Unboxing a New On-prem Hybrid Cloud Experience

Dell EMC Cloud for Microsoft Azure Stack

One of the main headlines to emerge from Microsoft Ignite 2017 was the imminent release of Azure Stack, the on-prem version of Azure that can work securely in an offline mode. WWT was excited to be one of the first four Microsoft partners to place an order for Azure Stack.

Now it feels like the holidays have come early with the arrival of a hybrid cloud platform that's long been high on our wish list: the Dell EMC Cloud for Microsoft Azure Stack.

With tremendous fanfare — think Super Bowl halftime show, only a bit smaller — WWT staged an unboxing ceremony to install and configure this powerhouse product in our Advanced Technology Center (ATC). As technology deployments go, this one is totally worthy of the biggest welcome extravaganza we could muster. Let us explain why.

What makes Azure Stack so exciting?

Azure is a comprehensive set of cloud services that developers and IT professionals use to build, deploy and manage applications through a global network of data centers. Azure Stack is an extension of Azure, bringing the advantages of cloud computing to on-premises environments.

Azure and Azure Stack enable three core promises:

• Consistent application development, providing a flexible platform that empowers builders to deploy apps the same way, regardless of whether they run on Azure or Azure Stack. They can implement a common DevOps approach across hybrid cloud environments.
• Azure Services are available on-premises, so that organizations can adopt hybrid cloud computing on their own terms, and meet business requirements by deploying any combination of cloud and on-prem models with the flexibility to incorporate future Azure innovations.
• An integrated delivery experience that fits easily into the data center to get up and running quickly. Optimize business applications and services for consistent, predictable Azure innovation.

In addition, Azure Stack systems are validated for the new family of Intel® Xeon® Scalable processors, providing new I/O stack improvements, support for up to 28 cores per processor and a significant improvement in memory bandwidth.

"We are excited about the momentum and adoption of Azure Stack by one of our strategic data center partners, World Wide Technology," said Lisa Davis, Vice President and General Manager, Enterprise and Government IT Transformation, Intel Data Center Group. "With the solution now available today in their Advanced Technology Center, and the additional performance and capacity delivered by the Intel Xeon Scalable processors, WWT is well positioned to test and deliver the future of hybrid cloud to customers."

Dell EMC extends the Azure advantage

Dell EMC complements Azure Stack with its own enhanced "flavor" in the form of the Dell EMC Cloud for Microsoft Azure Stack. The Dell EMC product is a turnkey platform for building hybrid clouds with the same look, feel and personality as the Microsoft Azure public cloud. It's an on-premises offering that combines Dell EMC hardware and management software with Microsoft's Azure Stack software solution, all wrapped in a unified delivery and support model.

Unboxing is just the beginning

The Dell EMC Cloud for Microsoft Azure Stack is unboxed, installed and running in the our ATC. We invite you to visit our ATC and see the future of hybrid cloud capabilities at work.