Taking stock of Dell EMC’s growth in Asia

The hastening pace of digital transformation across Asia has been a boon to technology suppliers that have been pitching themselves as strategic partners to governments and businesses.

Take Dell EMC, for example. The supplier of a broad array of enterprise IT products and services has seen good demand in the region, including servers, storage and hyper-converged infrastructure (HCI), according to Amit Midha, president of the firm’s commercial business in Asia-Pacific and Japan (APJ).

“As soon as digitisation happens, server growth is always there, followed by storage. HCI is a better productivity tool for server infrastructure and is growing in the triple digits. We’re continuing to grow faster than the market,” Midha said.

Server revenues in APJ grew by 47.8% during the first quarter of 2018, surpassing the global figure of 33.4%, according to technology research firm Gartner.

Globally, Dell EMC recorded 51.4% growth in the worldwide server market, widening the gap between itself and Hewlett Packard Enterprise and securing the top spot with a 21.5% market share.

Beyond servers and other components of IT infrastructure, Dell EMC is moving up the technology stack into what Midha called “ready solutions” for artificial intelligence (AI), which it hopes to democratise access to.

“AI is in many ways combining data science with new types of software libraries that deliver specific outcomes through machine learning and deep learning. We’ve also integrated high performance computing with AI to deliver much more computational power for cyber threat detection, simulations and genetic research,” Midha said.

The internet of things (IoT) market has also been a source of growth for Dell-EMC in Asia. In February 2018, the company said its revenue from its IoT and original equipment manufacturer (OEM) business in APJ had crossed the $1bn mark, underscoring the region’s rapid uptake of sensors and other IoT devices in industries and smart city projects.

“Organisations in APJ are keen to realise the potential benefits of IoT, which is driving market growth faster than other regions,” Glen Burrows, vice-president and general manager for APJ OEM and IoT solutions at Dell EMC, told Computer Weekly. “With a $583bn market opportunity by 2020, Asia is set to be the hub of IoT.”

To take advantage of the region’s opportunities, Midha said Dell EMC will be investing in some key areas, including sales, marketing and technical resources needed to serve customers embarking on their digital transformation journey.

“We are also bringing more products and services to the region, such as SecureWorks, Boomi and Virtustream, and introducing those products to existing customers,” Midha said.

As the global lead for digital cities at Dell EMC, Midha also sees opportunities in helping governments turn their smart city ambitions into reality.

“If governments want to make smart cities work, they must first ask themselves how they can deliver a citizen experience similar to that from commercial providers, and create a secure and sustainable city that like-minded people want to live in.

“I see tremendous opportunities for cities to use technology to create communities, improve safety and deliver a better experience for citizens,” he said.

Since the merger between Dell and EMC that was completed in September 2016, Midha said much has been accomplished in terms of presenting a single face to customers, standardising as many systems as possible, as well as harmonising compensation and benefits plans for employees.

“There’s still more work to do from a systems and processes perspective, but we’ve made good progress. Today, most people in the company would think they work for Dell EMC as a single company and not a combination of two different companies,” Midha said.