Our News Bits is a roundup that typically covers news pieces that are just small in content, not in impact. This gives content room to breathe even if it comes in less than what we normally cover. This week the Dell Technologies World 2019 took place in Las Vegas, Nevada. While we covered the major announcements from the Dell and VMware, there were several other smaller announcements. These announcements come from vendors such as Dell EMC, Faction, Apstra, and Unisys.
Our News Bits is a roundup that typically covers news pieces that are just small in content, not in impact. This gives content room to breathe even if it comes in less than what we normally cover. This week the Dell Technologies World 2019 took place in Las Vegas, Nevada. While we covered the major announcements from the Dell and VMware, there were several other smaller announcements. These announcements come from vendors such as Dell EMC, Faction, Apstra, and Unisys.
Dell EMC SD-WAN Edge powered by VMware
To help customers leverage their WAN at the edge, Dell has released its new Dell EMC SD-WAN Edge powered by VMware (a bundle of VMware SD-WAN by VeloCloud software as a subscription with Dell EMC hardware and a single support number). The company is rolling out three new services for SD-WAN: Advisory, Design and Implementation, designed to help customers plan, customize and properly scale the platform, providing a foundation for successful deployment and management of modernized virtual network functions. Dell EMC SD-WAN Edge powered by VMware is expected to be available in July 2019.
Rebranded Dell EMC PowerSwitch portfolio
The company’s leading open networking switch portfolio is being rebranded as Dell EMC PowerSwitch. The first switch with the rebranded name, that is available now, is the Dell EMC PowerSwitch S5200-ON. Dell EMC states that the new switch can deliver up to 2.5x the performance of the previous model, comes in a half-width design for HCI environments, and comes in 12- and 24-port options. The company also has the Dell EMC PowerSwitch S5248-ON that leverages VxRail with SmartFabric Services integration for performance-intensive and mission-critical HCI deployments in a turnkey experience. The S5248 is the company’s first 25GbE switch certified for SmartFabric Service.
Dell EMC Expands VxRail Orchestration Capabilities With ACE
To help VxRail customers to keep their HCI operating at peak performance, Dell EMC is offering early access to VxRail Analytical Consulting Engine (ACE). ACE is said to perform remote measurement and diagnostics that help IT automate day-to-day management and make informed decisions. ACE is able to learn over time, helping to add to performance optimization through better resource utilization amongst other factors. Dell EMC VxRail ACE early access for customer will begin in May 2019.
Dell EMC DSS 8440 Server For Machine Learning
Dell EMC announced a new 4U, 2-socket server designed for machine learning applications and high-compute workloads, the Dell EMC DSS 8440. The DSS 8440 comes with either 4, 8 or 10 NVIDIA Tesla V100 GPUs, and high-speed I/O with extensive local storage for compute-intensive workloads. The new server uses open architecture that is based on industry standard PCIe fabric. Dell EMC DSS 8440 servers are expected to be generally available in the second quarter 2019.
Faction Joins The Dell EMC Select Partner Program
Faction announced that it has joined the Dell EMC Select Partner Program. Faction offers multi-cloud storage for customers through its Cloud Control Volumes and its ybrid Disaster Recovery-as-a-Service (HDRaaS) for VMware Cloud on AWS. Recently Dell Technologies Capital led a funding round for Faction that netted $14 million.
Apstra Releases AOS 3.0
Apstra Inc. announced significant advancements to the Apstra Operating System (AOS). Benefits include:
- Multidomain Unified Group Based Policy
- Enterprise Cloudification
- New Intent-Based Analytics features
- Enhanced vSphere Integration
Unisys Extends CloudForte to Hybrid IT Environments
Unisys announced that its managed-service solution, CloudForte, is now available for hybrid cloud environments. Benefits for customers include:
- Leverage their existing investments in IT resources while integrating new capabilities to accelerate secure digital transformation
- Automate cloud operations for anytime, anywhere access to computing resources
- Speed application modernization across the integrated environment
- Streamline governance across the cloud lifecycle
- An automated software-as-a-service platform to identify and provision private, public and hybrid cloud services as necessary to provide the most effective and cost-efficient resources for a given task
- Real-time analytics and transparent single-pane management of the hybrid environment and service management system
- Capabilities for industrial-grade modernization of legacy applications through identification of legacy IT assets and prioritization of their migration to the cloud
- Pre-populated blueprints available in self-service catalogs for simplified implementation and secure governance
