theCUBE Live Dell World 2014

Dell Inc. wants “to bring Flash storage to the masses,” said Alan Atkinson, VP and GM of Dell Storage. Instead of purchasing a Flash company, Dell “rewrote [its] software to take advantage of Tiers and Flash.” Dell’s tiering algorithm give it the opportunity to use different types of Flash — a chance that other companies missed out on — because they control the write process. Because Dell writes to Flash first, Dell customers can buy all Flash or hybrid configurations that provide “two flavors of Flash and a spinning flavor” of current storage solutions, Atkinson explained. By aggregating Flash write speeds and leveraging Dell’s virtualized architecture and data reduction, Dell gains a “huge cost advantage,” he went on. And price, Atkinson believes, is what was holding many customers back from flash adoption.

Moving quickly into Flash, Atkinson commented, is the response to “lessons learned” from the virtualization process. Dell is taking advantage of their position now, because Flash will become ubiquitous in the near future, Atkinson predicts.

Dell’s approach to Flash is unique within the industry, and Dell has also taken a distinct approach to software-defined storage. Their Blue Thunder effort, a project aimed at integrating multiple software-defined storage solutions on Dell’s own server hardware, represents “the perfect platform for software-defined [storage]” said Atkinson, adding that Dell is very proud of their Original Equipment Manufacture (OEM) business. A “healthy partner ecosystem,” he said, is certainly part of that business, as it enables Dell to “offer an end-to-end solution” that includes support and integration.

The Nutanix Inc. partnership is among those essential associations. It’s one that Atkinson described as a “very deep OEM relationship” that allows customers to access a Dell product powered by Nutanix software. “Of course,” added Atkinson, “we’re going to develop our own IP in software defined.”

Looking towards the future, Atkinson said that his primary goal is to “provide common management” between all its storage products. He hinted, though, that Dell might be looking to create a “software encapsulation of [its] technology” to give customers even more options when it comes to storage.

Join the conversation & Follow the buzz

Stay tuned for the full video of Atkinson’s interview from Dell World 2014, and be sure to check out our archived segments on SiliconANGLE’s YouTube channel, here.

Join the conversation via our CrowdChat event online here – you can sign in using Twitter, LinkedIn or Facebook to share your opinions and ask questions of theCUBE guests.