Hobbling together computing infrastructure for agility and advanced capabilities such as artificial intelligence and real-time analytics can be a headache. The imperative is to release new software and services in step with customer whims, and that’s driving demand for technologies that stitch together data across the multicloud and automate infrastructure’s heavy lifting.

“As chief executive, that’s what you crave — how can I take this new requirement that I heard from the customer and turn it into a feature that I can go offer very, very quickly? That’s what you want to be able to do,” said Michael Dell (pictured), chairman and chief executive officer of Dell Technologies.

Especially after merging with storage giant EMC and its family of networking solutions, Dell’s got a portfolio as thick as the Yellow Pages. So if a technology is necessary for agile development, customers can likely find it under Dell’s umbrella. The best solutions for agility are Dell’s offerings which tie hybrid architectures together with scattered data, Dell said. They aren’t the ready-made business-vertical apps, but ingredients users add to make their unique use cases jell.

Dell spoke with spoke with John Furrier and Lisa Martin, co-hosts of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the Dell Boomi World event in Las Vegas. The trio discussed how Dell’s evolving portfolio enables agile development, where Boomi fits into the bigger picture and why Dell’s portfolio is seeing growth. (* Disclosure below.)

A linchpin in IT

These jelling ingredients include just-acquired startup Heptio Inc., which will help integrate the open-source Kubernetes container-orchestration platform into Dell’s crown jewel VMware Inc. “I think people don’t want to get locked into a particular place when it comes to their infrastructure, and Kubernetes has clearly won the battle to be that abstraction layer,” Dell said.

Another is Dell Boomi, a business unit specializing in cloud-based integration, application program interface management and master data management. Boomi plays at the top layer of the applications and is useful for meshing “internet of things” edge devices together, Dell said. It has enjoyed 80 percent growth in bookings in the last quarter, he added.

At today’s event, Boomi announced a renewed integration platform as a service strategy for deepening connectivity across ecosystems, including Blockchain support and a new partner program. A leader in Gartner’s magic quadrant for seven years running, Boomi is redefining iPaaS for intelligence services. To succeed, Boomi will need to leverage its terabytes of data to connect edge devices and compute power.

In the quick-or-dead landscape of digital business, it’s all about understanding your competitive advantage, according to Dell. Companies need technology that abstracts away complexity but is fluid enough to work with spurs of creative development.

“Packaged applications are great for things that aren’t differentiated,” Dell said. “But if you actually do something that’s unique and valuable and special, and you can’t express that in software with your own data, you’re going to have a problem.”

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Dell Boomi World event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Dell Boomi World. Neither Dell Boomi, the event sponsor, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE