This is a joint blog post by VMware and Dell EMC.
By: Megan McMichael, Principal VxRail Product Marketing Manager and Wayne Pauley, Senior Director, Global Alliances, VMware
When VMware and Dell EMC set out to engineer a software-defined data center (SDDC) building block capable of delivering a full private cloud solution, we knew that it would have to be powerful, compact and able to keep up with the speed of our customers. When we launched VxRail, our new hyper-converged infrastructure offering, we knew we had accelerated customers’ paths to the cloud. And when Dimension Data chose VxRail as the building block for its portable, trackside data center to support its performance cycling team, we knew we had accomplished our mission!
In today’s digital world, there are many different IT workloads and deployment scenarios that require flexible IT infrastructure capable of providing varying levels of capacity, performance, scalability, and control. Thanks to VMware’s pioneering work in SDDC technology, this elasticity has been available to large enterprises for quite some time; the race to acquire cloud agility has been running in high gear, with early adopters of the private cloud model lapping their competitors who have not yet made the cloud transition.
With each passing day data center infrastructure is getting smaller and more powerful. Extensive joint engineering, development and testing between VMware and Dell EMC have produced the VxRail hyper-converged infrastructure appliance, the compact and affordable SDDC building block that is allowing small- and medium-sized businesses to join the sprint to private cloud agility.
VxRail for Core Data Center Capabilities
Dimension Data knows that the new VxRail appliance is the easiest and fastest way to stand up a fully virtualized VMware SDDC environment. The Dimension Data team literally takes this private cloud appliance on the road with them, relying on VxRail to deliver trackside, real-time analysis of race data. Dimension Data’s truck-mounted mobile data center, featuring the compact but powerful VxRail appliance, brings new meaning to the concept of “on-premise data center.”
“We’re only scratching the surface with the kinds of data we can capture in professional cycling,” said Tim Wade, senior director of architecture at Dimension Data Sports Practice. “As we collect an ever wider range of data from a larger group of riders, we’ll be able to do deeper analysis – from learning where the stresses and strains are on a bike, to how a rider’s position on the bike can improve performance. In the recent Berlin six-day track race and the Cadel Evans Great Oceans Road Race, for example, we weren’t only capturing position but also speed, cadence, and the heart rate of each rider and feeding that onto live TV. As we collect more data from more elements, it will fundamentally change the sport. VxRail makes this real-time analysis on the racetrack possible.”
While transporting a complete private cloud infrastructure from racetrack to racetrack doesn’t fit within the business plan of most enterprises, there isn’t a better illustration of VxRail’s combination of simplicity, compactness and reliability. And with an ever-expanding set of use cases in play today across the business landscape, it’s no surprise more and more organizations are taking VxRail out for a spin on the test track.
On-Site Support of Distributed Data Centers
Based on VMware’s industry-leading software for Hyper-Converged Infrastructure, VxRail delivers a known and proven building block for the SDDC. This means companies with regional data centers (even truck-mounted mobile data centers!) can deploy these hyper-converged appliances on site to deliver IT services to a distributed workforce. The centralized management benefit of VMware’s HCI software stack (vSphere, vCenter and Virtual SAN) allows for easy, remote support without decentralizing IT resources.
Virtual Desktop Infrastructure
For businesses looking to better equip a mobile and/or distributed workforce, virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI) empowers end-users with the anywhere, anytime, any device access to company applications and data. A single VxRail appliance can enable the provisioning of thousands of virtual or remote desktops and applications through a single platform, transforming static desktops into more secure, virtual workspaces that can be delivered on demand, while streamlining and automating management. And again, linear scalability means that a growing workforce won’t outpace your infrastructure investment – simply add appliances as business demands require.
Developer Cloud
VxRail can be an ideal solution for provisioning DevOps teams with the IT services they need to develop, test and deploy new products. SDDC agility allows IT organizations to eliminate Shadow IT by making it easy for business units to go through IT for self-service stand-up of new environments, applications and services, obviating the need for these teams to introduce external IT solutions that can compromise overall data center security.
VMware and Dell EMC: Paving Your Way to the Cloud
Dell EMC’s and VMware’s introduction of VxRail to the lineup of Dell EMC converged and hyper-converged infrastructure solutions makes Dell EMC’s converged platforms portfolio a true tour de force, providing IT organizations with even more options to create a flexible, optimized infrastructure that dramatically simplifies their IT operations while reducing costs. With VMware and Dell EMC on your support team you can ride head-down in the saddle when it comes to racing at the speed of cloud.
To find out more about VxRail and the suite of joint solutions offered by VMware and Dell EMC, visit https://vxrail-hyperconverged.com/.
