Dell Technologies highlights software storage solutions during eponymous Las Vegas event

Whether for mobile network operators or enterprises, edge computing is currently getting lots of airtime. And rightfully so as distributed computing resources are necessary to quickly ingest, analyze and make decisions (both for manual and autonomous operations) based on data from all manner of devices, including anything that would fall under the internet of things umbrella. While edge computing is the star of the show, so to speak, storage is certainly near the top of the call sheet—while ultra-fast connectivity like 5G allows enterprises to strip off data that doesn’t have clear utility, in order to operate anywhere close to real-time, data needs to be stored, if even for a short time, to be actionable. 

Dell’s Jon Siegal, senior vice president, ISG Products and Solutions Marketing, made the case in a May 3 blog post. IT organizations, he wrote, need to be prepared “to extract the most value from their data, whether it lives. Ready to put insights into action with automated operations and intelligence. Ready for security threats that can strike at any time. All while managing differing strategies across edge, core and cloud, IT staffing needs and exploding data growth.” 

Customers have communicated to Dell Technologies, Siegal continued, “that they need to deliver innovation at light-speed and address challenges in real time. To accelerate the time between data creation and innovation, we realized that what is truly needed is a storage experience that is continuously modern. And the only way to do that is through software-driven innovation.”

So what does that look like from a product perspective? In press materials Dell specifically called out its PowerStore, PowerMax and PowerFlex solutions: 

• PowerStore is described as “the fast ramping new architecture in company history,” so, “Customers can better plan business continuity strategies with software-only high availability metro replication…” 
• PowerMax is geared towards “mission-critical storage…[and] cyber-resiliency.” There’s built-in ransomware detection and mechanisms to help speed up cyber recovery. 
• PowerFlex is for enterprises looking to simplify “multi-cloud and DevOps” and it works with “all major Kubernetes and container orchestration platforms from Amazon, Google, Microsoft, Red Hat, SUSE and VMware.”

Siegal boiled down Dell’s approach to storage as marked by “adaptable software architectures…, comprehensive cyber-resiliency…[and] multi-cloud ecosystem flexibility.” 

“Our software-driven innovation has always been focused on what our customers need,” Siegal wrote “Helping them turn headwinds into tailwinds to boost productivity, get the most of data anytime, anywhere all while remaining secure from threats. 

Customer IQVIA, a firm specialized in data analytics/insights for healthcare and clinical research, relies on data science and, by extension, data storage, “to help customers accelerate clinical development and healthcare outcomes,” the company’s Director of Global Storage Ken Boyer said in a statement. “Driving transformative outcomes requires an infrastructure partner just as focused on innovation. Dell Technologies storage delivers the automation, security, performance and scale we need as we reimagine life sciences.”