This past month, Iron Bow attended Dell EMC World 2017 in Las Vegas. During my trip, I had the pleasure of discussing current, future and emerging technologies across the industry. At Iron Bow, I have seen these trends emerge first-hand, as have the over 12,000 IT practitioners and business leaders in attendance.
Virtualization (both server and desktop), on-premise and off-premise cloud, and as-a-service offerings are leading the market. Each of these trends contributes to the overarching theme of this year’s Dell EMC World: Digital Transformation Realized.
Dell and Iron Bow have been partners since 1998, and together, we are seeing this theme rapidly become a reality. Gartner recently estimated that there will be 8.4 billion Internet of Things (IoT) devices in use this year. IoT is no longer a thing of the past, and as connected devices drive a need for mobility and better data security, organizations are updating their consumption models. Below I will elaborate on three areas of IT transformation discussed at Dell EMC World and why they are taking the tech world by storm.
Cloud
In the coming years, IDC expects public cloud spending to grow at an annual rate of 19.4 percent, reaching over $141 billion by 2019. At Dell EMC World, many speakers stressed the importance of understanding that cloud is not a place, rather a vehicle for IT change. VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger even referred to cloud at an “automated operational environment” to send this point home.
Cloud adoption is certainly growing, but organizations must understand how to leverage it to better meet their unique needs. Whether on-premise or off-premise, cloud is a way for organizations to break ties from their data centers and focus on rapid and efficient IT use.
Virtualization
With virtualization comes many add-on benefits. A virtualized IT environment is one that can handle today’s bandwidth demands efficiently and cost-effectively. Virtualization can also act as a cloud computing platform. Whether on the server or desktop, a move to virtualize is a move toward streamlining day-to-day IT asks. Access to resources is simplified, keeping users happy and effective in their day-to-day tasks.
While virtualization benefits are realized in the IT community, many organizations tend to hesitate in adoption due to hefty up-front costs or the fear of future operational inefficiencies. At Dell EMC World a new, integrated product offering, VDI Complete, was announced. This solution can provide end-to-end desktop and application virtualization, which has both a flexible cost method and flexible integration options, to give each unique organization the key to virtualization benefits, without the hassle.
As-A-Service Offerings
More and more customers want to get back to their mission goals and spend less time and effort on IT. In a conversation I had with Dell EMC Federal CTO Cameron Chehreh, he explained this by comparing it to cell phone technology. Customers buy cell phone service, not cell phone towers. Similarly, federal agencies want to start purchasing IT as-a-service, rather than invest in IT hardware that will soon be outdated and is difficult to manage.
This mindset is akin to what we at Iron Bow have experienced, with many of our customers requesting a pay-by-the-drink model. Through product offerings such as Service Select and Cloud Flex for HCI, customers will find greater ease-of-use and efficiency within. IT professionals can focus their energy on mission-critical problems, rather than focus on day-to-day maintenance.
Digital transformation realized is not just a mantra at an event; it has become a way of life for forward-looking companies. With solutions and expertise from companies like Dell, VMware, Iron Bow and more, your organization can do digital transformation right.
If you missed this year’s Dell EMC World, you can stream the keynotes and more here: http://www.dellemcworld.com/live2.htm?cmp=dew17_promo_banner_dellemcevents – main=ondemand