Dell adds storage and multicloud support to Apex

Dell has expanded the features available as part of its Apex as-a-service offering as it steps up the options its UK channel can take out to customers.

Apex was launched in October 2020 at the vendor’s World Experience event as Dell pulled together all the as-a-service efforts it had made under one banner. It was made clear from the start that the plan was to expand the offerings over time, and it has done that with more data storage and protection options.

The data storage service gives partners the chance to pitch another as-a-service option for customers looking to buy and scale storage. A partnership with Equinix is a big part of the proposition and makes data colocation in the UK available for customers.

The service has been rolled out to different countries, with the UK joining a list of 14 that have the storage option as something that resellers can pitch to users looking for more flexibility around paying for storage.  

Dell quoted numbers from Gartner – which forecasts that by 2024 over 50% of newly deployed storage capacity will be sold as a service or on a subscription basis, up from less than 15% just two years ago – as evidence of a sizeable opportunity for partners.

At the same time, multicloud data services have also been added, with storage as a service and data protection as a service now an option. That release will provide the channel with a chance to pitch backup and manage data across different environments.

Dell is offering incentives to partners that take up the latest offerings on a referral basis and cloud service providers that host them on behalf of users.

The vendor isn’t just taking a punt on the multicloud services assuming they will hit the mark. It first reached out to Forrester Consulting to produce a study, which revealed 83% of organisations have adopted a multicloud approach or plan to within the next 12 months.

“Today’s multicloud reality is complex as data becomes more distributed across on-premise and colocation datacentres, multiple public clouds and edge environments,” said Jeff Boudreau, president of the infrastructure solutions group at Dell Technologies.

“We have the industry’s broadest technology portfolio, consistent tools, experience building open ecosystems and leading data storage capabilities, services and supply chain. All this uniquely positions Dell to help customers take control of their multicloud strategy,” he added. 

Dell shared the thoughts of one of its customers around the announcements, with Michael Loggins, global vice-president of IT at SMC Corporation, viewing it as an opportunity to get better data insights. “As a global organisation with facilities spread across over 80 countries, the ability to have access to data on our over 700,000 product variations is essential to ensuring we meet our customers where they are,” he said.

“Central to our strategy is creating an IT infrastructure that connects data in public clouds with our traditional datacentres and taking full advantage of what’s happening at the edge,” added Loggins.