What’s the future of multicloud as today’s tech giants seek out simplified stack solutions?

Earlier this year, Dell Technologies Inc. debuted broad upgrades to its APEX multicloud portfolio at the company’s annual Dell Technologies World conference. What started as a ground-to-cloud strategy is now evolving to encapsulate a cohesive multicloud solution aimed at accelerating application modernization and optimizing workload placements.

Dell’s APEX portfolio of hardware and software offerings was first introduced a year ago as Project Alpine. It was enhanced with the addition of APEX Block Storage and APEX File Storage, and those products were designed with a “ground-to-cloud” strategy in mind.

“It’s how we help our customers really unlock that workload flexibility, be able to choose where to deploy your workloads,” said Caitlin Gordon, vice president of product management at Dell, during Dell Technologies World.

The next steps for APEX will be revealed during the upcoming “Future of Multicloud Lands Now – Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure” virtual event. The conference will be an opportunity to examine how Dell’s APEX portfolio is evolving to address multicloud modernization needs. It will also be a chance to examine how that’s impacting Dell’s long-term strategy when it comes to differentiating its APEX products and services.

Join theCUBE on Sept. 26 for our exclusive coverage of the Dell APEX event, as theCUBE analysts talk with industry professionals and analyze product announcements live on theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio. (* Disclosure below.)

Check out theCUBE’s event trailer:

The long-term strategy

Dell’s sales and profits results beat analysts’ estimates following reduced revenue in its fiscal first quarter. The revenue decline was a result of large enterprises being reluctant to commit to big deals and remaining cautious in their spending, according to Dell. At the time, analysts responded by saying that the company was operationally sound and appeared well-positioned to address future challenges and market opportunities.

While the company did appear to be losing some storage market share, its moves in automation and APEX should lend itself to growth, according to theCUBE industry analyst Dave Vellante.

“The long-term strategy remains unchanged and appears on track, with edge being a potentially massive wild card,” he said in June. “In my view, Dell is being conservative so it can deliver on its promises and, when the market turns up, they’ll be well-positioned to grow against easier year-over-year comparisons.”

Dell, meanwhile, has pointed to the business value of its APEX multicloud and as-a-service solutions. Interviewed APEX customers had an enterprise profile, with an average employee base of 28,627 and annual revenue of $9.96 billion, according to the company.

“IDC calculates that the study participants will on average incur 39% lower costs over three years, equating to a savings of $5.38 million per organization, or over $18,000 per 100 users,” the report reads.

APEX advancements

In debuting the broad upgrades to its APEX multicloud portfolio, Dell said it was demonstrating how customers could deploy its storage software in public clouds of their choice. That way, the company would provide flexibility and control over where critical data resides, introducing a software-as-a-service application called APEX Navigator for Multicloud Storage.

“It’s really extending the APEX Console to have these capabilities that we’re building with Navigator,” said Magi Kapoor, director of multicloud product management at Dell, during Dell Technologies World. “Think of it as an orchestrator that’s going to orchestrate this complexity of cloud that customers might have. This is a place, a centralized control plane, where you can see all your assets across everything, whether you are doing it on-prem, in co-location, on edge or even in the public clouds.”

All told, the efforts are essentially Dell attempting to remain a neutral infrastructure and software partner for its enterprise customers, Brent Ellis, an analyst at Forrester Research, told TechTarget.

“They’re not trying to take people away from their [preferred] technology,” he said. “Dell’s a very pragmatic company.”

The next steps for APEX, and its ongoing evolution to address multicloud modernization needs, will be a key focus during the Dell APEX event. TheCUBE will provide full coverage of the event to capture all the breaking news and provide analyst-driven commentary on product announcements. You can follow theCUBE’s wall-to-wall coverage for firsthand insights.

TheCUBE event livestream

Don’t miss theCUBE’s coverage of the “Future of Multicloud Lands Now – Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure” virtual event on Sept. 26. Plus, you can watch theCUBE’s event coverage on-demand after the live event.

How to watch theCUBE interviews

We offer you various ways to watch theCUBE’s coverage of the “Future of Multicloud Lands Now – Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure” virtual event, including theCUBE’s dedicated website and YouTube channel. You can also get all the coverage from this year’s events on SiliconANGLE.

TheCUBE Insights podcast

SiliconANGLE also has podcasts available of archived interview sessions, available on iTunes, Stitcher and Spotify, which you can enjoy while on the go.

SiliconANGLE also has analyst deep dives in our Breaking Analysis podcast, available on iTunes, Stitcher and Spotify.

Guests

During the “Future of Multicloud Lands Now – Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure” virtual event, theCUBE analysts will talk with Dean Paron, partner director of product for Azure edge infrastructure at Microsoft Corp.; Caitlin Gordon, vice president of product management, APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure, at Dell; and Shannon Champion, VP of product marketing at Dell, about Dell APEX’s evolution and the latest announcements.

If you missed the event, watch theCUBE’s complete coverage below:

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for the “Future of Multicloud Lands Now – Dell APEX Cloud Platform for Microsoft Azure” virtual event. Neither Dell Technologies Inc., the sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Image: SiliconANGLE