Dell EMC Expands Commitment to Microsoft Customers with Converged Infrastructure Advancements

• Dell EMC XC Series offers new integration with Dell EMC data protection and Microsoft Windows 2016 for simplified backup and hyper-converged infrastructure management
• Dell EMC approved to deliver Microsoft Azure through the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) Direct and Indirect Microsoft partner model to offer end-to-end Microsoft Azure Stack hybrid cloud solutions directly to consumers and through channel partners globally
• Dell EMC Ready Bundle for Microsoft SQL Server and Dell EMC Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes add performance improvements from Dell EMC PowerEdge 14^th generation servers

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Dell EMC announces broadened support of Microsoft data center environments with substantial updates across the Dell EMC XC Series, Dell EMC Cloud for Microsoft Azure Stack and Dell EMC Ready Bundle for Microsoft SQL Server. Addressing key IT transformation opportunities and use cases from hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI) to hybrid cloud and data analysis, these updated solutions demonstrate Dell EMC's continued commitment to innovate and spur successes for customers operating in Microsoft environments.

"Dell EMC values the strong collaboration we have had with Microsoft for more than 30 years, which has resulted in world-class, innovative solutions delivered to customers worldwide," said Armughan Ahmad, senior vice president and general manager, Hybrid Cloud and Ready Solutions, Dell EMC. "The innovations we're announcing today are evidence of how our work with Microsoft has truly changed how our customers conduct their day-to-day activities, enabling them to gain greater value from their IT infrastructures and, more importantly, develop and deliver services to help achieve their ultimate business goals."

Dell EMC XC Series Advances Integrations with Dell EMC Data Protection and Microsoft Windows 2016

The Dell EMC XC Series offers world-class HCI appliances for customers running a variety of virtualized workloads with their choice of hypervisors including Microsoft Hyper-V. As XC Series HCI environments are becoming increasingly popular for Microsoft workloads, including SQL, Microsoft Exchange and Microsoft SharePoint, new advancements to the XC Series include:

• Dell EMC XC Series Data Protection Management Console, which is launched from within the XC Series management interface and integrates and simplifies data protection operation and automation across XC Series deployments. This offers complete data protection capabilities with Dell EMC Avamar VE running on XC Series clusters and backup to Dell EMC Data Domain and cloud tiering to Virtustream and Microsoft Azure. IT admins gain the ability to quickly and easily monitor and manage backups for multiple XC Series clusters while utilizing best of breed Dell EMC technologies in one turnkey solution.
• Optimization for Microsoft Windows 2016 Hyper-V plus Azure, available at no additional cost to customers, including support for Windows Hyper-V 2016 with insights into XC Series clusters. The XC Series Azure Log Analytics Solution provides integration of XC Series into customer's OMS-based data center automation tools, enabling insights such as trend analysis and behavioral anomaly detection.

Dell EMC Approved to Deliver Microsoft Azure through the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) Direct and Indirect Model Worldwide

Dell EMC also announces it has been approved by Microsoft to deliver Azure through the Cloud Solution Provider (CSP) Direct and Indirect Microsoft partner model worldwide. Based on Dell EMC's proven Azure and hybrid cloud platform global expertise, this enables the company to have the advantage of offering comprehensive, end-to-end Azure Stack hybrid cloud solutions, including Azure services and solutions, to both customers and channel partners globally.

Dell EMC Cloud for Microsoft Azure Stack, introduced in May 2017, is a new, turnkey, hybrid cloud platform, delivering infrastructure and platform as a service and shipping now to early customers. It offers a fast and simple path for implementing and sustaining a trusted hybrid cloud platform based on Microsoft Azure Stack, delivering a consistent experience across the Azure on-premises cloud and on-premises through Azure Stack.

Dell EMC Ready Solutions Add Improved Compute Performance and Storage Options

Providing customers with more powerful compute performance capabilities, Dell EMC has added support for Dell EMC PowerEdge 14^th generation servers to the Dell EMC Ready Bundle for Microsoft SQL Server and the Dell EMC Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes. Additionally, the Dell Ready Bundle for Microsoft SQL Server also adds Dell EMC Unity storage, offering customers high performance and affordable flash optimized architecture that supports scores of VMs while delivering abundant input/output operations per second (IOPS) at low latency for running demanding Microsoft SQL Server workloads.

Availability

• Dell EMC XC Series updates have planned global availability in Q4 2017.
• Dell EMC Ready Bundle for Microsoft SQL and Dell EMC Microsoft Storage Spaces Direct Ready Nodes updates have planned global availability in Q4 2017.

Partner quote:

Gavriella Schuster, corporate vice president, Worldwide Partner Group at Microsoft Corp. 
"Customers are adopting cloud-based solutions to drive digital transformation like never before, and we're thrilled to expand the capabilities for cloud partners under the Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider program. By joining the Microsoft Cloud Solution Provider program, our partners, such as Dell EMC, will deepen customer relationships and expand business opportunities in the cloud."

Customer quotes:

Morgan Jones, senior server administrator, Arizona State University 
"With our several XC Series clusters across three physical data centers, we've been able to save considerable administrative time and resources, while easily scaling, by simply dropping in new nodes as needs arise. Our appliances are hosting core Microsoft workloads, such as SQL databases, so the new support for Windows Hyper-V 2016 with one-click and rolling cluster upgrades is huge for us. This adds even more simplicity for a solution that already delivers on this promise."

Yukihisa Kato, director, executive officer and general manager, Engineering Administrative Division, Mitsui Knowledge Industry Co., Ltd. (MKI)  
 "Azure Stack's hybrid cloud model is a key transformation enabler for our own business and for customers, and Dell EMC continues to be a proven leader in providing highly reliable hybrid cloud platforms. The combination of Azure Stack with Dell EMC brings together innovative technology and market experience that we are leveraging to help drive our customers' business transformations."

Ketil Neteland, advisor at Candidator 
"Dell EMC is the trusted partner of Candidator for Microsoft Azure Stack in Norway and Sweden. Together we bring innovation to our customers maximizing the potential with Azure Stack. Dell EMC's long history and extensive portfolio delivers the foundation for our business, and we see Azure Stack as strategic in the future to help our joint customers undertake their IT and digital transformations. Candidator is known for delivering innovative technology to their customers, and, with Azure Stack, will continue our promise to customers to be their partner and help them focus on their core business."

Additional resources

• Direct2DellEMC Blog: Hyper-converged Infrastructure helps you taste the sweet life
• Direct2DellEMC Blog: Dell EMC expands its hybrid cloud portfolio with Azure CSP
• Find out more about how Dell Technologies is collaboratively solving customers' biggest challenges by visiting Dell Technologies' Annual Report to Customers
• Connect with Dell EMC via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn and DECN
• Follow the latest news on Twitter from @DellEMCNews

About Dell EMC

Dell EMC, a part of Dell Technologies, enables organizations to modernize, automate and transform their data centers using industry-leading converged infrastructure, servers, storage and data protection technologies. This provides a trusted foundation for businesses to transform IT, through the creation of a hybrid cloud, and transform their business through the creation of cloud-native applications and big data solutions. Dell EMC services customers across 180 countries – including 98 percent of the Fortune 500 – with the industry's most comprehensive and innovative portfolio from edge to core to cloud.

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