Recharging IT
Summer is always a great time to step back, take stock, and recharge both personally and professionally. It is no different for an IT organization.Following EMC World in Las Vegas and during the recent EMC Forums, I spoke with numerous EMC customers. It is no surprise that we are all looking for ways to help influence our top and bottom line growth—despite our tight budgets and deadlines. This not only means driving simplification and operational excellence throughout IT, but helping our business users reduce cycle times and accelerate opportunities for the company.While I have encountered many trends over the years, it is the first time in my 30+ year career where these trends—cloud, Big Data analytics, mobility, social media, digital, and security—have converged to truly change the fabric of our business. Over time, these trends will be woven into our foundation and core IT systems, but in the near term, we need to test them, try them, and make sense of them.So, as I reflect and recharge this summer, here is what I am thinking about:How can we embrace and leverage these trends to contemporize IT; optimize end-to-end processes; reduce cycle times; speed go-to-market; and enable a productive office of the future?IT is not an island … We need to partner with and listen to our business users to understand their objectives and explore ways we can make them more effective and efficient. Are we in synch with the business?Given our tight timelines, are we also relying on our internal partnerships to improve our own approaches and processes? Can our shared services organization, Centers of Excellence, and EMC’s Enterprise Service Group help us accelerate our own objectives?Technology is always evolving, so are we aligned and trained to take these IT trends to the business? Are we fostering and using our collective experience and knowledge accordingly?While I contemplate these questions, many people throughout our organization have already dug deep into and have begun unlocking the potential of these trends. We’re making great strides, but we’ve only just begun. As we move forward, we’ll be sure to share our lessons learned and best practices related to these trends on our EMC IT Blog. However, we’d love to hear from you—how are you recharging IT?
Dell 2017 Legacy of Good Update from Dell Technologies Increasingly businesses are realizing that acting in a socially and environmentally responsible way is not only about their own corporate policies, but also about those of the companies with which they do business.Today we released our first 2020 Legacy of Good Update as a combined company to let you know how we operate, innovate and engage on behalf of people and the planet we share.The report highlights where we’ve had the most impact, across all areas of our business, in working toward our 2020 goals.As Trisa Thompson, our Chief Responsibility Officer, noted in her Direct2Dell post the combined force of Dell EMC now brings greater resources together to not only innovate on behalf of people and the planet, but also to help your business do the same.“Technology has an innate ability to drive progress — to leave the world it touches better off than before,” says Dell EMC President David Goulden.That’s why we don’t only look at our Legacy of Good as doing “less bad,” but also as a challenge to find regenerative solutions that enable our customers to put more back into society, the environment and the global economy than they take out.One example is Arizona State University, where online education has been shown to reduce the carbon footprint by at least 30 metric tons of carbon dioxide. Another is our customer Animusoft where drone-powered machine learning for precision agriculture drives higher crop yields and lower carbon footprints.The Internet of Things (IoT) also holds great promise for sustainability. INEX Impact Labs is working with the City of New Bedford, Mass., to use interconnected IoT solutions, including Dell Edge Gateways to make data-driven decisions that increase profits while conserving resources.Our goal is that by 2020, the good that will come from our technology will be ten times what it takes to create and use it. To achieve that we continue to work with the Net Positive Project, and to advance the potential of IoT we support the EdgeX Foundry Project.The combination of cultures when companies come together can be hard. But at Dell EMC it has brought new enthusiasm and commitment to action – not only for our company’s Legacy of Good, but also for customers’ own corporate social responsibility goals.As Thompson said, we are energized by the opportunities ahead, and we are just getting started.
The Dell EMC Forum 2017 provided the opportunity for Dell EMC customers to get the latest updated direct from product and solutions specialists. With a cornucopia of breakout sessions available, not many presenters get to present multiple sessions.Garrett Van Siclen (@gtvansiclen) is one of the exceptions; covering Dell EMC Data Protection Solutions including Data Protection Storage, Data Protection Software and Converged Data Protection, including “Why Dell EMC Data Protection, Modernization and Transformation”. I caught up with Garrett near the Data Protection Solutions booth in the Solution Expo; he was more than happy to talk Data Protection including the latest Converged Data Protection offering, the Integrated Data Protection Appliance.For more information on the Dell EMC Data protections portfolio be sure to visit www.dellemc.com/dataprotection for more on the Dell EMC Integrated Data Protection Appliance visit www.dellemc.com/idpa.Couldn’t make the Dell EMC Forum in your city? Don’t miss the Virtual Dell EMC Forum!Get Dell EMC The Source app in the Apple App Store or Google Play, and Subscribe to the podcast: iTunes, Stitcher Radio or Google Play.Don’t miss the blog, now part of Direct2DellEMCDell EMC The Source Podcast is hosted by Sam Marraccini (@SamMarraccini)
In 2003, Dr. Henry Chesbrough published a paper that challenged organizations to drive new technology breakthroughs outside of their own four walls, and in collaboration with customers and partners for an outside view. The approach, open innovation, follows a framework and process that encourages technologists to share ideas to solve actual challenges.I loved it. It was fast, yet pragmatic. It was conceptual, but grounded in real-world challenges that we could solve. The time and resources invested in innovation delivered better outcomes because it was developed with customers and partners.For me, open innovation is core to how my teams have fostered new technology discoveries and patents that get realized in real-world use cases. It’s an archetype that has proven successful for Dell Technologies, notably as our customers look to modernize their IT infrastructure as part of their digital transformation.Four tenets govern open innovation: collaboration, “open” in nature, rapid prototyping, and a clear path to commercialization. Our innovation teams have embraced this process, developing new solutions alongside our customers and partners based on the realities of the market landscape over the next three to five years. It’s a thoughtful blend of academic research, advanced internal technology, and developments from around the technology ecosystem.Each engagement outlines problem statements and the many lessons learned from previous projects, and uses a number of internal and external resources from around the world to collaborate and ideate. Within a few short weeks, we develop and test prototypes and proofs-of-concept iterated in a real-world environment. This gives us the opportunity to learn critical lessons where we need to innovate around roadblocks, with a goal of designing a solution that’s incubated and integrated within 12-18 months, and primed to solve the challenges that lie ahead.For example, we’ve worked with service providers to advance cloud-based storage container innovation designed specifically for IoT and mobile application strategies, laying the groundwork for an IT infrastructure that can evolve quickly to handle the volume of data that was then anticipated from 5G deployments and edge devices – happening today.The scope of innovation projects underway today continues to focus on how we drive more value out of the exponential data resulting from more connected devices, systems, and services at the edge. IDC forecasts that by 2025, the global data-sphere will grow to 175 zettabytes, 175×1021 or 175 Billion 1TB drives.[1] Dell Technologies Vice Chairman, Jeff Clarke, recently put that into context during the keynote at Dell Technologies World – that’s more than 13 Empire State building loaded with data top to bottom! Much of that will happen at the Edge. The Edge computing market is expected to grow 30% by 2022.[2]All of that data has the potential to drive better outcomes, processes and of course, new technology that could be the next major industry disruption and breakthrough. But the key word is potential – these are challenges that require innovation to not simply find a solution, but ensure that solution can be deployed and commercialized. Through the open innovation approach, we’re collaborating with customers and partners to meet the new demands of the “Data Era,” and ensuring that ALL the data, wherever it lives, is being preserved, mobilized, analyzed and activated to ultimately, deliver intelligent insights.Open innovation enables us to be pioneers in software-defined solutions and systems that can scale to manage the influx of data and ensure they evolve with new software and application updates – and unlock our customers’ data capital.For instance, we’re working with the world’s largest auto manufacturers to build their edge infrastructures and data management capabilities to support huge fleets of autonomous cars! Through innovation sprints and collaboration, we’ve been able to understand what’s required for data to work in real-time at the vehicle level, driving intelligence and automation through AI/ML, while also ensuring data management in the cloud and data center is equipped to handle Zettabytes of data. It’s our view that the infrastructure powering the future of smart mobility will be the first private ZetaScale systems in the world, and Dell is part of the core journey to make that a reality.We’ve partnered with customers in retail to develop intelligent software-defined storage solutions that support integrated artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML). This automates software updates, which can often zap productivity from IT teams. Using software-based storage offerings provisioned through automation, IT teams can now develop data-driven business applications that deliver better customer experiences.We’re also continuing our work with service providers and enterprises to build the edge infrastructure required for 5G. For example, we’re working with Orange on specific solutions that look at how AI/ML can manage edge environments. At the same time, we’re helping service providers evolve their multi-cloud strategy so they can seamlessly manage and operate a variety of clouds that exist in public cloud domains, on-premises for faster access and stronger security, and clouds at the edge that enable them to manage data in the moment.In my experience, innovation with “open” collaborative frameworks and processes delivers pragmatic yet incredibly meaningful fast innovation across any industry. You can’t advance human progress through technology if it can’t get into the market to deliver real leading-edge solutions to problems not previously solved. The single biggest challenge in front of our customers is the risk of being disrupted by a digital version of their business that can better exploit technology innovation. And that’s why our aim is to partner with our customers to innovate at speed through open innovation – ensuring our customers can be the disrupters – not the disrupted.[1] https://www.networkworld.com/article/3325397/idc-expect-175-zettabytes-of-data-worldwide-by-2025.html [2] https://www.eweek.com/networking/why-edge-computing-market-will-grow-30-percent-by-2022
I’m excited to highlight a huge step Dell Technologies has taken towards simplifying our customers’ cloud journey with the unveiling of the Dell Technologies Cloud Console at our Dell Technologies World Virtual Event. The Dell Technologies Cloud Console is designed to help simplify operations by bringing a truly consistent self-service experience for cloud and as-a-Service workloads. As a key part of the Project Apex vision, the Cloud Console brings the unmatched, end-to-end depth and breadth of the Dell Technologies portfolio all into a single easy-to-use, web user interface.For more on this, please check out the Dell Technologies Cloud Console Breakout Session at DTW.Customers will be able to easily manage every aspect of their cloud transformation journey, from discovering and onboarding the right services for their business, to deploying, operating, optimizing and expanding their hybrid cloud environment, all with a few clicks.We are moving faster into a world where hybrid experiences are table stakes for our customers. The Dell Technologies Cloud Console is the foundation in demonstrating what it truly means to think of cloud as “an operating model, not a destination” by combining modern public cloud experiences, the best of the data center backed by the broadest, industry-leading technology portfolio, engineering expertise, and our extensive ecosystem of technology partners.“Customers will be able to easily manage every aspect of their cloud transformation journey, from discovering and onboarding the right services for their business, to deploying, operating, optimizing and expanding their hybrid cloud environment, all with a few clicks.ShareAs I look ahead at our roadmap and some of the new and exciting things to come, I can say that we are truly just scratching the surface in our massive, multi-year cloud transformation journey. You can expect to see a rolling thunder of more cloud offerings, more consumption options and more capabilities that will be made available through the Cloud Console, to help our customers maximize the value of their services, increase operational agility and accelerate the pace of innovation.There is absolutely no better time to be a Dell Technologies customer than right now!AvailabilityThe Dell Technologies Cloud Console is now available for customers to preview and will be generally available by the end of Q1 2021. Visit our webpage for more information, or contact your Dell Technologies Account Representative to get access to the public preview.
Edge computing promises to advance human progress and change our world for the better. I believe it can help organizations across the globe protect the environment, improve healthcare, facilitate smart cities, reduce energy costs, and enable new technologies and services. According to Gartner, by the year 2025, 75% of data is expected to be processed at the edge. This transformation will drive a host of new business opportunities with IDC predicting that the Edge computing market will reach $250.6 billion by 2024.A competitive advantageThe rationale for this shift is clear. Collecting and processing data at the Edge, close to the point of data creation, offers a competitive advantage. It delivers deeper business insights faster as well as lowering costs. In manufacturing, Edge computing enables precision monitoring, delivering real-time insights that help optimize yield and product quality. In turn, this lowers the cost of product assembly with opportunity for either higher margins or lower prices. In short, the shift to Edge computing solutions and strategies is a business imperative and will continue unabated. I believe that organizations that embrace this trend will be the winners.“ In short, the shift to Edge computing solutions and strategies is a business imperative and will continue unabated. I believe that organizations that embrace this trend will be the winners.”ShareStretching the existing IT infrastructureHowever, with business increasingly happening at the Edge, the sheer volume and velocity of data is stretching the supporting infrastructure and business response. Today’s organizations have to grapple with a number of complex challenges:Consistency between edge and cloudBy 2025, IDC estimates there will be 41.6 billion connected IoT devices capturing data on how we live, work, and travel. Due to this tremendous shift in user behavior, the traditional model of centralized architecture is giving way to distributed architectural models. Compare that to trends in the private/public cloud space, where we’ve seen an opposing shift toward centralization. As IT architecture inevitably becomes even more decentralized and as devices become more distributed, I believe that consistency of management and operations between the Edge and the cloud will become increasingly important.Integrating technologiesArtificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) will play a significant role in industries managing real-time information. Picture a scenario where the weather changes unexpectedly, it becomes hot, and people turn on their air conditioning. The utility company must quickly distribute power to respond to what’s happening on the ground. In this example, given the number of variables at play, AI and ML are fundamental to making real-time decisions at the Edge, while AI/ML algorithms at the core are responsible for analyzing historical data or predictive power surges. In the future, I believe this dynamic will change. Given the volume of computing moving to the Edge, AI and ML workloads will follow suit. And of course, organizations need access to high volumes of data to build AI interference models. The Edge is clearly the best place for data capture. Moving to the EdgeOne imperative to success is extending trusted IT-grade infrastructure to the Edge so that Operations Technology (OT) can be efficiently deployed, managed, integrated and supported. As always, the Dell Technologies strategy is to take a customer-centric approach. We offer key building blocks – Intel-based, tier one technology infrastructure, optimized for the Edge complete with modern application services to reliably deploy and run containerized workloads anywhere.More importantly, we’ve integrated intrinsic security, which surrounds and protects the entire stack of Edge solutions, and a suite of data services to help organizations extract relevant business insights. We have the right partners in place to provide specialist expertise, backed by the reassurance of our global supply chain. Organizations can manage Edge solutions across any cloud, any app, and any endpoint. As there are key points of differentiation in our security approach, broad partner ecosystem and reliable global supply chain, I’d like to explore these in a little more detail.Intrinsic security As compute and data creation become more decentralized and distributed, security challenges will inevitably become more complex. Unlike the cloud in a datacenter, it’s physically impossible to wall off the Edge. Organizations must scrutinize the stack, understand vulnerabilities, and invest in the best physical and virtual security available. Responding to this need, we design and integrate intrinsic security into every layer of the stack.Reliable supply chainThe most foundational element of our approach is a secure and reliable supply chain that ensure minimal disruption to businesses and eliminates threats before implementation. We leverage system control processes to maintain and control data access/ownership. We also track every solution sold from the component level and up; from the moment the chip is put on the motherboard through delivery to the end customer.The ecosystemThe level of innovation that’s happening in the Edge is unlike anything that the world has previously experienced. We believe that there’s no one single technology Edge platform solution that can support the diverse use cases across industry verticals. Rather, our approach has been to create a horizontal platform, where our ecosystem partners can build solutions for vertical, geographical or very specific horizontal use cases. In my view, this collaborative approach will drive massive opportunity. IDC concurs, estimating in its FutureScape: Worldwide IT Industry 2020 Predictions that by 2024, there will be an 800 percent growth in the number of applications being launched at the Edge.Looking aheadI’m inspired by the vast potential of Edge technology. I envision it becoming more pervasive in our homes, workplaces and streets, and supporting our daily decision making. I’m personally excited to think about how Edge technology will impact our individual lives and improve our world. From connected healthcare devices to public safety initiatives through to autonomous cars, Edge technology will play a valuable role in saving lives, reducing injuries and preventing crime, ultimately making all our lives safer and richer.Please get in touch – I’d love to hear your Edge plans or alternatively, how you’re already leveraging Edge technology for your business. Learn more about our broad range of edge solutions, visit Dell Technologies or Dell Technologies OEM Solutions.Read more about how you can maximize value at the Edge with Dell Technologies here.Listen to Dell Technologies World on-demand-sessions to hear how we are helping customers push the boundaries of what’s possible. Suggested sessions:–Outcomes at the Edge: How organizations are transforming–7 technology themes that will forever change your IT and business worldStay in touch! Follow us on Twitter @DellTech & @DellTechOEM and join our OEM LinkedIn Design Solutions Showcase page.
BETHESDA, Md. (AP) — A man who drew national attention after he assaulted people hanging fliers against police brutality on a Maryland bike trail has been sentenced to three years probation. News outlets reported Tuesday that Anthony Brennan must also complete anger management classes. The 61-year-old Brennan pleaded guilty in December to three counts of misdemeanor assault for June’s attack. The three victims were hanging fliers following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody. The attack on the bike trail in Bethesda was videotaped and widely circulated online. Brennan is now sober after checking into a treatment program. A Montgomery County judge said he found Brennan’s apology for the assault to be sincere.