Site Reliability Engineers and basically any IT operator looking to automate infrastructure deployment and management. DevOps can simplify management of dev-test and production environments and accelerate the adoption of microservices/container-based architectures with enterprise reliability and security across many options. DevOps engineers will be able to script their operations to match the speed of development and at scale, with control, while accelerating the process. This is where the crossroads of traditional and modern innovation through code enables consumers to be able to access qualified third-party automation tools, SDKs, Github navigation and APIs across most of their existing and planned for infrastructure platforms. Supporting Dell’s full portfolio from client to data center, the developer portal not only provides an exciting destination for the user but will also offer a robust community to interact with in the coming year.

A better way to empower DevOps

We are empowering DevOps teams to collaborate with their software and cloud native application developers more effectively by helping them cross the bridge between traditional on-premises operations and modern IT operations in a multi-cloud universe. With our broad ecosystem flexibility along with easier access to open-source tools, customers gain control over their multi-cloud strategy and simplify experiences for both IT Ops and developers.

Source: delltechnologies.com

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Embracing a Product Model for IT Agility

As part of our digital transformation, Dell Digital, our IT organization, has been aggressively adopting agile development methodology, new technology, automation and DevOps best practices over the past five years. But supporting these changes has meant we needed an organizational structure to address perhaps the most important aspect of our transformation – the way our people work to deliver technology services. The solution: restructure our IT organization from the ground up leveraging the product operating model.

In the same way we’ve gained agility by breaking down our development environment into smaller components, the product model lets us break down our organization into smaller groups with specific responsibilities and accountability. Rather than working in the traditional siloed IT structure where development teams write code and hand it off to separate teams to test, deploy and support, the product model organizes IT software and services as products. These “products” are defined by the business problems they solve and are organized into “product lines” – logical groupings of multiple, related products that deliver a cohesive business and/or user capability.

Organizing our more than 10,000 team members worldwide around clearly defined solutions and services that address user needs in a simple and understandable way makes product teams responsible for their solutions and services from the time they are built throughout their entire lifecycle. This results in our teams rapidly delivering high quality solutions that are closely tied to business needs.

Why the product model

The product model originated in startup and product-driven software development organizations. It is geared toward driving agility by having autonomous teams working directly with users to rapidly deliver business value. Many large companies have been using the product model for some time. For Dell, it fits perfectly into our agile development methodology and cultural approach that we call the Dell Digital Way. This focuses on strategic evolution of IT through people, process and technology.

Organizing people into small product teams, generally six to eight members, helps them work with great focus and clarity on what they are delivering. Working closely with users, product teams can deliver new business capabilities faster and increase the quality and security of our software ecosystem. Products evolve based on user needs and continuous feedback, truly creating a user-centered experience instead of the traditional project-driven development mindset.

As part of a product team, members own their products from end to end. They are responsible for the solutions they put into production throughout their lifecycles – a big incentive to stay very focused on quality. The product model replaces what used to be a segmented IT structure, made up of large teams focused on specific functions (i.e., Operations) with many handoff points and distributed accountability and responsibility. It goes hand in hand with our pursuit of DevOps and is an extension of our transformation over the past five years to agile software development with small, balanced teams, paired programming and a user-centric iterative design process.

Making the shift

Transitioning a global IT organization to a product model is a big job. We started slow, establishing a small product model enablement team to drive the change and scaled it across Dell Digital. It established standards and training for IT groups, a product model website and a system to measure product team maturity. It also offers a Product Model Toolkit to help teams make the transition and a network of product model champions. By using a small, centralized enablement team, we worked across the organizations to teach and train the teams on how to operate in the product model, how to think through the definition of products, product lines and experiences and to create an approach that most importantly made sense to the business stakeholders.

We used early product model adopters to inspire other teams to make the transition. Our eCommerce team was the first one out of the gate in setting up a product model taxonomy and showcasing early wins. That team used the product model to transform key customer functions on the Dell.com ecommerce site – from explore to configure to check out – into more responsive and customer-focused products. It showed there was a way to deliver increased quality and reduce user incidents. This naturally became more interesting to the rest of the organization. Delivering with higher quality and decreasing user incidents is what all IT professionals strive to achieve. Their example was crucial to our transformation, since the key to getting an organization to make any major change is by showing and not telling of success.

Delivering transformation benefits

Three years into our shift, we are now delivering IT services via some 200 product lines with more than 900 product teams. We are still evolving the model and we expect to have 70% of our Dell Digital organization operating in the product model by January and be fully transformed by the end of 2022.

More importantly, our customers and our teams are seeing the benefits of working this way. Productivity is up, user incidents have drastically decreased and more developers are leveraging our automated CI/CD pipeline.

Getting to the right organizational structure is an evolving process that we are still working on. We don’t always get product lines right the first time. Or sometimes we find that we have applications doing the same thing in two different product teams. But we keep fine tuning what the structure looks like and, in the end, that’s what will help us rationalize our operations and maximize the efficient use of resources. There’s still plenty of work to be done, but we’re thrilled with what we’ve achieved so far.

Source: delltechnologies.com

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What 2022 Holds: A Do-From-Anywhere World Pushes the Limits

2021 proved that technology continues to be more essential, more distributed, more hybrid and more multi-cloud than ever before. In a do-from-anywhere world, IT spending continued to hit new thresholds and customers’ digital transformation journeys accelerated. In 2022, I believe we will see four themes fast-tracked and at the forefront of the CIOs agenda.

A data-centric culture

From our earliest civilizations, humanity has created cultures built on equal parts judgement (evaluating the available information) and intuition (taking your best guess). Now, with massive investments in intelligent, autonomous technology infrastructure, our world is increasingly data driven. Increasing amounts of data are produced, harnessed by AI and ML and autonomously used to improve functions and operations of every facet of our society. By 2025, Gartner expects that 70% of organizations will have operationalized AI architectures. We are at a tipping point, as our understanding of how to control data, protect data and unleash the power of data becomes culturally ingrained. Within organizations, a culture of data sharing, new behaviors and increasing data literacy will help us move beyond the “data paradox” and reimagine processes and outcomes. This is the Data Era, and we are evolving into a data-centric culture.

The multi-cloud future is now

The IT world understands the benefits of the cloud. But as cloud models mature, it isn’t public cloud or private cloud – it’s multi-cloud. Next year, more than 90% of enterprises are expected to deploy workloads on a mix of private clouds, public clouds, SaaS and existing infrastructure. The multi-cloud future is now, and the architects of data management, artificial intelligence and machine learning will depend on seamless access to multiple clouds. Those who can access multiple clouds, with the right workloads on each cloud, will have a strategic advantage. A consistent cloud experience wherever technology is deployed and developed – whether in data centers, in the public cloud, or at the edge- will be the strategic data control point for the multi-cloud world.

The great decentralization

The Age of Edge Computing is just beginning. And with the growth of the edge, the pendulum continues to swing towards a more distributed environment. We’ll have more data, more locations and more edge use cases than ever before – from rugged and remote locations to retail stores and factory floors. IDC expects the number of new operational processes deployed at the edge to grow from less than 20% today to 90% by 2024. Customers recognize the potential at the edge, but struggle to extract value as they face constraints in security, connectivity and cost. We will see massive investment and innovation in highly distributed, automated and intelligent technologies as edge platforms are rapidly developed and deployed.

From corporate statements to corporate impact

The pandemic brought us many things – challenges, changes and new innovations. Above all, it offered us opportunity to reflect. Our customers and employees have had the chance to think about what is most important to them and will expect company involvement and a collective approach to making an impact, even as they face challenges and headwinds to their businesses. In fact, 90% of companies on the S&P 500 index now publish a CSR report. This accelerates accountability for progress, as annual ESG targets and audited updates go from “nice-to-have” to an established best practice and a driver of company value. We will see a push in many areas – corporate sustainability, climate change, circular economy, working conditions, diversity and inclusion, meeting employee needs for workplace flexibility and more – as companies take action and stakeholders hold them accountable.

By now, we’ve learned that we can make educated guesses on what’s to come, but we certainly can’t expect anything. “Expect the unexpected” could still be a common motto in 2022. However, as with any new year, we have the opportunity to start with fresh optimism. And as a tech optimist myself, my judgement and intuition is telling me we have a lot to be hopeful for.

Source: delltechnologies.com

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Gain Comprehensive Insights Faster, Make Better Decisions Against Cyberattacks

In the ongoing and unending race against cyberattacks, we are constantly reminded of the importance of a cyber-resiliency strategy, which allows organizations to prepare for and protect against ransomware and other cyberthreats. To continue helping customers stay ahead of the evolving threat landscape, Dell Technologies has provided a New Year’s gift for customers, with the availability of CyberSense 7.9. With performance now up to 5x faster, CyberSense 7.9 allows customers to detect and diagnose anomalies in their backup data much quicker than before.

Fully integrated with Dell PowerProtect Cyber Recovery, CyberSense intelligent analytics enable organizations to detect, diagnose and recover from cyberattacks. CyberSense audits the data managed by PowerProtect Cyber Recovery to detect signs of corruption due to  ransomware and other cyberthreats using analytics and machine learning. With the creation of point-in-time observations of files, databases and core infrastructure, the machine learning algorithms use analytics to make deterministic decisions on the data corruption. When CyberSense detects any sign of corruption it delivers alerts to the Cyber Recovery dashboard as well as reports. The post-attack forensic reports are available to diagnose the integrity of the data and enable the recovery from the ransomware attack quickly.

CyberSense’s competitive advantage is that it does full content indexing of file metadata, document metadata and document content without the need to rehydrate the backup data sets. Other solutions only scan file metadata which may only identify simply changes in file extensions or file size. With the Increased performance of full content indexing, enterprise customers can now analyze data at a much faster pace when indexing backups on Dell PowerProtect DD. You will see improvements in both performance optimized and capacity optimized backups in this latest release.

The chart below also shows additional workloads that benefit from the performance improvements.

Enterprise data continues to grow and continues to need protection against all kinds of threats. Protecting your data from cyberattacks reduces the risk of downtime for your business. Having insight on the validity and accuracy of your data faster allows for you to make decisions quicker. Knowing the right data to recover allows your business to continue running swiftly and bypass paying any ransom demands.

Dell Technologies is focused on helping you secure, protect and recover data in the event of a cyberattack with the industry’s most innovative solutions. Cyberattacks continue to evolve, but our products continue to evolve at a faster pace to address them through innovation and commitment to help our customers succeed.

Learn more about Dell Technologies PowerProtect Cyber Recovery here.

Source: delltechnologies.com

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And the Emmy Award Goes To…Dell EMC Isilon

Throughout history, some of the biggest names in Hollywood have taken home a prestigious Emmy® Award. Now, you can add Dell EMC Isilon to that list!

The National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences has honored Dell EMC Isilon with a Technology & Engineering Emmy®  Award for early development of HSM (hierarchical storage management) systems. This marks the first time that Dell Technologies has taken home this prestigious award.

Pioneering A Storage Solution for Broadcast Challenges

While speeches at awards shows can sometimes get a little lengthy, we only have one group to thank today: our customers. Although this award reflects pioneering work from our engineering team, it primarily speaks to the value Isilon provides our customers as well as our continued commitment to innovation.

Given the importance of this award, I wanted to reflect on what got us to this moment in Dell EMC Isilon’s history.

Back in the early 2000s, media and entertainment companies began to require large-scale shared storage to securely hold and work with proliferating media formats: server ingested serial digital interface (SDI), new digital camera formats, graphics pulls, editorial, transcodes and playout.

To address that challenge, Isilon (a standalone company at the time) pioneered a network-attached storage (NAS) solution that’s allowed our customers to easily grow exponentially and tier content according to the business value. Because of the simplicity of managing a single namespace and the TCO of tiering data, Isilon enabled broadcast engineers and studio system administrators, previously focused on data wrangling and storage administration, the freedom to focus on media applications, accelerating workflows and developing business differentiating services.

Tackling Today and Tomorrow’s Media and Entertainment Workflows

Since 2003, over 2000 global organizations including broadcasters, post and VFX houses across 82 countries have invested in Dell EMC Isilon’s scale-out architecture to drive innovation in media workflows.

In the last three years alone, our media and entertainment customers have deployed over 1.5 exabytes of Isilon storage for media workflows and that investment continues to grow as live, episodic and feature datasets continue their phenomenal growth.

Today, media companies face a new set of challenges as content creators and distributors must determine how to take advantage of new technologies, that accelerate and simplify the creation of high-quality content in new resolutions and formats, as well as new viewing experiences for consumers, across traditional and new content distribution platforms. While at the same time, existing content needs to be digitized, archived, and stored, with proper tagging, to ensure quick retrieval and monetization. As these new challenges emerge, old ones still endure, with media organizations continuing to be under pressure to increase production quality, all while keeping costs low, and creating high returns for their owners and investors.

The Foundation of Media Workflows

Dell EMC Isilon is a key member of the broader Dell Technologies media and entertainment solution portfolio. Dell’s Precision workstations and displays are designed to empower creatives, Virtualized and Cloud Enabled solutions with VMware allow media companies to consolidate, run, manage, connect, and protect all your applications, Dell Networking enabling engineering teams to significantly reduce costs and empower IP broadcast workflows, Dell EMC PowerEdge servers continue to be a foundation of render farm and media application infrastructure, Dell Boomi is simplifying application integration and automation, and so much more.

Over the years, many of our customers have received Emmy® Awards, recognizing their fantastic content and compelling visual effects, developed using Isilon storage at the core of their media production workflow. We’re grateful that we can now add our name to this list as well.

We look forward to receiving this award in April at the 2020 NAB Show in Las Vegas. Speaking of which, if you’ll be in Vegas this April 18-22, please stop by our booth to see firsthand how Dell Technologies media and entertainment solutions can help you simplify, accelerate and cloud-enable your workflows, plus you’ll be able to take a picture with the Emmy® Award and celebrate this honor with us!

Source: delltechnologies.com

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Streamlining SAP S/4HANA Cloud Transformation with APEX

Successful transformation requires strategy and planning for seamless migration with minimal disruption. In a mission critical implementation, performance, predictability and cost transparency are crucial. To accelerate SAP ERP Central Component (SAP ECC) customers’ migration and digital transformation, SAP and Dell Technologies have partnered to deliver RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition, customer data center option with Dell Technologies APEX. This offering draws synergies from the world’s largest provider of enterprise application software, SAP, and No.1 cloud IT infrastructure platform vendor, Dell Technologies, to achieve highest outcome results.

RISE for SAP, powered by APEX provides a turnkey, fully managed SAP subscription service that allows customers to keep their landscape software and data within their own data center environment, or colocation (co-lo) facility, while reaping the benefits of a cloud operating model. With this solution customers get a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) model that provides the capability to employ digitization and simplify complex IT landscapes with better insights into data, on the journey to become intelligent enterprises.

SAP will be the single point of contact for the full platform and Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) operation. To SAP’s specification and architecture, Dell Technologies will supply, install, monitor and manage infrastructure needs for SAP. The APEX offering will reduce complexities and risks arising from managing multiple variables with an integrated portfolio of servers, storage, networking and data protection infrastructure. APEX will help accelerate time to value and simplify the business transformation as the focus shifts from managing infrastructure to accelerating innovation.

With APEX as the SAP S/4HANA infrastructure foundation, customers will gain operational, technical and resourcing readiness. The data center will be agile and flexible to ease the migration from traditional SAP ECC (on third-party database) to intelligent ERP with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition (using SAP’s HANA real-time in-memory database). 

Scalability

APEX is highly flexible and customizable. Customers can better respond and adapt to change. Scaling workloads can be achieved by extending infrastructure scalability to the database and applications with potential acceleration in provisioning speed. The size of SAP instances can correlate with workload peaks and project needs. APEX provides the agility and efficiency needed to respond to changing market conditions and business needs.

Risk Mitigation

With APEX, customers implementing the customer data center option of SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition will have the confidence they can rely on the best of breed infrastructure that powers their landscape. The SaaS model alleviates the burden of customer IT teams from having to keep up with the pressures of changing demands. There is peace of mind knowing their data and workloads are housed in their own datacenter or a colocation provider of choice. APEX helps reduces risk with end-to-end processes security and integrated controls to protect customer data and operations. 

Workforce Productivity

Customers can leverage all the benefits of a cloud operating model while freeing up resources and increasing in agility to expand with change. They do not need to manage the infrastructure themselves. Resources can therefore engage on strategic initiatives thus achieving an increase in productivity and performance.

Best in Class Support

Dell Technologies has deployed hundreds of solutions across more than 30 countries with thousands of support personnel. Skilled personnel work closely with SAP to deliver service and support to customers.

Dell Technologies is an industry leader in hardware infrastructure. Customers can be confident they are getting premier support from a company that is the No.1 vendor in cloud infrastructure plaform, No.1 in servers, No.1 in external enterprise storage and the No.1 HCI provider. Dell Technologies is a leading provider and has one of the broadest portfolios of IaaS offers from a single vendor. RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition, customer data center option with Dell Technologies APEX is optimized to integrate with VMware’s Cloud Foundation.

Source: delltechnologies.com

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XPS 13 Reinvents Itself, Embracing Simplicity as the New Premium

It’s no coincidence the new XPS 13 Plus is our most powerful yet, considering it was inspired by Gen-Z – a group that knows who they are, where they want to go and demands the horsepower they need to get there.

Modern and stylish, yet approachable and efficient – simple and intentional are the new definition of premium. Redesigned from the ground up with more performance than ever before, the XPS 13 Plus makes it so you can do everything you love to do in style.

While beautiful designs and powerful technology innovations are crucial, there’s so much more beneath the surface. And when it comes to creating your own world, a better tomorrow or whatever it is you love to do, there’s no better companion than the XPS 13 Plus.

Meet the new XPS 13 Plus

The XPS 13 Plus is the first XPS 13 designed to a 12th Gen Intel® Core™ 28W processor (up from 15W on the prior generation), supported by larger fans that provide 55% better airflow without increasing noise or temperature.

Performance, design and packaging; from top to bottom, we’ve stripped away the unnecessary and streamlined features to deliver a complete, seamless experience. Simplified interiors make your creative experience the focus, with best-in-class edge-to-edge displays that bring your visions to life. Additionally, leading battery technology make sure you can go the distance without disruptions. And with Express Charge 2.0 that gets your laptop to about 80% battery life in less than an hour, you can quickly juice up on the fly. Oh, and did we mention it’s just as light and thin? More power, without weighing you down.

Distraction-free, beautifully clean design

Capacitive touch function row, seamless glass touchpad with haptics and zero-lattice keyboard maximize user interfaces for a streamlined interior design.

The XPS 13 Plus is designed to be minimalist and modern. The sleek keyboard, function row, touch pad and palm rest deliver a clean, iconic appearance that is light to the touch and complemented by curved, comfy edges throughout. There’s no wasted space – the modern, edge-to-edge interfaces simplify the overall design to deliver a clean, harmonious surface.

The XPS 13 Plus is available in timeless colors, a light (Platinum) and dark (Graphite) with an enhanced surface finish that is premium and serene. We’ve eliminated distractions by creating cohesive tone-on-tone design details for a unified appearance. The overall experience is a modern aesthetic that is intentionally crafted to emanate the pinnacle of simplicity.

Now let’s talk about how it feels. Designed with larger keycaps (also known as zero-lattice), the keyboard is comfortable, smooth and efficient with every keystroke. The top row of the keyboard is now cleaner, thanks to a new capacitive touch experience that allows you to switch between media and function keys easily. And speaking of clean and simplified, the traditional trackpad has been replaced by a seamless glass touchpad that provides haptic responses to the touch.

Heightened senses for heightened creativity

Up to 4K+ resolution or vivid true-to-life color on an OLED display with Eyesafe® that reduces harmful blue light and an improved quad speaker design

Senses drive the creative process and we’ve enhanced both sight and sound in the new XPS 13 Plus. Our pioneering four-sided InfinityEdge display continues to deliver a virtually borderless viewing experience and we reduced the number of layers from the display screen to improve clarity and reduce weight. And when it comes to creating your own content or consuming the content you love, enjoy louder sound and broad dynamic range with an improved quad speaker design. Two up-firing speakers are hidden underneath the keyboard, while down firing speakers are on the base, resulting in incredible sound for music, movies and conferencing.

Mindful manufacturing and packaging

First XPS made using hydro-power renewable energy sources, significantly reducing the carbon footprint of the aluminum and is 100% recyclable so it can be reused in new PCs, delivering on Dell’s 2030 Goals.

Our mindful minimalist approach extends beyond design to encompass both production and packaging process. We’ve created a simpler, more efficient manufacturing process that honors our longstanding commitment to be kind to the environment. By removing steps and reducing finishes and materials – but elevating the ones that remain – we’ve decreased scrapped parts and our overall carbon footprint. All-new packaging is made from 100% sustainably sourced or renewable materials with paper documentation that increases its recyclability.

Collaborative and Visual Experience

With the world more digital than ever before, the right collaboration tools are key. That’s why we continue to invest in the ecosystem around the PC. Check out this newly crowned CES Innovation Award Honoree – the new Dell UltraSharp 32 4K Video Conferencing Monitor. Featuring our category-defining UltraSharp Webcam, echo cancelling dual array microphones and 14W speakers, this monitor provides the best collaboration and visual experience possible, making it feel like you’re there in person.

It’s the first monitor in its class with IPS Black panel technology. Together with VESA DisplayHDR 400, lets you view content in greater detail with 4K resolution, contrast and color – while ComfortView Plus reduces harmful blue-light emissions and retains color accuracy. The intelligent webcam is equipped with a 4K HDR Sony STARVIS™ CMOS sensor for light adjustments, AI auto framing capability, integrated smart security features and enhanced visual clarity.

Then there’s the video conferencing capabilities. The new UltraSharp is certified for Microsoft Teams and comes with privacy and productivity features – letting you easily come on and off mute, enable/disable the camera with SafeShutter and quickly sign-in and out.

And it looks great too! The sophisticated design with its platinum silver finish complements both home and office spaces. The aesthetics are kept clean to conceal all visible mess without compromising its functionality, and its extensive ports and connectivity options allow you to transform the monitor into a productivity hub.

Final Words

Want some help purchasing these products when available? With Dell Trade In, you can turn any eligible electronic device (Dell and non-Dell) into credit towards your next Dell.com purchase, instantly. While initially launching in the U.S., this program will expand to additional countries later this year.

And remember, with Dell Migrate, you can move important and hard to replace data and files from any Windows-based PC to your new XPS device—so you can get up and running fast.

Pricing and availability

◉ XPS 13 Plus is available worldwide Spring 2022, with Windows 11 or Ubuntu 20.04 on the Developer Edition. Pricing to be confirmed nearer to shipping date.

◉ Dell UltraSharp 32 4K Video Conferencing Monitor (U3223QZ) is available worldwide on March 29. Pricing to be confirmed nearer to shipping date.

Source: delltechnologies.com

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