New system aims to optimize the operational experience of Microsoft’s next generation of Azure Stack HCI.
Dell EMC customers can now deploy on-premises HCI infrastructure via the Microsoft Azure stack. The new system is a hybrid cloud solution that also offers pay-as-you-go pricing.
Microsoft announced the latest version of its HCI solution at their Inspire event earlier this year. Azure Stack HCI is now delivered as an Azure service rather than through a traditional licensing model.
Users can thus utilise Azure Stack HCI as they would Azure cloud instances, but the infrastructure lives on-premises. It is thus a hybrid solution that lives ieither in a data centre or in a Remote Office/Branch Office (ROBO) environment.
New offering shows the evolution of HCI at Dell
Dell’s director of HCI product marketing, Shannon Champion, announced the new offering in a blog post.
When HCI systems hit the market about 10 years ago, traditional servers were the underlying infrastructure. But HCI software has unique performance requirements, she said.
“To meet the demands of HCI software, Dell EMC took the experience and expertise engineering PowerEdge servers and tailored them to meet the needs of software-defined solutions,” she adds. Optimized hardware platforms and unique software integrations have propelled Dell EMC HCI systems to #1 in the HCI market.”
As servers are the underlying infrastructure of traditional HCI, Dell has taken its Dell EMC PowerEdge servers and tailored them specifically to meet the needs of software-defined solutions, according to Champion.
Moreover, “every chassis, every drive, DIMM, processor and adapter selection was made specifically to optimize for Azure Stack HCI.”
The new offering operates with tools such as Windows Admin Center, PowerShell, and the Azure portal. Dell has also simplified deployment and full stack lifecycle management experience through the OpenManage Integration for Windows Admin Center. They state that this reduces manual tasks by up to 82%.
The Dell EMC Integrated System for Microsoft Azure Stack HCI will be first available in the AX-640 and AX-740xd configurations. These will appear in the first quarter of 2021.
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