'Transformation is a part of the change our customers expect''

Lately, more companies have begun to offer the entire gamut of end-to-end solutions and services. Joining other players in the field like HP, IBM, Cisco and Oracle, Dell too has hopped on to the bandwagon in the last couple of years. Dataquest caught up with Justin Boyd, national storage product manager, Dell Australia, who was on a day-long visit to India and spoke on the latest range of Dell's newly unveiled 12th generation PowerEdge solutions. Boyd has been leading Dell's storage portfolio overseeing the introduction of over 100 products. Excerpts

Justin Boyd

national storage product manager, Dell Australia

What happened to Dell, the PC company?

From being just a products or services company, Dell has come to a position where it can now deliver an end-to-end IT solution or infrastructure. Products or solutions are still part of the trade and continue to lead in their space. It is just to suit to customers' requirements who can avail various end-to-end Dell services.

So, the transformation is a part of the change that our customers expect. In today's environment, customers are heavily dependent on IT to run their business. And different functions in a company need different solutions. Dell has gone further in delivering all

of them to customers in a

bundled form.

This transformation has started in Dell in the last 4 years. So, it's no more a PC company but an end-to-end IT solutions company which understands the needs of its customers.

How have Dell's new acquisitions helped in this shift?

In the last one-and-a-half years, Dell has acquired as many as 21 companies. Undoubtedly, these acquisitions have played a significant role in putting Dell at the forefront in different areas. Dell is a major player in remote infrastructure management (RIM) because of the acquisition of Perot Systems.

In addition, acquisitions such as SecureWorks, EqualLogic, Compellent, RNA Networks, KACE, Force 10, InSite One, Boomi, Ocarina Networks, Scalent, Exanet, Alienware, AppAssure, etc, have major contributions in enhancing company's customer base. Through these acquisitions Dell has achieved presence in the cloud, security, networking, storage, data center, data management, and infrastructure management.

What role does the 12th generation of Dell's PowerEdge line of products play in enabling the IT departments? How different is it from the earlier generation products?

Dell PowerEdge 12th Generation Servers and related solutions were designed based on the customer feedback across the world and so are optimized around customer workloads.

The new generation offers an agent-free server management via the Dell iDRAC7 and offers an automatic firmware update for replacement parts. It also offers an increased memory capacity up to 24 dual in-line memory

modules (DIMMs).

What's the value proposition for customers? Why should CIOs invest in PowerEdge?

It is a product at par and helps them scale faster in a virtual environment, assisting them climb on the cloud faster. To me, cloud is not the destination but the journey. So, PowerEdge 12th Generation allows CIOs or IT managers scale faster to the next level.

Besides, the new line is in sync with tough weather conditions like in India where temperatures are as high as 47C. The PowerEdge 12th Generation servers run in temperatures as high as 45 without cooling for a month even. So, the product is best suited for data centers which want to cut on the cooling cost.