From a new edge reference architecture and Apex to a new partnership with Equinix, here are the six biggest announcements at the recent Dell Technologies World 2021.

The most important launches at Dell Technologies World revolved around Apex, Dell’s new flagship as-a-service portfolio that is becoming generally available in the market. Apex, which replaces Dell Technologies Cloud offerings, changes how customers and channel partners buy, sell, deploy, manage, and maintain Dell’s vast infrastructure product portfolio.

• Apex Data Storage Services

Apex Data Storage Services is Dell’s first infrastructure as-a-service offering, providing a portfolio of scalable and elastic storage resources. Dell says Apex Data Storage Services provides transparent pricing and no overage fees with performance unmatched in the public cloud.

Customers select either block or file data services, their preferred performance tier, base capacity – which starts as low as 50 terabyte – and one- or three-year subscription terms. Customer also selects the deployment location whether it is in a data center, edge or co-location facility.

• Dell Partners With Equinix To Drive Apex Colocation

Dell announced an expanded collaboration with global colocation data center giant Equinix to broaden the availability of Apex.

With Dell infrastructure and Equinix along with the company’s International Business Exchange data centers, organizations can meet unpredictable IT and storage requirements more efficiently. Dell said businesses will have access to “near infinite scaling” of storage resources in Equinix data centers.

Equinix has more than 220 data centers across five continents and an ecosystem of more than 10,000 companies.

• Apex Cloud Services

Dell’s new Apex Cloud Services provide integrated compute, storage and networking resources to customers with support for both traditional and cloud-native applications.

Apex Cloud Services offer two flavors: Apex Hybrid Cloud and Apex Private Cloud. Dell said it can deliver and deploy Apex Cloud Services in just 14 days, with expansion in as few as 5 days.

• Apex Custom Solutions

Dell also launched Apex Custom Solutions which brings one of the industry’s largest infrastructure portfolios to customers as-a-service. Apex Custom Solutions is the company’s more flexible as-a-service offering that allows customers to create their own on-demand as-a-service IT environment compared to the more turnkey Apex Cloud Services and Apex Data Storage Services.

Apex Custom Solutions includes two options: Apex Flex on Demand and Apex Data Center Utility. Apex Flex on Demand provides Dell servers, storage, data protection and hyper-converged infrastructure as-a-service. Businesses can select the exact product and services they want and scale usage up and down while paying for only what they use.

Apex Data Center Utility adds an additional level of flexibility through custom metering and managed services applied across the data center.

• Apex Console

Wrapping up Apex together, is the Apex Console. The new self-service console is where customers, and in the future channel partners, can manage a businesses entire Apex lifecycle.

The Apex console is used to identify and subscribe to Apex services that map to their needs while Dell matches the technology and services to deliver the desired outcomes. The console provides monitoring and management of Apex services to meet the changing needs of their business.

• Dell’s New Manufacturing Edge Reference Architecture

Dell also unveiled the new Dell Technologies Manufacturing Edge Reference Architecture With PTC that integrates with Apex Private Cloud.

The new edge reference architecture aims to help manufacturing companies gain insights from workstations, computers, mobile devices and other endpoints within the manufacturing environment. With access to edge data in one place, companies can increase production line reliability, reduce operational costs and make more informed real-time decisions, Dell said.

Integrated with Apex Private Cloud, the edge reference architecture offers a high-availability edge framework as-a-service enabling companies to virtualize and containerize applications. Manufacturing customers get a consistent cloud experience and pay only for what they use.