We’re just back from a road trip to the Big Easy!
Hands on experience with our new VRTX cluster
Microsoft TechEd is always a great opportunity for us to connect with IT professionals from all over the country. A time to share ideas and innovations. A time to hear directly from you. This week, we headed to New Orleans for a week of presentations, breakout sessions, hands on learning and many conversations.
We also amplified the exciting converged infrastructure announcements we made at Dell Enterprise Forum throughout the TechEd conference, including Dell PowerEdge VRTX and Active Infrastructure 1.1. We’ve partnered with Microsoft on these announcements, along with others, to simplify the delivery and implementation of end-to-end, cost effective solutions.
- Our PowerEdge VRTX solution brings amazing power and simplicity to remote/branch office (ROBO) and small and medium business IT by consolidating server, storage, networking and management into a single, right-sized chassis designed for this audience. During his TechEd “Cluster in a Box in 2013” breakout session, John Lovall (Principal Program Manager for Microsoft Windows Server) states that the PowerEdge VRTX is “what can happen if you really focus on a customer solution to bring a cool system to market”. Watch his full presentation here.
- Enhancements to our Active Infrastructure portfolio help customers accelerate the delivery of business applications and IT services, improve data center efficiency and strengthen IT service quality. With template based accelerated deployments for Microsoft workloads like SQL environments, enhanced unified management – including support for Microsoft Hyper-V and virtual workload provisioning – and new validated workloads for SQL Server, Microsoft SharePoint, and Microsoft Lync, Dell and Microsoft are helping customers design their IT infrastructure around the workloads and applications that are central to business success.
We also announced several new enhancements and additions to our Microsoft solution portfolio:
- New enhancements to Dell DVS Enterprise for Windows Server 2012 including high-end virtualized graphics support, simplified migration from Windows XP (soon to be end of life) to Win7 or Win8, a proof of concept 10-seat deployment and a prebuilt, preconfigured version, based on the new Dell Active System 50, for faster and easier deployments.
- Our Dell DVS Enterprise for vWorkspace reference architecture provides optimized storage and rapid deployment for Microsoft Windows Server 2012 Hyper-V customers with a blend of 500 to 5,000 VDI and RDSH users. As an extension of DVS Enterprise for Windows Server 2012, this solution includes real-time VM monitoring and diagnostics, enhanced user experience and BYOD support and is certified on the Dell Wyse D10D, D90D7 and Z90D7 thin clients and X90m7 mobile thin clients.
- Dell Software announced solutions to further ease migration, management and monitoring of Microsoft environments including Data Loss Prevention (DLP) reporting for on-premises Exchange 2013, anytime, anywhere SQL Server performance monitoring with expanded mobile support, and accelerated multi-OS hardware migration, management and enablement strategies.
At the event, Dell was honored to be a finalist for Best of Show in four categories. We were recognized for our robust enterprise solutions as well as our touchscreen monitors that help customers maximize use of the Microsoft Win8 operating system.
Dell@Microsoft Tech Ed 2013 – Best of Show Finalists:
Database – Quest Spotlight on SQL Server Enterprise
Hardware – Dell S2340T Touchscreen Monitor
Systems – Dell Mobile IT
Virtualization – Dell DVS Enterprise for vWorkspace
If you stopped by the Dell booth at TechEd, you would have gotten to see these solutions and more firsthand! We had our best and brightest on hand to show how we are bringing together components and solutions from across our hardware, software and services portfolios to maximize performance, value and experience for our customers. Our booth showcased our end-to-end solutions with Microsoft including Unified Communications & Collaboration (Exchange, Lync, SharePoint), SQL Server and Hyper-V.
Traffic at the Dell booth really picked up after we shared our VRTX announcement on the TechEd big screen. Folks were excited to see the VRTX cluster in person and to learn more about the Simplified Cluster Configuration tool. Dell and Microsoft are continuing to work on solutions for the PowerEdge VRTX to enable even higher levels of availability for small and medium-sized businesses, which we look forward to sharing in more detail in the coming weeks.