With at least 45% of organizations using colocation services, the colo market is gaining steam. The primary benefits are enhanced bandwidth, minimized latency, and increased connectivity.

The partnership between Dell Technologies Inc. and Equinix Inc. has enabled the deployment of APEX Data Storage Services in a Dell-managed Equinix colo. As a result, this collaboration has eliminated the burden of data center management by providing a “three-legged stool” solution of computing, storage and networking, according to Tony Frank (pictured, right), global client executive at Equinix.

“So the colo market as a whole has really changed dramatically through the whole pandemic,” Frank explained. “If you didn’t know about Zoom two years ago, it’s your best friend now, or it’s your least favorite way to do business … but it’s the only way we have to do business in the world that we’re living in today.”

Frank and Caitlin Gordon (pictured, left), vice president of product management at Dell, spoke with Lisa Martin, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, during a recent digital CUBE Conversation. They discussed the Dell-Equinix partnership, the colo market, and how APEX Data Storage Services in Equinix facilities is emerging as a game-changer. (* Disclosure below.)

APEX DSS is outcome-driven

APEX DSS focuses on delivering customers an outcome rather than a product, according to Gordon.

“When I talk about APEX Data Storage Services, you’re not going to hear me mention a product,” she pointed out. “ It’s about offering our customers what they’re actually looking for … which is in the case of storage, I want either block or file storage.”

With a time-to-value of 14 days, Gordon believes that APEX DSS available in Equinix facilities helps Dell offer managed file and block storage faster and efficiently.

“The APEX console is where you start … if you select that you want APEX data store and services, you pick your type, your tier, your time period, and your size,” Gordon said. “And then you’re off to the races … what we’re committing to do is delivering that in as little as 14 days.”

Getting out of the data center has been accelerated by the pandemic, and the partnership between Dell and Equinix makes this a reality, Gordon added.

“We’ve had many customers coming to us having a challenge of getting out of the data center business,” she stated. “The nice thing for us is that between our two companies, we can solve that … we have the combination of the right infrastructure.”

With APEX DSS being on an expansion drive offensive across Europe and Asia, Gordon believes that its benefits will be felt by more enterprises.

“On our file capability, we will have the ability to support an S3 protocol … so you can do that app development and run your operations all off the same platform,” she explained.  

Equinix was previously focused on developing ecosystems, but the partnership with Dell is changing the game, because enterprise customers are getting to leverage the benefits of storage as a service, according to Frank.

“Enabling agile enterprises to distribute their infrastructure across the world, leveraging Dell product, Dell management, and to get access to partners, to their other footprints, to cloud service providers, etc., all within the footprint of Equinix,” 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