The days when an enterprise had no cloud plan are long gone. This is why Dell EMC, Dell Technologies Inc.’s infrastructure group, is pursuing a very deliberate strategy of forming partnerships with major cloud service providers while continuing to enhance its on-premises portfolio of client services.

“That’s a hint of where we’re going, and you’re going to see more and more of that as we go forward,” said Sam Grocott, senior vice president of marketing, storage and data protection at Dell EMC.

Grocott stopped by theCUBE, SiliconANGLE’s mobile live-streaming studio, to answer questions from hosts Rebecca Knight (@knightrm) and Paul Gillin (@pgillin), during Dell EMC World 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. They discussed new trends in data protection, how to keep the company on the cutting-edge and the important role that cloud services will play in Dell EMC’s overall business strategy. (*Disclosure below.)

New cloud data protection tool unveiled

During Dell EMC World, the company showcased new products designed to help its clients better manage the hyper-converged infrastructure. The new offerings include cloud data protection as part of Dell EMC’s Data Domain Virtual Edition software-defined protection storage tool.

“Old tapes and technology, that’s not what we’re doing,” Grocott said. “The flag we’re planting today in data protection is cloud and cloud-native data protection.”

Dell EMC is mindful that customers need to reinvest in next-generation cloud storage applications or more efficient on-premises solutions, while keeping costs down, Grocott noted. “There’s no CIO out there getting larger budgets; that’s just not happening. So you have to self-fund,” he said.

To further help Dell EMC clients with the off-site transition, the company has formed partnerships with numerous cloud providers, including Amazon Web Services Inc., Microsoft’s Azure, Google and Virtustream Inc. “It’s probably one of the most strategic partnerships we have in the entire ecosystem,” Grocott said about the company’s data protection partners.

The Dell EMC merger has put pressure on the new company to maintain innovation. Heavy investment ($1 billion dollars last year) in research and development combined with hiring “the best and the brightest” will be the keys for maintaining their cutting edge moving forward, Grocott explained.

“Despite one of the largest mergers in IT, we’ve been able to demonstrate rapid innovation,” he said. “Look for more in the second half of the year as well.”

Watch the complete interview below and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s independent editorial coverage of Dell EMC World 2017. (*Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Dell EMC World. Neither Dell nor other sponsors have editorial influence on content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

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