Disclaimer: I recently attended Dell Technologies World 2019. My flights, accommodation and conference pass were paid for by Dell Technologies via the Media, Analysts and Influencers program. There is no requirement for me to blog about any of the content presented and I am not compensated in any way for my time at the event. Some materials presented were discussed under NDA and don’t form part of my blog posts, but could influence future discussions.
Here are my very rough notes from Monday’s General Session “The Architects of Innovation” at Dell Technologies World 2019.
Michael Dell takes the stage. Time is flying by. And we’re inspired by what you all have accomplished. Fearlessly facing into the digital future.
We’ve created the “Essential Infrastructure Company”. We’ve invested more than $20B in R&D in the last 5 years, and the 35th birthday of the company is coming up. Dell has always been a culture about technology optimism. People are at the centre of everything we do.
Global life expectancy is up, vaccinations are up, Global GDP is up. The next 3 decades will have more progress than ever before. We’ll possibly see the eradication of deafness. A new age of miracles is just around the corner.
We’re creating a digital twin of reality. Ensure technology reflects our humanity and values. Fire can burn a village, but it also warms the home. Technology can improve out lives, but it comes with challenges. The aim is for better lives on a global scale. This is why we all come together. Through million of actions, we’re working with you to build a better world.
Draper Labs in Massachusetts (customer video)
Northern California Campfire, 2018 – So much more data coming from satellites. Opportunity to put all of that together. Learning the full story to understand how to solve these problems in the future. MD recognises the team from Draper.
It’s a time of unprecedented progress. Driving new digital native models and services. Technology is the enabler of progress. Its impact is far beyond what it used to been the IT organisation. Every organisation needs to reimagine itself in the new digital age.
The story starts with a tsunami of data. It’s our greatest asset and most important resource. It’s completely renewable and inexhaustible. Turning that data into action and progress and success is at the heart of digital transformation.
- Computing power
- Artificial intelligence
- 5G
We’re doing this through
- VMware – virtualising all of your infrastructure (including the network)
- Partnering with all of the public clouds
- Edge – core – multi-cloud
Pivotal is fast becoming the leading platform for developing apps in the multi-cloud world.
“Dell Technologies is truly better together”
Secureworks – Red Cloak Threat Detection & Response announcement
Bank of America is transforming into a leading digital organisation. Cathy Bessant says they “need a lot of data to be effective”. They share a strategic understanding of the importance of trust. Don’t get lost in some ethereal concept of access. Requirements change at the pace of a consumer, not at the speed of enterprise. Speed, iterative thought, knowing the answers before the questions are known. Whatever got us to this point will not get us to the future. We are only as good as the sum of our great partnerships.
MD says whether you’re a powerhouse or a farmhouse – you matter to us. The future is AI-powered and software-defined
Jeff Clarke takes the stage. What a time to be in the technology sector. Data-centric workloads are changing the way we work. There’s a new distributed edge. New entrants to the workforce – “Digital natives” – mixing personal and work in a very time sliced way. IT has to respond by modernising its methods. IT has become an integral part of the business. Holistic solutions from the edge to the core to the cloud
What’s next?
Worked with Pat Gelsinger in the industry over the last 30 years. Need to drive smarter and simpler IT in this era. Pat Gelsinger joins Jeff on the stage.
Modernise the PC experience while eliminating complexity. Simpler is always better.
- 81% workforce outside of traditional office
- 76% work in 2 or more places
- 52% work in more than 3 places weekly
Companies need engaged employees. Mobile, multi-device workforce. IT needs to provision and deploy simply and securely. It’s a complex problem. Users need simpler provisioning, deployment, processes. Users want the modern, mobile device experience
Dell Technologies Unified Workspace announcement
- Extended PCaaS capabilities
- Deploy, secure, manage and support
- PCs from Dell – rent, buy, or lease
Gelsinger – Public and Private need to work together
- 93% applications use multiple clouds
- 5+ cloud architectures used
- $120B new hardware spend for on-premises private clouds through 2022
- $100B software & services spend through 2022
With this evolution, you get a lot of complexity. So much of the work of the last decade has been “solving silos”. Complexity of cloud silos is slowing down adoption. Where’s your data? Storing it, protecting it, backing it up?
Jeff: Is it time for a better cloud?
Pat: I think it is.
Read more about Dell Technologies Cloud powered by VMware here.
- Remove the complexity, and control the chaos in a multi-cloud world.
- Hybrid done right.
- Consistent infrastructure across all of your environments. IaaS and PaaS across all of your environments. Support for PKS and containers. Consume on a monthly basis.
- VxRail now fully supports VCF. PowerMax and Unity are VCF-ready.
Pat: Project Dimension – DCaaS. VMware Cloud on Dell EMC – working on bringing it to market this year.
People go the cloud because it’s easier, not necessarily cheaper or better.
- VMware-operated end-to-end
- Hybrid cloud control plane
- VMware SDDC delivered on Dell EMC VxRail
- Co-engineered & delivered by Dell Technologies
June Yang, VP, Engineering and Product Management, VMware comes on stage with Pat to do a demo.
- All-inclusive subscription price
- Start as small as 3 nodes
- Control plane stays on-premises
- Available H2 2019
Jeff leaves the stage. Michael comes back on the join Pat.
MD: We’ve been talking a lot about multi-cloud, and the importance of choice and flexibility. Distributed innovation, and interoperability among the leading companies. Satya Nadella (Microsoft CEO) joins them on the stage. Read more about the Microsoft, Dell Technologies and VMware announcement here.
Azure VMware solutions – best of VMware and the best of Azure. VCF into Azure.
MD: Back when we started working with Microsoft, it was all about the PC. Now we’re talking about cloud resources. The PC is still and important part of what we’re all doing.
Satya: We’ve always been working to empower employees. Windows 10 has momentum – 800 million devices out there. Microsoft 365 has become the essential tool for collaboration, security and compliance.
Pat: Workspace One, Office 365, Microsoft 365, Windows 10, Azure Active Directory coming together
How about NSX and Azure networking? How can we bring Azure services on-premises on VMware?
Pat and Satya leave the stage.
MD: Customers are at the centre of everything we do.
Cloud-agnostic interoperability. Cleaner world, humane world, working across the ecosystem to solve our challenges
Karen Quintos (Chief Customer Officer) takes the stage. It’s great to see when technology takes a key role in solving problems. But it’s people behind the technology. Phoebe’s story – 3D-printed prosthetics. Read more about e-NABLE here.
MD joins Karen on stage.
“Our mission is to advance human progress”.
Solid session. 4 stars.