With the introduction of Project APEX, Dell Technologies Inc.’s plan to deliver all of its products as a service, the company aims to minimize the time consumers spend dealing with information technology infrastructure and maximize time adding value to their business.

“There’s a clear preference for a hybrid cloud approach,” said Akanksha Mehrotra (pictured), vice president of portfolio marketing for APEX at Dell. “What’s really clear is that both private cloud and public cloud have their strengths and picking one you’re inevitably trading off the benefits of the other. Organizations want the flexibility to be able to choose the right path that best meet their business objectives.”

Mehrota spoke with Dave Vallente, host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during during Dell Technologies World. They discussed APEX, simplicity, the APEX console, feedback the company has received so far and more. (* Disclosure below.)

Bridging the gap

Although private servers offer performance and low latency that public servers can’t, businesses demand a balance of both. Not only does APEX consolidate on-premises and cloud infrastructure into a single package, it offers speed at every stage of the customer’s operation.

“We’re radically simplifying that entire technology experience to deliver this at scale to our entire install base, and that’s what APEX is all about,” Mehrotra said.

One of Dell’s new announcements is the its new Cloud Console. It provides all consumers self-service access to all of APEX’s services, as well as monitoring payment, roles and provisioning tasks.

“Over time, we will also be integrating the console with common procurement and provisioning systems so that they can further streamline approval workflows,” Mehrotra explained.

The next announcement was APEX Data Storage Services, the first in a series of outcome-based turnkey services in the APEX portfolio. Consumers can control every aspect of their data storage needs, from limiting employee access depending on their role to designating the amount of storage needed and upgrading upon demand, according to Mehrotra.

Feedback is already coming in

Immediate feedback on the flexibility of APEX has been good. “More and more customers are realizing that for compliance, regulatory or performance reasons, maybe public cloud doesn’t really work for them. So they’ve been looking for ways to get that experience within their data center,” Mehrotra said, adding that APEX’s hybrid cloud allows for this, with Dell enabling its customers to tailor APEX’s focus based on their needs.

Another popular talking point surrounding APEX is the ease and ability of being able to scale up or scale down data storage without the need to renegotiate contracts or terms. Cost transparency was another feature customers praised, eliminating any hidden costs and giving customers control over their budget. For example, a healthcare company was able to use APEX Flex on Demand to cut the onboarding process from months to days while simplifying compliance with regulations with data privacy and security, Mehrotra shared. In their feedback, the company commended the ability to stay efficient and cost effective without worrying about data residency.

Here’s the complete video interview, part of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of Dell Technologies World. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Dell Technologies World. Neither Dell Technologies, the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE