Dell Technologies’ VMworld announcements include enhancements to VMware Cloud on Dell EMC, tighter integration between VMware Cloud Director and Dell Technologies Cloud Platform, new support for VMware Tanzu, and a series of storage and data protection announcements.
With both concern and confusion apparent in the market around Dell Technologies’ proposed spin-off of VMware, Dell took pains with the kickoff of VMworld today to double down on its messaging that the tight relationship between the two organizations will not change if the deal goes through. To this end, the company announced a package of infrastructure portfolio announcements around VMware environments. None of them were earthshaking in themselves, but the aim here is to show that the focus on integration remains broad and strong.
“There are two big cloud announcements,” Chhabra said. “One is enhancements to VMware Cloud on Dell EMC, the cloud platform delivered on-prem, which is co-engineered and delivered by Dell and VMware. We have increased focus on regulated compliance and certifications, and added support for new compliance certifications like ISO, GDPR and host of industry and vertical-specific ones. Our goal is that the platform will meet all compliance needs.”
In addition, VMware Cloud on Dell EMC now simplifies workload mobility with VMware HCX either from legacy infrastructure or between workloads running across two locations. It also now has new multi-cluster support to segment workloads and create up to eight clusters in a rack.
“This ability to segment resources for workloads in a single rack allows customers to dedicate specific resources for workloads that need more attention,” Chhabra noted.
“We are also introducing new node types to support different application needs, with the one being announced her aimed at high memory and storage usage workloads,” Chhabra added.
The other cloud announcement, of particular interest to CSP partners, is tighter integration between VMware Cloud Director and Dell Technologies Cloud Platform, which streamlines service deployment and lifecycle management of the software-defined data centre.
“This drastically reduces time to market for service providers, provides them with prescriptive guidance, and helps them take advantage of cloud economics with consumption based pricing,” Chhabra said.
Dell is also announcing that Dell Technologies Cloud Platform and Dell EMC VxRail now support VMware vSphere with Tanzu, the first system to be integrated with VMware’s Tanzu Kubernetes portfolio.
“VMware announced Tanzu about a year ago to ensure joint customers can thrive in the world of containers, the modern applications which are at the heart of digital transformation for many customers,” said Jon Siegal, VP Integrated Products and Solutions at Dell Technologies.
Siegal said that the new VSphere with Tanzu on VxRail is the fastest way to get started with Kubernetes, offering Tanzu deployments through either a validated architecture, VxRail cluster or the Dell Technologies Cloud Platform, with the latter having subscription pricing that makes it easy to get started with VMware Tanzu in hybrid clouds for as low as $70 per node, per day.
“There is no need to adopt VMware Cloud Foundation to get started with Tanzu,” Siegal said. “This is good for those who want to get it into production quickly.”
The final bucket of Dell announcements around VMworld relates to storage and data protection. They begin with a tech preview. Dell EMC ObjectScale, their Kubernetes-based object storage platform, is now currently available in an early access program.
“ObjectScale is the next evolution of our object storage, and will be deployable on VMware, on VMware Cloud Foundation,” said Caitlin Gordon, VP Storage and Data protection at Dell Technologies. It will allow developers to provision cloud-scale storage for modern applications.
Gordon also announced enhancements to Dell EMC PowerProtect Data Manager.
“It will have protection for the VMware Cloud Foundation Management Domain – the brains of the operation,” she said. “We are one of the first in the market to support this.”
Dell is also highlighting an announcement from earlier this month, the integration of Dell EMC PowerMax replication with VMware vSphere Virtual Volumes (vVols) and VMware Site Recovery Manager. It simplifies VMware management by reducing time needed for provisioning, replication and service level policies.
Gordon also summed up the general theme of all the Dell announcements around VMware.
“Our partnership has never been stronger,” she stressed.
VMware Cloud on Dell EMC advancements are available in November 2020.
VMware Cloud Director on Dell Technologies Cloud Platform is available now
Support for VMware Tanzu in Dell EMC PowerProtect Data Manager will be globally available in October 2020.
VMware vSphere and VMware Cloud Foundation with Tanzu on VxRail and Tanzu support for Dell Technologies Cloud Platform will be globally available in October 2020.
Dell EMC ObjectScale early access is coming soon with global general availability planned in 2021.
Dell EMC PowerMax updates are available now.
VMware Cloud Foundation protection in Dell EMC PowerProtect Data Manager will be globally available in October 2020.
