7 answers from Dell EMC about the Azure Stack.

What is Dell EMC’s view of the market environment and what makes Azure Stack such a valuable asset for our partners?

Dell EMC is a pioneer of hybrid cloud infrastructures. With many years of experience in development, testing, deployment, and support, Dell EMC helps hybrid cloud users to find the right balance between flexibility and control of your applications.

Dell EMC Cloud for Microsoft Azure Stack is a hybrid cloud platform that uses excellent technologies from Dell EMC for hyper-converged infrastructures, networking, backup, encryption, and Microsoft application development tools.

This platform lets you deploy IaaS and PaaS solutions either on a public cloud or in your local environment. Dell EMC delivers performance, resilience, and security with the benefits of a self-hosted environment.

What is the Dell EMC Stack?

The hardware for Dell EMC Cloud for Microsoft Azure Stack expands the Dell EMC PowerEdge R740xd.

3 sizes

• Entry-level/Small configuration: 4 server nodes
• Medium configuration: 8 server nodes
• Large configuration: 12 server nodes

3 capacities/node sizes

• Low: 12-core, 384 GB memory, 5.7 TB SSD cache, 40 TB HDD
• Mid: 16-core, 576 GB memory, 11.5 TB SSD cache, 80 TB HDD
• High: 24-core, 768 GB memory, 11.5 TB SSD cache, 100 TB HDD

Network Adapter: Mellanox ConnectX-4

Switches: 2× Dell Networking S4048 10GbE, 1× Dell Networking S3048 1 GbE

From Dell EMC’s point of view, for which customers and IT strategies is Azure Stack suitable?

Dell EMC Cloud for Microsoft Azure Stack is the right environment to develop applications based on Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) and Platform as a Service (PaaS), with Microsoft Visual Studio, for example. Dell EMC Cloud for Microsoft Azure Stack lets you run IaaS and PaaS based applications that cannot be run in the public cloud for data protection reasons, in addition to IaaS and PaaS based applications to process local data and transfer them aggregated into the cloud for further processing (edge computing).

What’s Dell EMC’s approach to building the optimal solution?

When conducting an Azure Stack project, it’s especially important to talk about correct use of the system. To ensure this, we at Dell EMC and Bechtle are conducting a workshop to discuss workloads in the environment and their requirements. Subsequently, a concept will be developed to fit the solution. We’ve developed a sizing tool for this that provides optimal configuration based on your requirements.

After commissioning, Dell EMC will deploy the system in your environment. All of the subsequent work, migration concepts, operating models etc will then be carried out by Bechtle specialists.

What is the roadmap for future scalability?

In addition to hardware support, Dell EMC provides specialist software support for Azure Stack (validated BIOS/firmware updates). Further extensions to server nodes and stamps/scale units/clusters are offered by Dell EMC according to approval by Microsoft, including network customisations.

What distinguishes Dell EMC in the operation, management and support of your Azure Stack?

Dell EMC Cloud for Microsoft Azure Stack is supplied with Dell EMC’s own system management solutions. It enables easy overview of hardware components and network switches. Configuration backups and firmware updates are easy to conduct from a web console. For optimum data protection and compliance, you can consolidate key management of Azure Stack and Azure with Dell EMC Cloud Link.
What's more, you’ll be assigned a technical account manager (TAM) with every Dell EMC Azure Stack System, based in a German support centre who you can call and e-mail personally. Your TAM will handle all kinds of troubleshooting to get your issues fixed asap.

What does Dell EMC’s cooperation with Bechtle and Microsoft look like?

We’re ready to go! We’ll be happy to provide you with a demo stack at Bechtle or access to a Dell EMC demo stack for you as a Bechtle customer, so you’ll be able to test the Dell EMC Cloud for Microsoft Azure Stack with our support and get to know the system.