Data center modernization calls for the relocation of traditional servers to the hybrid cloud. Consequently, lifecycle management of the entire cloud infrastructure stack becomes prudent for optimal results.

With just a single click, Dell Technologies Inc.’s VCF on VxRail prompts automated lifecycle management for the entire hybrid cloud environment from hardware to software stack. As a result, the “big three,” namely, data resilience, extreme performance and replication, become inevitable, according to Samuel Niemi (pictured), product manager of VxRail and VMware Cloud Foundation at Dell.

“So instead of saying, I want to manage this cluster and this cluster … VCF allows us to manage VxRail clusters and deployments at a big scale,” Niemi explained. “So with VCF on VxRail, we’ve gone from nothing in the last two and a half years or so to tens of thousands of nodes deployed across the world.”

Niemi spoke with John Furrier, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during a recent digital CUBE Conversation. They discussed the evolving capabilities of VCF on VxRail. (* Disclosure below.)

VCF on VxRail prompts sub-millisecond latency

VCF on VxRail enables the deployment of a private or a hybrid cloud and maintains it using one interface, called SDDC Manager, or Software-Defined Data Center Manager.

“VxRail is our hyperconverged infrastructure system that allows for massive data centers scaling from node to node,” Niemi said. “VCF on VxRail specifically is the VMware SDDC software suite that allows us to create a private cloud with VxRail deployments.”

Extreme speed is part of the game for VCF on VxRail when it comes to the extraction of data, according to Niemi.

“When I’m standing at the gas pump and swipe my card, I don’t want to wait and wait for that database kit … PowerMax, PowerStore T, and Unity XT with those crazy low latencies allow our VCF on VxRail customers not to have to wait at the pump,” he  stated. “What we see is an ability for our customers to leverage the extreme speed of our PowerStore T,  PowerMax, and Unity XT storage arrays so that you can get that sub-millisecond latency.” 

With innovation being a key driver, Niemi believes that incorporating the external storage capability into VCF on VxRail is instrumental in providing better solutions to customers at a bigger enterprise scale.

“In June, we announced an ability for VCF on VxRail to consume external storage,” he said. “External storage gives us the ability to utilize your existing Dell EMC storage arrays and use that data-centric kind of storage deployment with your existing or new VCF on VxRail deployments.”

Depending on what’s needed in the storage array, Niemi trusts that VCF on VxRail guarantees remarkable performance. “If you need that performance at the edge, VCF can deploy remote clusters in a metro distance within 50 milliseconds,” he explained.  

Scaling nodes and storage independently is made possible through VCF on VxRail. Furthermore, it provides the development platform in the hybrid cloud through Tanzu.

 “VCF on VxRail means that we can sell our nodes without any storage … I’m going to scale my nodes and my storage independently of one another,” he concluded.

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s CUBE Conversations. (* Disclosure: Dell Technologies Inc. sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Dell nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE