With VMware, Inc.’s focus on cross-cloud capabilities serving as one of the defining attributes of this week’s VMworld conference, storage and interoperability are at the forefront of discussion.

Jim Ganthier, VP and GM of Engineered Solutions, HPC and Cloud at Dell Technologies, Inc., sat down with Stu Miniman (@stu) and John Troyer (@jtroyer), cohost and guest host of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, at VMworld 2016 to talk about the implications of new storage methods and capabilities, as well as how Dell is tailoring these options to customers’ needs and the ways in which Dell’s existing relationship with VMware will adjust once the Dell-EMC merger is complete.

Moving on

Ganthier began by pointing out some ways in which progress is being made, not just in terms of the technology that’s available, but in widespread recognition of that tech. “Folks are moving away from the days where we had silo server storage,” he said. “We’re seeing that there are folks that understand [the future].”

He added: “Dell, looking at this whole environment, sees an opportunity to come up with the most flexible converged systems on the planet,” Ganthier stated. And as VMware moves from an established utility to a full holding of Dell’s, it will become one of the most-used tools in bringing that opportunity into reality.

In current utilization, though, VMware’s Virtual SAN (an enterprise-class shared storage solution for hyper-converged infrastructure) is doing “really well,” Ganthier said, due to the speed with which it can be implemented, while the implementation of the solution utilities VxRail (a hyper-converged infrastructure appliance) and VxRack (a hyper-converged system) “is working out pretty well.”

Speed and consistency

Ganthier also put forth the idea of “faster time to discovery; faster time to results” as a key concept in Dell’s approach to solving customer needs, with applications of this mentality going beyond the storage arena. As Ganthier put it, “The continuum of offers” is how Dell is addressing individuals’ needs.

“If you think of reference architectures,” he said, “all of those are part of the continuum, and depending on what the customer wants to do, that’s how we help them.” He also emphasized Dell’s commitment past initial installation and adoption, saying, “It’s not just about day one; it’s about day two through N.”

And in staying committed to customer performance, he noted, “Ppart of that continuum … needs to also be a great management and orchestration layer.” But as Ganthier put it, in bringing these solutions to customers, no matter which industry sector their needs are found in, “It all starts with ‘what’s the work-load? What are you trying to do?’”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of the VMworld 2016.

Photo by SiliconANGLE