The new Dell EMC Ready solutions are not channel-only offerings, but they are well-suited for the channel.

Dell EMC and Splunk have expanded their relationship with the introduction of a pre-engineered portfolio of purpose-built systems for Splunk Enterprise. The new Dell EMC Ready Systems for Splunk are not, however, just aimed at the enterprise. They incorporate Dell EMC VxRail Appliances as well as Dell EMC VxRack System FLEX, and are aimed at organizations of SMB size as well as larger businesses.

The Dell EMC relationship with Splunk is four years old, and originally came from the EMC side of the house.

“We sponsored their conference for the first time four years ago,” said Cory Minton, Data Analytics GTM Leader at Dell EMC. “One of our business units in the EMC product team – Isilon –  thought a relationship could drag some hardware sales, as a platform to run Splunk on. We continued to watch them grow, and then 18 months ago joined their alliance program, as EMC originally and then Dell EMC. We wanted a legal agreement, partnership and alliance so we could do development work.”

Minton noted that both Dell and EMC have a history of partnerships with ISVs, including reselling them as part of an end-to-end solution.

“This though is the first thing in our relationship with Splunk that is truly a product for resale,” he said. “It’s not just a reference architecture. It’s a joining together of our component technologies in a SKUd product with a unique support experience.”

Splunk’s software searches, monitors, collects and analyzes machine data, making it easier for organizations to use it to enhance their operational performance and bottom line. The new Dell EMC Ready Systems for Splunk integrate the Splunk Enterprise software capabilities with both Dell EMC VxRail Appliances and Dell EMC VxRack System FLEX.

“These are suitable not only for large enterprises, but SMBs as well,” Minton said. “Splunk, when combined with our products like VxRail, is enabled for simple consumption, even at the lower end of the market. You don’t have to be a very big company to get value from this. It’s a highly affordable super-simple solution that runs Splunk very well.”

The smaller business solution is the Dell EMC Ready System for Splunk on VxRail. It combines the Splunk software with Dell EMC PowerEdge platforms, and is fully integrated and pre-tested with VMware vSAN. The Dell EMC Ready System for Splunk on VxRack FLEX is designed for medium- to large-sized businesses that require data center rack scale, and support for multiple hypervisors, operating systems and bare-metal configurations, and want to run multiple workloads in a single rack.

“The great value here is simplicity,” Minton said. “Customers have been asking for it. Chad Sakac [President, Global Systems Engineering, at Dell EMC] has been emphasizing it. These solutions are simple and accelerate time to value. Everyone wants things simple, large enterprises as well as SMBs.”

Minton acknowledged that the Dell EMC channel hasn’t had a huge role with the Splunk business in the past, but said that these Dell EMC Ready solutions are the start of a change here.

“We haven’t enabled the channel as well as we could around Splunk,” he said. “You will see more channel engagement. Dell EMC Ready systems are not a channel-only product, but they are a natural for the channel, because of their simplicity. It’s an easy packaged offer, and we are providing sales collateral that partners can use.”

Dell EMC Ready solutions for Splunk are available now.