Extending IT beyond the data centre

Dell Technologies introduces edge innovations across its infrastructure and PC portfolio to help organisations simplify deployments and capture more value from data generated and processed outside the traditional data center and public cloud—from rugged and remote locations to retail stores and factory floors.

“The edge is technology’s next great frontier, and it’s all around us, everywhere from retail to manufacturing, smart cities and hospitals,” said Michael Dell, chairman and chief executive officer, Dell Technologies. “At Dell, we’re innovating simple solutions, so organisations can analyse data closer to where it’s created, make faster decisions, improve outcomes and drive progress.”

Research firm IDC estimates that 50% of new IT infrastructure will be deployed at the edge by 2023.1 With 69% of the Fortune 100 already using Dell Technologies edge solutions2, the company supports data life cycle needs for what is becoming the next major technology frontier. New solutions and updates announced today include:

•       Dell EMC VxRail satellite nodes bring VxRail’s operational model and efficiencies to edge sites with a reduced infrastructure footprint. Now verticals like retail, manufacturing and remote branch offices can get started with VxRail for less. As the only HCI solution jointly engineered with VMware, VxRail satellite node single-node deployments automate day-to-day operations, health monitoring and lifecycle management from a centralized location without the need for local technical and specialized resources.

•       Dell Technologies Validated Design for Manufacturing Edge with Litmus helps businesses connect, manage and orchestrate disparate industrial edge devices, data and applications—from the factory floor to the enterprise cloud—with no programming required. Manufacturers can make quick decisions to repair equipment before it fails, improve production quality and save costs with real-time data analytics and centralized device management provided by the enterprise-grade Litmus Industrial IoT edge platform. Built on Dell EMC VxRail or PowerEdge servers, with the option to use VMware Edge Compute Stack, this is the second solution from Dell Technologies to help businesses tackle manufacturing edge deployment complexity.

•       Dell EMC Edge Gateway Dell EMC Edge Gateway helps companies securely connect multiple edge devices across OT and IT environments to provide valuable insights. This compact, 5G capable3, fanless Edge Gateway with 9th Gen Intel® Core™ processors is designed to work in industrial environments and withstand temperature ranges from minus 4 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. The gateway, available direct to customers and through OEM engagements, offers storage and compute capabilities that can run localized data processing and analytics applications, helping solve data collection and processing pain points.

•       Dell EMC Streaming Data Platform (SDP) adds enhanced GPU optimization to ingest streaming video in a lower latency and frame rate environment and support real-time analytics on Dell EMC VxRail and PowerEdge servers. Organisations can run lightweight workloads on a single core using a new edge bundle, so they can start small and scale their infrastructure based on IT needs.   

•       Latitude 5430 Rugged and Latitude 7330 Rugged Extreme laptops are designed to withstand harsh environments while maintaining the highest levels of performance and connectivity. The Latitude 5430 Rugged laptop is 5G capable3 and ready for work from anywhere as the industry’s lightest4, most-powerful5 14” semi-rugged laptop.  The Latitude 7330 Rugged Extreme laptop is 5G-capable6 and ready to take on the most extreme environments as the industry’s smallest 13” fully-rugged laptop.7

These innovations are the latest examples of how Dell is expanding its existing edge portfolio with capabilities to meet unique customer needs. Dell Technologies APEX Cloud Services with VMware Cloud, announced at VMworld, provides a Dell-managed secure and consistent platform for organisations to move workloads across multiple cloud and edge environments and scale resources quickly with predictable pricing and transparent costs. Additionally, new Dell EMC PowerEdge tower and rack servers help organisations manage everything from business-critical workloads to virtualisation at the edge. 

“Technology leaders are facing the very tall order of finding the right infrastructure to manage data at the edge and the right solutions to capture value from that data to make real-time, data-driven decisions,” said Matthew Eastwood, senior vice president, IDC. “The Dell Technologies edge portfolio spanning infrastructure, PC and services helps organisations of all sizes make sense of their data.”

Dell Technologies powers Topgolf’s technology-driven sports experiences

Topgolf Entertainment Group has brought over 23 million guests together annually, across its 72 venues in 5 countries, to connect at the intersection of technology and entertainment. Topgolf uses Dell EMC VxRail at its venues to provide the onsite computing needed to help deliver these experiences for customers.

“Topgolf connects people in meaningful ways through technology-enabled sports experiences,” said Andrew Macaulay, Chief Technology Officer, Topgolf Entertainment Group. “Dell Technologies provides an invaluable component of our strategy, and powers critical technology including our Toptracer technology, which is key to the guest experience.”