Dell EMC will launch their new modular PowerEdge MX platform September 12, promising to remake data centre architecture with technology that will support both traditional and next-gen applications within a composable computing framework that pays much more attention to memory than earlier iterations of that technology.
Growth in the consumer market is a critical part of the Lenovo strategy Zielinski laid out, but channel reinvigoration, particularly in the SMB space, is also vital.
A new flexible consumption model for partners to sell is the big channel play here, although the product enhancements, including a new all-flash configuration option are also significant.
The HPE SimplVity 2600, which is the first SimpliVity that is entirely software-optimized, is being pitched at the VDI market to start, but the company thinks its flexibility will eventually take it beyond that.
HPE will be driving their Memory-Driven Computing model much more broadly to customers, partners and ISVs, by making a sandbox version available, particularly to expose it to developers, and also by bringing it to market selectively through their Pointnext flexible consumption model services.
The vertical solution is FlexPod Datacenter for Epic EHR, and the short-range strategy is to roll out additional solutions for the health care vertical – including additional ones for EHR – and then move to other verticals.
The new StorMagic appliance, leveraging its relationship with two of their strategic partners, will go to market through the Cisco channel.
The two new models include the first quad-processor environments for Nutanix environments, and a new edge appliance that can be as small as 1U. The new Life Cycle Management capability may, however, be what excites customers most about the new announcements.
Dell EMC also previewed their new PowerEdge MX servers – again – due for release some time in the back half of the year.
Nutanix also announced a pair of incents, one of which is explicitly around XC Core sales, and the other, covering all Nutanix sales, introduces a five per cent rebate for bringing new customers to Nutanix.
The new AMD EPYC processors, which were announced last June, make their first appearance in three new Dell EMC 14th Gen servers aimed at more demanding use cases.
Incents for new logos are on the way, but an even bigger change will be Nutanix moving from partners teaming with sales to making partners more autonomous.
In addition to the souped-up servers, Dell EMC has also simplified the ordering process by which partners acquire these HCI appliances.
While Canadian customers have a generally accurate reputation for being late technology adopters, Dell EMC execs at last week’s Toronto forum said that they are seeing movement towards newer Dell Technologies offerings.
Dell EMC expects to be the first OEM to bring Azure Stack to market on next-generation servers, and believes this offering will be a particularly strong one for channel partners.
The first-ever NetApp HCI solution, announced in June, will be available in October, and that, rather than the shinier and newer announcements at INSIGHT, was what had solution providers buzzing.
In addition to new SMB-focused server, storage, networking and hyper-converged product, HPE has brought their Consume IT OPEX pricing model from the enterprise to SMBs as well.
The new HPE relationship also brings the D&H HERO program, which provides additional HPE-focused support, into Canada.
OnApp, which has a larger global share of the service provider market, enters the enterprise HCI market with their software in Intel hardware, and a channel-only model with a master reseller/distributor in each geo.
HTBASE, a Toronto-area startup that is in the process of moving its main offices down to the Valley, has inked what for them is a huge statement of validation, partnering with Dell EMC.
