Dell EMC Unveils New Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure Stack

Dell EMC today announces Dell EMC Cloud for Microsoft Azure Stack, a new, turnkey, hybrid cloud platform that offers a simple and fast path for implementing and sustaining a hybrid cloud based on Microsoft Azure Stack. The new platform helps organizations standardizing on the Microsoft Azure ecosystem to accelerate their digital transformation with automated IT service delivery for traditional and cloud-native applications. As a result, organizations can better engage with their customers, reduce time to market for new services, and free-up resources to focus on adding business value.

"Cloud is an operating model, not a place, and adopting a hybrid model has become the clear choice," said Peter Cutts, senior vice president, Hybrid Cloud Platforms, Dell EMC. "Making hybrid cloud platforms simple and turnkey enables businesses to rapidly develop and deploy new applications, optimize resources, control costs and deliver the best possible customer experiences."

The new Dell EMC Cloud for Microsoft Azure Stack combines Dell EMC’s leadership in worldwide cloud infrastructure with its long history of partnering with Microsoft, which includes shipping the industry’s first Microsoft-based hybrid cloud in October 2015. According to IDC, Dell EMC was No. 1 in the worldwide cloud infrastructure market for 2016 with $5.7 billion in revenue and 17.6% market share.

The new offering complements turnkey platforms Dell EMC Enterprise Hybrid Cloud, introduced more than three years ago, and Dell EMC Native Hybrid Cloud that integrate hardware, software and automation to simplify IT service delivery and reduce time to market for customers around the globe.

Consistent Experience for On-Premises Private and Public Cloud

Interoperability between public and private cloud resources has quickly become a top requirement for many organizations’ IT infrastructures. The turnkey Dell EMC Cloud for Microsoft Azure Stack delivers a consistent experience across Azure public cloud and private with Azure Stack. It is engineered with industry leading Dell EMC PowerEdge servers and Dell EMC Networking. As a Hybrid Cloud Platform, it is built, sustained and supported as a singular platform with a turnkey stack.

Dell EMC Cloud for Microsoft Azure Stack offers a true hybrid cloud that speeds application development and deployment by providing a consistent programming surface between Azure and Azure Stack. As a result, organizations can cost-effectively access, create and share traditional and cloud-native application services securely in Azure and Azure Stack to ensure business results, without sacrificing security, protection, service quality and availability.

Integrations with Dell EMC best-in-class backup and encryption technologies provide a consistent means of protecting and securing data across customers’ Azure-based public and on premises cloud environments. Furthermore, the adoption of Pivotal Cloud Foundry on Azure will extend to Dell EMC Cloud for Microsoft Azure Stack, continuing to deliver the promise of hybrid models with consistent services, APIs and consumption models for on- and off-premises.

Dell EMC Services Simplify Deployment and Management

Dell EMC services are available for every step of the journey-from strategic planning through implementation, operations and ongoing support. Dell EMC experts provide hands-on guidance to optimize and expand the customer’s hybrid cloud platform to meet business objectives. These activities include developing and customizing service catalogs, enabling identity and access management systems, and extending monitoring and metering systems to Azure Stack. Dell EMC provides support throughout the lifecycle of the platform with each component backed by automated proactive, predictive tools and a dedicated Technical Account Manager with ProSupport Plus. With Hybrid Cloud Platforms backed by Dell EMC Services, organizations can focus on delivering differentiated application services rather than building and managing their infrastructure. 

New Study Reveals Key Drivers for Hybrid Cloud Adoption

To understand how companies are transforming business and to analyze the benefits, costs and drivers associated with the use of cloud deployment models, Dell EMC commissioned analyst firm IDC to conduct a global survey of 1,000 mid- to large-sized organizations that are using and/or evaluating private and public cloud.

This IDC Cloudview Survey finds that 79.7% of large organizations (with 1,000 or more employees) report they already have a hybrid cloud strategy. In addition, 51.4% already use both public and private cloud infrastructure resources with an additional 29.2% expecting to in the next year.

The survey results, published in the IDC White Paper, The Power of Hybrid Cloud, also reveal that total cost of ownership is one of the top drivers of cloud adoption. Other criteria for future IT infrastructure decisions on workloads supported by cloud environments includes physical and data security (34%) and operation flexibility (33%) in addition to flexibility of economic models. This study underscores the value of turnkey hybrid cloud, which balances the pros and cons of different cloud deployment models.

"Microsoft and Dell EMC are continuing our longtime alliance by investing in Microsoft Azure Stack on Dell EMC infrastructure to meet rising customer expectations for solutions that deliver a top-quality public and on-premises cloud experience, to rapidly transform, and innovate through applications built for the cloud. With Dell EMC Cloud for Microsoft Azure Stack, our shared customers have the support and solutions to enable them to be more efficient and innovative with a best-in-class, hybrid cloud platform." — Mike Neil, corporate vice president, Enterprise Cloud, Microsoft Corp.

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