UPDATED 08:00 EDT / AUGUST 30 2022

INFRA

Dell announces DPU-powered VxRail systems for multicloud and edge-based VMware workloads

Dell Technologies Inc. might not own VMware Inc. anymore, but the two companies are still as close as ever, teaming up to co-engineer a range of new data center infrastructure systems they’ve announced today at VMware Explore 2022.

The new systems, announced alongside updates to Dell’s APEX infrastructure-as-a-service portfolio, are all about helping companies embrace multicloud and edge computing strategies by improving the performance of applications running in those environments, Dell said. According to Dell Infrastructure Solutions Group President Jeff Boudreau, customers have been asking for help to simplify their multicloud and edge strategies, and the company has listened.

The result is a new series of VxRail systems that were designed in close collaboration with VMware to run the latest version of vSphere 8, which is the latter’s flagship virtualization software. VxRail is a hyperconverged infrastructure system that bundles storage, compute and networking into a single appliance. Today’s update incorporates special “data processing units” within those systems that are more efficient at processing information than standard central processing units and graphics processors.

Dell believes the inclusion of this specialized silicon is vital, as vSphere 8 has been rearchitected to run on DPUs. Customer benefits include superior application and network performance, and a lower total cost of ownership. In addition, the new VxRail systems also support VMware’s new vSAN Enterprise Storage Architecture, providing more efficient storage. Moreover, they come in a smaller form-factor than previous-generation systems, making them ideal for deployment at edge locations such as hospitals, factories and industrial facilities.

Krish Prasad, VMware’s senior vice president and general manager of cloud infrastructure, said enterprise demands for software-defined networking and storage infrastructure places a lot of strain on traditional CPUs.

“As more distributed, resource intensive applications are onboarded, there is a need to reimagine data center architecture to fully support the requirements of these applications,” he explained. “Dell VxRail with VMware vSphere 8 will deliver a foundation for next generation data center architecture by running infrastructure services on the DPU.”

The new Dell VxRail systems will be globally available later this year. Customers can buy them outright, or alternatively access them through Dell’s growing APEX infrastructure-as-a-service business and pay based on the resources they use. There’s good reasons to consider using Dell’s APEX portfolio for VMware, as the company announced a number of updates there, too.

For instance, Dell APEX Cloud Services with VMware Cloud now supports managed VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid services, which the company said is ideal for developers who want to adopt a container-based approach to application development. With Dell’s managed Tanzu services, customers will be able to provision Kubernetes clusters directly through the vSphere user interface, Dell said.

Meanwhile, APEX Private Cloud and APEX Hybrid Cloud now offer new compute-only options that deliver more flexibility, allowing customers to independently scale their compute and storage resources.

In a final update, Dell announced a new service called Dell Validated Designs for AI – Automatic Machine Learning, which is said to rely on automated ML models to assist data scientists as they build AI-powered applications. The offering bundles a number of tested and proven Dell VxRail hyperconverged infrastructure configurations, including specific options to run AI development software from VMware, H20.ai Inc. and Nvidia Corp. According to Dell, customers can use the systems to speed time to insight and create new AI models by up to 18 times faster.

Images: Dell

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