• DELL TECHNOLOGIES APEX

    Get a more unified multicloud experience on technology you trust

    • Overview

      Reconciling disparate IT environments

      To establish a competitive advantage, organizations further digital transformation initiatives by embracing cloud capabilities and redesigning their IT environments to meet diverse needs. But in many cases these deployments have grown without centralized control, via Line of Business initiatives or mergers and acquisitions—often resulting in multicloud by default, rather than multicloud by design. Modern organizations understand that certain workloads benefit from the elasticity, flexibility, and on-demand nature that public cloud offers—while other workloads need the control, security, and high performance that remains the cornerstone of private cloud. As a result, many organizations end up operating workloads across multiple public clouds, their on-premises environments, as well as off- premises private clouds hosted in colocation facilities.

      A colocation facility provides data center facilities to companies on an as a service basis. It rents out shared, secure data center floor space on a monthly per-use basis delivering electrical power, networking, bandwidth, and additional services, overseeing the facilities operations of enterprises. When we refer to interconnected colocation the additional services offered include high speed connectivity to public clouds and digital ecosystems of network, software and service providers.

    • 51%

      of organizations currently use hosting and colocation services for data center operations, with another 44% planning to use them within 2 years.1

      The emergence of interconnected colocation facilities as essential cloud infrastructure

      While the value of private cloud is clear, running a private cloud on-premises requires large upfront costs, as well as the overhead of facility maintenance, power, cooling and security. Further, some organizations may also lack core capabilities like low latency connectivity to public clouds and digital services. As such, organizations may decide to focus their IT resources on higher-value activities instead of operating an in-house data center.

      These considerations often add burden to the data center and force IT leaders to make trade- off decisions. Colocation facilities offer a “release valve” to an overtaxed data center for growing businesses. Modern interconnected colocation can truly enable a modern IT strategy and deliver:

      • Optimize your data center and networking strategy
      • Make use of public cloud infrastructure and services while maintaining control over your data.
      • Align IT solutions with organizational and user demands across geographies, between partners and within digital ecosystems.
      • Quickly build a connected edge deployment that helps power your business.

    • Benefits

      How interconnected colocation facilities fit into your cloud strategy

      Interconnected colocation provides reduced latency, improved bandwidth, and rapid scale-out connectivity to clouds, partners and other colocation facilities. As a result, they can expand the options for executing a successful multicloud strategy across a range of use cases. Let’s take a look at some of the ways that interconnected colocation can play a part in improving your organization’s overall IT experience.

    • Secure high-speed cloud access without lock-in

        • Interconnected colocation is a means to gain the benefits of public cloud without releasing control of applications or data, thanks to high bandwidth low latency connections to many public cloud data centers. Workload requirements can be met without moving data off private infrastructure maintaining security and regulatory compliance and avoiding cloud vendor lock-in. Cloud adjacency is also an effective solution for hybrid workloads that span the private and public clouds, such as SAP Rise, and can be leveraged when workloads must be repatriated for example for cost control.

        • 51%

          of organizations migrated to a third-party colocation provider to gain access to multiple cloud providers.2

      • Success story

        Cloud adjacent architecture reduces latency and cuts costs in half

        A large global digital advertiser offering self-service platform data-driven digital advertising campaigns quickly outgrew their ability to service customers and online public auctions that drive their business. They needed to repatriate critical workloads by moving from public cloud-only infrastructure to a hybrid cloud solution. Working together, Dell Technologies and Equinix designed a sovereign, adjacent hybrid cloud architecture which reduced infrastructure management costs by 50% and lowered bid latency to less than 100ms.

    • Create an intelligent presence at the edge

        • When it comes to the edge, speed is everything. Similar to cloud interconnects, the principal idea for establishing edge presence is to leverage a nearby colocation facility to keep data as close as possible to its source and leverage the colo facility global optimized network. Establishing a “base” to route traffic from edge locations enables real-time analytical capabilities in public clouds closer to the source, while cost effectively connecting the edge to the core and to clouds, delivering the necessary speed for you to provide new value and reduce data gravity.

        • 41%

          of organizations believe Edge is central to their IT strategy and already unlocking innovation. A further 42% believe it will unlock innovation in the future.2

      • Success story

        Edge retail solution improves customer experience around the globe

        Working with a large retailer, Dell Technologies and Equinix teamed together to develop a global network of point-of-sales solutions for their 20,000+ retail locations. Dell established the enterprise datacenters, while the colocation facility provided the backbone for the retailer's global network. The resulting edge architecture reduced latency by 400% and networking costs by 3x.

    • Reduce demand on IT resources

      • 64%

        of surveyed organizations agree/strongly agree that they need external technology specific expertise to help their internal teams be successful.

        Colocation facilities keep data centers running at peak performance so you don’t have to. The result is a dramatic reduction of the level of staffing needed so IT staff can focus on innovation. When combined with physical Infrastructure as-a-Service, such as Dell APEX, this effect is multiplied.

        Dell APEX is an as-a-Service portfolio of scalable outcome-based resources, where you pay for what is used, delivered to the required service level with infrastructure that is owned by Dell Technologies.

        This can be a very good option for enterprises looking to take advantage of OpEx cost models to relieve budget constraints while enabling businesses to deploy modernized IT, without the need for highly skilled IT staff.

         

        64%

        of surveyed organizations agree/strongly agree that they need external technology specific expertise to help their internal teams be successful.

      • Service Management

        Teams work with business users to determine KPIs, build supporting services, and ensure governance and compliance.

      • Infrastructure Ops

        Design and manage cloud environments, configure and maintain infrastructure, and build APIs to enable self-service provisioning of resources.

      • Automation

        Automate common operational infrastructure activities, automate processes for CI/CD, and provide connectivity frameworks.

      • DevOps Platforms

        Configure and operate development platforms, upgrade and scale environments, and expose application APIs.

    • Accelerate delivery of sustainable IT

      • 56%

        lack the in-house capability to measure, manage, and analyze sustainability data

        Environmental sustainability is no longer icing on the cake, it’s a necessary ingredient to an organization’s business strategy. Leading IT companies have a responsibility to manage environmental, social and governance (ESG) issues. Dell’s partnerships with colocation partners provide interconnected services that ensure a commitment to sustainability. Currently, Equinix, our largest colocation partner, uses 95% renewable energy with a commitment to move towards 100% renewable energy in resource procurement.7

        In addition, Dell APEX as-a-Service consumption models can reduce the environmental cost of decommissioning and retiring hardware.

         

        56%

        lack the in-house capability to measure, manage, and analyze sustainability data

      • Dell uses

        396.5M

        pounds of sustainable materials in our products and packaging8

      • by year

        2030

        Equinix has a goal of being climate neutral

    • Facilitate rapid organizational growth

      • Data centers can’t be built overnight, and yet organizations need to be able to keep up with organizational growth no matter how fast the organization moves. Colocation facilities can provide the geographic footprint needed to rapidly expand and scale operations without having to stand up technology in a new location.

        An enterprise expanding to a new continent can ease that transition by leveraging a colocation facility. When time is of the essence, this can be a great way to quickly get facilities and services up and running at scale in a new location without the need to understand all the legal and compliance requirements in-country. Colocation facilities can also serve as a “release valve” for an over-burdened data center when organizations are experiencing rapid growth. When aligned with as-a-Service infrastructure deployment, an enterprise vastly increases their deployment agility.

      • 27%

        of organizations that have migrated to a third-party colocation provider did so for geographical expansion to additional metro areas.4

        Did you know?

        As business has become increasingly digital, organizations have become increasingly global, and there are many challenges to expanding in new regions.

        For example, an enterprise looking to the EU will have to comply with GDPR laws governing the use of data as well as the Digital Markets Act and the rapidly changing geopolitical situation. Furthermore, regional expansion could be complicated due to data sovereignty mandates—which dictate where data is controlled by the countries where it is created. A colocation facility manages all these aspects, reducing these potential challenges by allowing you to stand up localized resources where you need them, within the bounds of that country’s compliance laws.

         

        27%

        of organizations that have migrated to a third-party colocation provider did so for geographical expansion to additional metro areas.4

      • Success story

        Unified communications platform expands into nine new regions in a matter of days

        A large web content provider needed to scale their collaboration and unified collaboration platform into new international markets, including Europe and Asia-Pacific. Leveraging Dell Technologies infrastructure deployed in an Equinix data center, this customer expanded into nine markets worldwide across 12 data centers. The provider harnessed the colocation partner’s public cloud on-ramps to quickly set up and scale its access to networks, clouds, partners, and customers in just days.

    • Leverage interconnected ecosystems

        • Advanced interconnected colocation providers create a direct connection between resources within their global platform, bypassing the public internet. Interconnection serves to future-proof data access and enable digital transformation. They provide a central meeting place for networks, clouds, and enterprises to host their physical infrastructure. Interconnection enables the efficient exchange of traffic at very high speeds, which has led to a broad digital ecosystem of horizontal and vertical, software-defined services. When fast and secure connections to such third-party offerings are necessary, leveraging a nearby colocation facility is often advantageous.

        • 27%

          of organizations cited facilitation of access to cloud networking and content providers as a top reason for using colocation services5

    • Partners

      Colocation partners

      The use of colocation to augment and expand existing IT capabilities is about meeting organizations’ technology needs wherever they may be. It can play an important role in extending consistency across the entire IT landscape and providing an important piece of the puzzle to craft an IT strategy that’s aligned to the needs of the organization. By working with colocation partners, Dell can drive transformative business results for our customers. Major organizations across the globe have worked with us to realize increased performance, lowered costs, reduced latency, and heightened security.

      The Dell Global Alliances organization has a formal Data Center Provider program in addition to the many hundreds of Cloud and Managed, Service Provider partners within which Equinix is a key partner to Dell. We have built out many solutions that enable our customers to optimally deploy their essential infrastructure where it makes most sense.

    • Secure location

      Get up and running quickly in new regions or expand current operations.

    • Enhanced connectivity

      Establish cross connections with key business partners and high bandwidth, low latency cloud connections.

    • IT and network architecture and management expertise

      Free up your staff to focus on high value activities that service the mission of the organization.

    • Data center operations best practices

      Proven architectures, software and support service offerings ensure high availability, reduced risk and business resiliency

    • Advanced Architectures

      Accelerate digital transformation with next-gen deployment models, including cloud interconnectivity, edge, and AI/ML.

    • Working with Dell Technologies

      Benefits of working with Dell Technologies and our partners

      Dell Technologies is uniquely positioned to help optimize IT landscapes. Across every section of the technology stack, with extensive service offerings available, and with a broad partner ecosystem spanning the globe, Dell Technologies can help you build what is needed to enable success.

    • Global partner ecosystem

      Dell Technologies maintains a global network of 4,200+ trusted partnerships. Through this network, we provide the expanded value-added services and deployment models customers demand to accelerate the adoption of the cloud operating model—from advice, to design, to deployment, to multicloud orchestration, to full-stack managed services and outsourcing.

       

    • Experienced IT provider

      Dell Technologies has helped organizations of all sizes power their most essential workloads and we can leverage that experience to help your organization too. Whether your organization needs a turnkey cloud solution, data protection, storage for multicloud, or auxiliary services such as VDI or WAN solutions, we offer the best-of-breed technology so you can confidently
      deliver the best results.

       

    • Dell Technologies Services

      We have helped thousands of customers successfully create and operate cloud environments with our global support network of more than 35,000 Dell Technologies service experts across 170 locations. The depth of our expertise ensures that no matter what your business goals, we can help you achieve them.

       

    • Global supply chain

      Our supply chain and its ability to reach, service, and support customers virtually anywhere in the world is unmatched. Leveraging thousands of service centers, organizations can stand up physical IT in a colocation facility quickly and with Dell certified engineers managing your hardware, IT teams can focus on higher-value activities.

       

    • Establishing a winning IT strategy

      Establishing a winning IT strategy with Dell APEX

      IT leaders have embraced the cloud operating model for its agility and efficient service delivery. However, managing multiple incompatible public clouds in a multicloud environment can be complex, with dispersed workloads and data making it difficult to mitigate risk, manage performance, modernize applications, and manage costs.

      To overcome the complexities of multicloud by default, Dell APEX delivers multicloud by design, giving you more control. We collaborate with public cloud providers to simplify operations in a multicloud environment. And we bring the agility of the cloud operating model to you – across our broad portfolio – with flexible consumption, including as-a-Service options, to help reduce costs and free up your IT teams to accelerate innovation.

      • Simplicity

        Take advantage of cloud experiences everywhere

         

      • Agility

        React quickly to capture new opportunities

         

      • Control

        Minimize risk and maximize performance on your terms

         
      • BY 2026

        65%

        of Tech Buyers will prioritize as-aservice consumption models for infrastructure purchases to help restrain IT spending growth and fill ITOps talent gaps6

    • Delivering as-a-Service capabilities everywhere

      • Dell APEX delivers as-a-Service everywhere, bringing together the benefits of public cloud and what is needed in private cloud—so organizations can meet today’s challenges and be ready for what’s next. Stand up resources with greater cost transparency, no upfront costs, no long-term commitments, and no lengthy approvals—freeing up time and budget for other priorities.

    • Enabling consistency across clouds

      • All too often, IT landscapes become littered with complexity due to inconsistent experiences and disparate management tools, leaving organizations open to risk. Dell APEX provides much needed consistency across all environments, improving the security posture and helping companies meet regulatory compliance objectives while reducing management complexity and overhead. This means that organizations can leverage a familiar toolset to deploy workloads in the environment that best meets business and application needs, and power those workloads reliably and securely. Dell APEX is further innovating through differentiated cloud storage platforms delivering trusted Dell Block, File and Object storage technologies natively in the cloud.

    • Building on industry-leading infrastructure

      • No matter what consumption model, or how consistent cloud deployments are, organizations need powerful and reliable infrastructure to provide constant performance. Dell Technologies has the best of breed infrastructure, accelerated by Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors, and loaded with cutting edge software to manage IT upkeep and proactively respond to security threats. Redefine performance with 4th Gen Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors—featuring built-in accelerators to improve performance across the fastest-growing workloads in AI, data analytics, networking, storage, and HPC. Dell APEX is our commitment to deliver our full portfolio — servers, storage and compute—in an as-a-Service manner, something only Dell Technologies and our robust partner community can deliver.

    • Dell essential infrastructure optimally deployed

      • Dell offers several ways to consume Dell infrastructure in colocation. The simplest offer is Dell APEX Data Storage Services in Dell-managed colocation. With our Data Center Alliance partner Equinix, you can deploy outcome based, Dell-managed Storage as-a-Service offers in select Dell-managed colocation with a single bill from Dell, relieving the user of managing the relationship with Equinix or the storage infrastructure. In addition, customers can customize their infrastructure needs by selecting any product or configuration they need and deploying in any colo provider or location they choose. In most cases, this use case would be for customers with existing relationships with the colocation provider where they manage the colo components of the offer. For customers looking to have a third party manage their environment and colo, Dell can provide this facility via our Dell-managed service offerings or via a third-party partner who can manage the infrastructure and colo relationship as well as higher application-level deployment models as needed. In addition, Dell infrastructure can be purchased directly from Equinix and deployed in the Equinix Metal IaaS offerings.

    • The infrastructure you use matters

      • Colocation facilities are an excellent tool to help you gain and keep full control of your IT without trading modern compute and scalability capabilities. Leveraging these facilities enables you to exercise full control over your workloads, while applying the ability to rapidly power up and scale via hyperscalers. Critically, you will be able to run your workloads with the infrastructure you choose to deploy. Regardless of which use case(s) discussed on this page apply to your organization, you will need to ensure the solutions you deploy are powerful and agile enough to power your organization now and in the future.


        Dell Technologies provides foundational cloud solutions to address your unique business needs. Solutions built on Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors offer the most choice and flexibility, no matter the deployment path — on-prem, hybrid cloud, network, or edge. Now, you can deliver cloud capabilities to every environment, powering your critical applications while equipping your development teams for success. You can consume cloud infrastructure as-a-Service in your on-premises environments, allowing you to realize a true cloud experience in your data center. Finally, Dell APEX simplifies the management process, freeing you up to focus on high-value transformative actions.


        To stay ahead of the competition, you need to leverage a broad and powerful portfolio of solutions paired with expert professional services and an unmatched global supply chain to support all your cloud environments. With Dell Technologies by your side, you’ll be ready for what comes next. Contact us today to learn how we can help you find success with cloud.

    • Dell APEX

    • Dell Technology Services

    • Technology Partners

    • On premises, in the public cloud, or at the edge, Dell Technologies and Intel work together to ensure optimal performance across a broad range of workloads. Intel technology is built upon years of cloud innovation and tuned to your unique needs with built-in AI and Crypto acceleration and advanced security capabilities. Built on open standards and APIs, with fully optimized software and security, Intel Xeon Scalable processors provide a consistent processing foundation, enable the flexibility to place your workloads with confidence, and evolve your infrastructure for changing needs, streamlining cost, and enhancing data governance. Intel’s datacentric portfolio is built on decades of application optimizations, designed to help your business move faster, store more, and process everything from edge to cloud and with any consumption model.

    • VMware Cloud Foundation on Dell VxRail combines the simplicity and agility of the public cloud with the enhanced security and control of on-premises infrastructure. This solution can be purchased in a traditional CAPEX model, or, by subscription through Dell APEX Hybrid cloud. VMware’s industry leading compute, storage, and networking software is integrated with enterprise-class Dell EMC hardware, empowering you to drive any enterprise workload. VMware empowers you to overcome multi-cloud complexity with software-defined solutions that simplify management and improve app and data portability, allowing you to focus on business innovation and differentiation.

      1. U.S. Enterprise Communications Survey, IDC, August 2022.
      2. IDC, U.S. Enterprise Communications Survey, 2022: Managed Hosting and Colocation Service Adoption, Doc # US48728422, December 2022.
      3. A commissioned study conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Dell Technologies, November 2022.
      4. IDC, U.S. Enterprise Communications Survey, 2022: Managed Hosting and Colocation Service Adoption, Doc # US48728422, December 2022.
      5. IDC, U.S. Enterprise Communications Survey, 2022: Managed Hosting and Colocation Service Adoption, Doc # US48728422, December 2022.
      6. IDC FutureScape: “Worldwide Future of Digital Infrastructure 2023 Predictions,” October 2022. Doc # US48376222.
      7. https://sustainability.equinix.com/environment/scaling-renewable-energy/