Dell Solutions Forum 2015: how it was
Hi, Habr! As you may still remember, in October we held our next, already the fourth in a row, Dell Solutions Forum 2015 - the largest annual event for customers and partners.
Like last year , we want to tell those of you who could not attend it (but really wanted to) what was happening there. Those of you who spent the whole day with us on October 21 at the Radisson Slavyanskaya Hotel are urged to share your impressions of the forum in the comments.
')
So, we invite everyone under the cat.
Even in this difficult year for all, the Solutions Forum gathered more than 770 participants. Its sponsors are key technology partners of the company , including Intel and Microsoft. Citrix, Nvidia, VMware, Compulink, IBS Platformix, Softline and CROC also participated in the conference and exhibition.
The Moscow Forum is held as part of a series of events Dell Solutions Tour 2015 . They cover 17 countries. Speakers at the forum, and these are representatives of Dell, its partners and customers talk about market trends, innovations and new products of the company. The goal of this event is to tell everyone about a wide range of Dell solutions that help enterprises not only optimize their existing infrastructure, but also prepare it for future growth and the needs of tomorrow. Even the global marketing campaign launched by us this year was called Future Ready Enterprise, and the forum itself was held under the slogan "IT: a step into the future."
In the movie “Back to the Future - 2”, the time machine takes the main character to October 21, 2015. This distant future was presented to the creators of the picture by a rich high-tech devices and devices, which then could only dream of. The reality of 2015, of course, is different from what it was seen by director Robert Zemeckis in 1985. Flying cars and skateboards have not yet received such distribution. But many modern technologies 30 years ago were even hard to imagine.
The main areas that determine the present and future of IT are cloud computing technologies, systems for mobility of employees, means for protecting corporate data and user systems, technologies for working with Big Data (processing, analytics and storage). So many industry experts and analysts say. The program of this year’s forum was built around these topics.
Traditionally, the Dell Solutions Forum was opened by Boris Shcherbakov, CEO of Dell in Russia, Kazakhstan and Central Asia.
Two years ago, Dell, becoming a private company, had the opportunity to invest in the future - its head Michael Dell, who considered it necessary to “build a business on the needs of customers”, “turned the company over to the customer”.
In 2007, Michael Dell returned to the post of CEO and began to transform the corporation, spending billions of dollars to buy more than 30 companies specializing in various areas - from networks and storage systems to software, security and clouds. Dell has become more active in investing in research and development.
A little bit about Dell’s recent successes: Gartner has included Dell among the “visionaries” on the data center network infrastructure. In addition, in 2014, Dell received more technology patents than in the entire history of its existence, and with its Wyse solutions, it came out on top in the global workplace virtualization market (VDI).
The results of Dell in the development of IT solutions have become the first places in high-density solutions, iSCSI devices, server virtualization, support for the largest cloud services. Dell software is currently used by 90% of Fortune 1000 companies.
It would take a long time to list all the company's achievements, but they are in the annual report and appeal to customers ( Dell 2015 Annual Report to Customers ) - in pictures!
Dell offers are designed for different degrees of "technological maturity" of customers, their readiness to introduce new technologies. A differentiated approach to customers means that they are offered both traditional and new technologies, such as software-defined and cloud solutions, Big Data analytics.
Boris Scherbakov considers open standards, compatibility and flexibility, modularity and scalability of systems, a wide range of offerings (from thin clients to servers, storage and software) and the availability of complex, convergent solutions designed to be the main factors driving the choice of Dell solutions by customers. .
"The Evolution of Information Technology: Dell's Strategy"
Key presentations at the forum were made by representatives of platinum sponsors of the forum - Mario Lindner, lead market development manager in the Eastern Europe and Russia region of Intel, and Pavel Betsis, president of Microsoft in Russia.
An Intel spokesperson spoke about the rapid development of computing and the evolution of IT. So, only in the last five years, processor performance has increased 2.5 times, graphics - 30 times. And now the newest 6th generation Intel Core processors with 14nm process technology again “change IT”.
Intel Inside – Amazing Experience Outside
Pavel Betsis called IT "the condition of the existence of civilization" at all. It is not by chance that in 2015, IT costs in the world will amount to 3.8 trillion dollars. A bright trend is the “device revolution” - by 2020 there will be 212 billion of them in the world.
Another trend - cloud technologies, opening up access to IT to small and medium-sized businesses.
Today, Microsoft and Dell are “building the future together, promoting each other’s solutions.”
“Building the future together: Microsoft and Dell global partnership”
Andrei Komarovsky, Dell Enterprise Solutions Consultant, spoke about effective technologies for building VDI infrastructure .
VDI is the technology of the future, it meets current cloud trends, simplifies workplace management, ensures security and reliability, energy saving, remote access, simple integration with applications and operating systems.
One standard dual-processor server can serve 100–150 VDI clients. VDI solutions pay off in about six years, in particular, due to energy savings of up to 50% or more. ThinOS operating system for thin clients Dell Wyse occupies only 10 MB and requires minimal hardware resources. For solving various problems of customers in building the VDI environment, Dell offers a wide selection of both hardware platforms and software.
An example of VDI implementation in Russia was the “success story” of the Center for Simulation and Personnel Training (CTS), one of the leading aerospace enterprises in the country, which developed a comprehensive workplace virtualization solution based on servers, storage systems, network equipment, Dell thin and zero clients.
Vadim Yanyushkin, Deputy General Director for Technological Development of C & A Center:
“We understood that VDI is an excellent choice. We are a small team of specialists, we wanted to simplify administration and concentrate on the development of our systems for the training of astronauts. ”
In the simulator, in particular, the process of docking of the Soyuz-TMA spacecraft with the ISS is being worked out.
No powerful graphics stations are required for such 3D modeling. Visualization uses Wyse thin clients and NVIDIA K2 graphics cards on the server. Software also runs on virtual machines on the server. The simulation system is built on the basis of Dell PowerEdge servers, and NVIDIA GRID technology allows you to work with one graphics chip simultaneously for several users: the resources of the graphics processor are shared between several virtual machines. TsTiPP plans to release a commercial version of such a system.
Yevgeny Kim, director of IBS Platformix integrated solutions department, noted that Dell is becoming the largest player in the virtualization market in general and VDI in particular. Dell's VDI solutions have such advantages as lower license costs compared to competitive solutions, cost optimization through the purchase from one vendor and support costs, a single virtual environment management platform. All this ultimately affects the capital and operating expenses.
Today, Dell is virtually the only provider of VDI “from A to Z”, including servers, storage systems, desktop virtualization (Wyse vWorkplace), infrastructure monitoring and management (Dell Foglight), workplace equipment (Dell Wyse), and server virtualization (VMware ).
“Profitable Wyse vWorkspace - Dell Comprehensive VDI Solution”
Dell’s comprehensive offerings are complemented by services that play an important role in the life cycle of an IT system. They include systems deployment and technical support.
Artem Denisyuk, Dell Services Sales Manager, highlighted such services as ProSupport and ProSupport + support, ProDeploy services offered in conjunction with partners, and services for ProSupport Flex data centers. The latter allow you to quickly solve problems in a heterogeneous environment - this is specialized support for the entire data center, including environments from different vendors.
Artem also spoke about the new ProDeploy Enterprise Suite service package, which expands proposals for the deployment and customization of corporate solutions. It will facilitate the transition to IT outsourcing and allow enterprise IT departments to focus on core business objectives.
"Dell New Services"
An important part of Dell's business is software. Jacob Fishelev, Regional Software Sales Manager for Dell Software, introduced the company's extensive product line to conference participants.
It includes solutions that are divided into three main areas: systems management, IT security, and information management.
Dell Software today has more than 6,000 employees worldwide, over 200 products in the Dell portfolio, eight brands (Quest, SonicWALL, KACE, Boomi, Statsoft, etc.) with an annual turnover of over $ 1.8 billion. Dell Software customers include 90% of the 1000 largest companies in the world. In Russia, Dell Software has over a thousand customers.
The forum also presented examples of Dell Software projects implemented in Russia - using the company's development to manage user access rights and auditing (Dell ChangeAuditor and ActiveRoles), monitoring and optimizing system performance (Dell Foglight) and integration (Dell Boomi).
“Dell Software: New Approaches. Case Studies in Russia "
No less interesting and important than the experience of implementing existing software solutions are becoming new approaches. After all, they form the future of the IT industry. And today software-defined (Software Defined), or, as they are called, software-configurable solutions - networks (SDN), storage systems (SDS) and even entire data centers (SDDC) are widely discussed.
Software-defined storage, TLC flash memory and other trends that transform the landscape of data storage technologies were the topic of the panel discussion that ended the plenary session of the forum.
As IDC polls show, in the world about 16% of customers are already investing in SDS and 36% are considering this possibility. Russian companies are also showing interest in software-defined storage systems, but so far they are looking more closely at them and are trying to evaluate their benefits.
Fyodor Pavlov, Dell storage technology consultant in Russia, Kazakhstan and Central Asia led the discussion, and Vitaly Tsybulsky, Head of Infrastructure Maintenance Department of the National Settlement Depository CJSC CJSC, Andrey Vulin, Head of IT Infrastructure Department of Moscow Credit Bank ”, Yuri Samokhvalov, Head of the Server Department of CJSC Svyaznoy Logistics, and Dmitry Yushkevichus, Head of the Infrastructure and Telecommunications Division, Clinic Management Group.
As participants of the discussion noted, the concept of SDS with the separation of software and hardware components of storage and using standard servers as a hardware platform has been known for a long time. However, right now it has begun to be considered as a technology of the future that can radically change the market of data storage systems. Progress in processor technologies, data storage technologies, the emergence of multi-layer solid-state flash memory, which is already approaching in terms of capacity and cost to hard disk drives — all this makes us look at the storage system architecture of both vendors and customers in a new way.
Almost all leading storage system manufacturers have already submitted their SDS solutions. Customers expect SDS to reduce costs and simplify administration, but are currently not in a hurry to deploy SDS in a production environment, doubts are caused by insufficient maturity and reliability of solutions.
Although, according to IDC analysts, already in 2016, the global market for SDS will reach $ 6 billion, the panelists believe that the actual implementation of software-defined storage systems will begin only in two or three years. To do this, they should not yield to traditional solutions neither in functionality nor in reliability (for information is sometimes the most valuable asset of an enterprise). And, at a minimum, they should exceed them in economic performance and ease of administration.
Currently, Dell is deepening its partnership with suppliers of innovative SDS solutions, including Red Hat (Red Hat Storage Server based on Gluster, OpenStack and Ceph), Nexenta (NexentaStor), Microsoft (Storage Spaces), VMware (Virtual SAN and EVO: RAIL ), Nutanix (Nutanix Virtual Computing Platform). All these solutions are installed and delivered on Dell-optimized servers.
They target different market segments. For example, the Nexenta NexentaStor task — archiving files and content, Red Hat Inktank Ceph is used to deploy large-scale XaaS applications, the Nutanix Virtual Computing Platform is a hyperconvergence-independent solution for virtualization and medium-sized VDI infrastructure, Microsoft Storage Spaces is designed for software testing and development for Microsoft and hosting environments, VMware VSAN and EVO: RAIL - for testing and developing in a VMware environment and deploying a small-scale VDI.
In his presentation “New data storage economy” in the session part of the forum, Fyodor Pavlov also touched on the topic of SDS. He began with the shortcomings of modern storage systems. Replacing them is difficult and time-consuming, expensive to upgrade.
But can software-defined storage systems solve the problems of a traditional financial storage system model?
Many customers dream of moving from specialized storage devices (applliance) to a pure software solution on standard hardware. But the software vendor is asked: what hardware does it recommend for its software, has it been tested, is it provided with hardware platform support, can it integrate hardware and software? The answer to these questions can only be appliance. The circle closes.
For reliable operation of the storage system, it is very important that all components of the storage system — capacity, calculator, and logic — are closely soldered to each other in a single device with a single support. As a solution, Dell offers its own Compellent storage systems. Their controllers are being upgraded - it is possible to move on to the next generations, moreover, “on the go” and with the transfer of licenses. It is possible to combine in one system shelves of different generations (FC, SAS6, SAS12), supports gradual data migration to new media. It is not by chance that 95% of the Compellent storage systems ever sold are still under active service support.
Such an economic model corresponds to software storage, software is purchased once, unified support is provided for software and hardware. Moreover, data migration, even between data centers, does not require a virtualizer. So are SDS needed in this case?
However, Dell does not stay aside from the trend and along with the classic devices offers customers an extensive portfolio of software-defined storage systems, in particular, the solutions of the Dell XC series. Forum participants could get acquainted with them at the exhibition of solutions.
"New data storage economy"
An interactive exhibition of Dell solutions and technology partners worked throughout the forum.
It demonstrated technologies for building data centers, mobile devices and applications for implementing personal devices into the corporate network, client systems, software solutions for centralized management of IT infrastructure, comprehensive data protection and disaster recovery, server and hyperconvergent infrastructure solutions, tools for virtualization of workplaces .
Visitors to the exhibition could get acquainted with the new Dell PowerEdge 13th generation servers, SC9000 corporate storage systems with flash drives, Dell Storage Center 6.7 software, network equipment, laptops, tablets and thin clients, as well as a number of other products and solutions.
Denis Tropin and Andrei Komarovsky conducted a “tour of the demo zone”, stopping at each stand and telling about what was on it.
In the interactive zone of the Center for Simulation and Personnel Training, based on Dell solutions, it was possible to test prototypes of specialized software used in the Space Education Center, to feel like an astronaut performing docking of spacecraft in manual mode.
The Big Data booth was dedicated to Dell ready-to-use Big Data solutions and analytics tools. Fyodor Pavlov spoke about the strategy for developing data storage solutions aimed at specific workloads and based on flexible modular architectures. Visitors also learned about the benefits of the new Dell Storage SC storage systems.
On the Big Data bench, a comprehensive solution for exploration was presented. It is based on servers, storage systems and Dell clients. Dell systems are used to build high-performance computing systems and meet the requirements of demanding 3D graphics applications. Experts also talked about the possibilities of the new version of the platform for working with Big Data and Dell Statistica 13.0 analytics.
In the exhibition area Mobility solutions were presented to ensure the mobility of employees. Here you could take part in testing the strength of Latitude Rugged protected laptops, find out what Dell Precision mobile workstations are capable of and how to use the Dell Endpoint Systems Management tools to manage a fleet of mobile devices from a single console, as well as test the operation of a Dell device - laptops , tablet PCs, all-in-one PCs and compact desktop systems.
Security demo zone showed Dell integrated solutions that provide security at various levels: from the gateway to the database, from the network device to the application, and from the firewall to corporate data. Visitors were presented with access control and management solutions, to protect workloads on virtual machines, physical servers and in the cloud using a single application, as well as backup, replication and recovery of critical data using AppAsure software.
In addition, at the exhibition one could see new Dell Networking network equipment, modular switches, and Open Networking solutions. Today, Dell has become one of the leaders in the development of open networks, offering switches under its brand, which can work not only under the control of its own network operating system, but also software from other manufacturers, such as Cumulus Networks, Big Switch Networks and Pluribus Networks.
Edge Gateway 5000 border gateways in combination with Statistica analytical platform allow you to organize preliminary data processing at the edge of the network and optimize communication channels in systems that use the Internet of things technology.
The task of the Cloud zone is to show how Dell cloud solutions based on open standards are able to optimize the data center infrastructure. Here, visitors could learn how to prepare their infrastructure for the introduction of cloud technologies, how to choose the cloud platform, what hardware and software components should be preferred, to get acquainted with the joint solutions of Dell and partners to build cloud infrastructure.
At the IBS Platformix stand, a VDI solution based on Dell vWorkspace 8.6 was deployed with streaming video optimization. The IBS Platformix system integrator provides customers with a range of services related to infrastructure integration in a modern enterprise, including auditing, design and development of solutions, implementation, support and maintenance.
Citrix is ​​one of the leaders in the transition to software-defined workplaces, virtualization, mobility management, network technologies, and solutions for providing software as a service. Citrix solutions help organize business mobility using secure mobile workstations. At the booth were presented products that provide employees with access to applications, desktops, data and communications from various devices.
Softline is a provider of IT solutions and services, offers integrated IT solutions, software licensing, hardware and related services, and Softline’s own cloud platform provides customers with access to public, private and hybrid clouds. In its solutions, Softline makes extensive use of Dell products, for which it has been awarded with a number of awards and statuses.
Compulink presented a range of services in IT and consulting: integrated project management, IT and business consulting, construction and equipment of data centers, engineering solutions, creation of data transmission networks and unified communications, information security systems, equipment and software, service. CROC Solution Center provides customers with the opportunity to simulate the organization's IT infrastructure based on Dell solutions and evaluate its effectiveness.
The wide range of solutions offered by Dell and its partner ecosystem have identified a thematic diversity of reports on forum threads united with the slogan "IT: A Step Into The Future." And thematically they were organized so that the forum participants had the opportunity to study in detail each of the areas and discuss them with Dell specialists.
At the Mobility session, Dell experts talked about how to ensure employee mobility and not lose control of the infrastructure with a growing number of devices, operating systems and IT security threats, and how to integrate corporate devices, applications and their management services. Dell solutions help you get the most out of your employees' personal mobile devices and reduce risk by reliably protecting corporate and personal devices in a physical, virtual, and cloud environment.
Those interested in workplace virtualization learned about how to solve client workplace issues with virtualization, the results of Dell Wyse and Citrix's many years of collaboration in building VDI, using Nvidia GRID 2.0 for delivering applications, and Dell solutions for building 3D application virtualization systems.
“Wyse vWorkspace - Dell's VDI budget broker”,
Andrei Komarovsky, Alexander Tarasov, Dell CCC Russia.
“Desktop virtualization from Dell Wyse and Citrix is ​​a natural choice!”,
Sergey Halyapin, Chief Engineer, Citrix Systems RU & CIS,
Andrey Komarovsky, Dell Wyse,
Alexander Tarasov, System Engineer, Dell Wyse.
“NVIDIA GRID 2.0 - any application on any device, anywhere,”
Dmitry Konyagin, NVidia Senior Sales Manager.
“Dell solutions for building 3D application virtualization systems”,
Andrei Komarovsky, Alexander Tarasov, Dell CCC Russia.
The Cloud session was dedicated to improving the efficiency and flexibility of IT. It described how to build a cloud infrastructure based on Dell solutions based on industry standards, using a universal approach that allows you to choose the platform and supplier that meets business needs.
The presentations addressed the issues of “simplifying IT” and increasing resource efficiency through converged infrastructure solutions, Dell’s comprehensive solutions for the infrastructure of tomorrow (including Nutanix and Nexenta), EVO: RAIL is a hyperconvergent infrastructure solution from VMware and Dell, and Softline experts told about building a software-defined storage based on the metrocluster on Datacore and Dell PowerEdge. Infrastructure themes are reflected in the presentations on building corporate networks of the new generation based on Dell Networking solutions, monitoring key elements of the data center as a condition for the deployment of cloud services.
"Simplify IT and increase utilization with converged infrastructure solutions",
Pavel Borokh, Dell Enterprise Solutions Marketing Manager.
“EVO: ​​RAIL - hyperconvergent infrastructure solution from VMware and Dell”,
Alexander Patrushev, VMware SE.
“Metro cluster on Datacore and Dell PowerEdge as the basis of software-defined storage,”
Ivan Orlov, Lead Business Development Manager, Infrastructure Solutions Department.
“Building a new generation of corporate networks based on Dell Networking solutions”,
Sergey Gusarov, Dell Network Solutions Consultant.
Currently, Dell offers both reference architectures (blueprints) and ready-made integrated infrastructure solutions for a variety of tasks and workloads.
Dell Integrated Solutions for the Infrastructure of Tomorrow,
Mikhail Orlenko, Head of Technology Solutions at Dell.
Security session topics, as you might expect, were security issues. To ensure the productivity and efficiency of employees and to support innovations, security technologies today must take into account the realities and well-established methods of employees' work, take advantage of cloud technologies, the ability to work on personal devices, and mobility. Experts from Dell told how the company's integrated solutions provide the necessary level of security for data, personal information, networks and services throughout the organization.
The Big Data session was dedicated to effectively using analytics to transform data into knowledge. The Dell Big Data Analyzer solution combines natural language processing, self-learning and tonality analysis with easy-to-use search and visualization capabilities and allows you to gather information, identify relationships, and get the most out of big data. Forum participants learned how to extract and analyze useful data in order to use this information to make more informed decisions.
The forum participants learned useful toolkits at information security incident investigation presentations, Dell solutions for data protection and storage optimization, mobile client management with Dell KACE, Big Data predictive analytics, and assessment of actual storage requirements for IT infrastructure using Dpack.
“Dell solutions for data protection and storage optimization,”
Dmitry Krainov, Regional Business Development Manager in Russia and Kazakhstan, Dell Software.
"Dell Mobile Devices and Dell KACE Solutions for Effective Mobile Infrastructure Management,"
Yevgeny Gorshkov, Client Device Marketing Manager.
« Big Data: , , »,
, StatSoft Russia,
, StatSoft Russia. .
For example, the Dell Foglight toolkit allows you to proactively respond to an increase in IT infrastructure workload, get a clear analytics of system performance, manage workload and predict its growth. This makes it possible to optimize the density of virtual machines in the data center, properly configure the CPU and memory. It is also possible to work with a network topology, monitor communications between VMs and monitor virtual vSwitch switches, as well as monitor the VDI environment (VMware View).
In future versions of the product, Capacity Management is planned for both physical and virtual servers, support for Citrix XenServer and XenApp, the new generation of Hyper-V, and for the SMB segment a SaaS version will appear.
"Monitoring of virtual infrastructure as a guarantee of readiness for cloud technologies",
Dmitry Krainov, Regional Business Development Manager in Russia and Kazakhstan, Dell Software.
Another interesting and relevant solution presented to the audience was the Dell One Identity Manager (D1IM) product, designed to manage user access rights. It allows managers to view the powers of a particular employee, is easily configured and adapts to existing needs, focused on the tasks of the business. Employees can be empowered for a given period of time. This eliminates the causes of many incidents. And the IT Search toolkit helps organizations investigate logs, permission changes, etc. to parse security incidents. The average investigation time when analyzing more than 10 TB of data does not exceed 10 minutes. In the future, it is planned to implement data collection from various sources.
“The Access Pyramid” and Quick Investigations of Information Security Incidents,
Konstantin Shurunov, technical partner manager, Dell Software.
In short, that's how it was. In our subjective opinion, the Dell 2015 Solutions Forum has turned out to be exceptionally rich and interesting, perhaps you will even agree with us :)
Like last year , we want to tell those of you who could not attend it (but really wanted to) what was happening there. Those of you who spent the whole day with us on October 21 at the Radisson Slavyanskaya Hotel are urged to share your impressions of the forum in the comments.
')
So, we invite everyone under the cat.
Even in this difficult year for all, the Solutions Forum gathered more than 770 participants. Its sponsors are key technology partners of the company , including Intel and Microsoft. Citrix, Nvidia, VMware, Compulink, IBS Platformix, Softline and CROC also participated in the conference and exhibition.
The Moscow Forum is held as part of a series of events Dell Solutions Tour 2015 . They cover 17 countries. Speakers at the forum, and these are representatives of Dell, its partners and customers talk about market trends, innovations and new products of the company. The goal of this event is to tell everyone about a wide range of Dell solutions that help enterprises not only optimize their existing infrastructure, but also prepare it for future growth and the needs of tomorrow. Even the global marketing campaign launched by us this year was called Future Ready Enterprise, and the forum itself was held under the slogan "IT: a step into the future."
Future - today
In the movie “Back to the Future - 2”, the time machine takes the main character to October 21, 2015. This distant future was presented to the creators of the picture by a rich high-tech devices and devices, which then could only dream of. The reality of 2015, of course, is different from what it was seen by director Robert Zemeckis in 1985. Flying cars and skateboards have not yet received such distribution. But many modern technologies 30 years ago were even hard to imagine.
The main areas that determine the present and future of IT are cloud computing technologies, systems for mobility of employees, means for protecting corporate data and user systems, technologies for working with Big Data (processing, analytics and storage). So many industry experts and analysts say. The program of this year’s forum was built around these topics.
Forum: Start
Traditionally, the Dell Solutions Forum was opened by Boris Shcherbakov, CEO of Dell in Russia, Kazakhstan and Central Asia.
Two years ago, Dell, becoming a private company, had the opportunity to invest in the future - its head Michael Dell, who considered it necessary to “build a business on the needs of customers”, “turned the company over to the customer”.
In 2007, Michael Dell returned to the post of CEO and began to transform the corporation, spending billions of dollars to buy more than 30 companies specializing in various areas - from networks and storage systems to software, security and clouds. Dell has become more active in investing in research and development.
“Today we are witnessing unprecedented changes in the field of information technology: the concepts of cloud computing, Big data, mobility and security are changing our way of life, the functioning model of organizations and the picture of the world as a whole. The Dell Solutions Forum is an excellent opportunity to talk about Dell and our technology partners' innovative solutions. ”
A little bit about Dell’s recent successes: Gartner has included Dell among the “visionaries” on the data center network infrastructure. In addition, in 2014, Dell received more technology patents than in the entire history of its existence, and with its Wyse solutions, it came out on top in the global workplace virtualization market (VDI).
The results of Dell in the development of IT solutions have become the first places in high-density solutions, iSCSI devices, server virtualization, support for the largest cloud services. Dell software is currently used by 90% of Fortune 1000 companies.
It would take a long time to list all the company's achievements, but they are in the annual report and appeal to customers ( Dell 2015 Annual Report to Customers ) - in pictures!
Dell offers are designed for different degrees of "technological maturity" of customers, their readiness to introduce new technologies. A differentiated approach to customers means that they are offered both traditional and new technologies, such as software-defined and cloud solutions, Big Data analytics.
Boris Scherbakov considers open standards, compatibility and flexibility, modularity and scalability of systems, a wide range of offerings (from thin clients to servers, storage and software) and the availability of complex, convergent solutions designed to be the main factors driving the choice of Dell solutions by customers. .
"The Evolution of Information Technology: Dell's Strategy"
In the future - together with partners
Key presentations at the forum were made by representatives of platinum sponsors of the forum - Mario Lindner, lead market development manager in the Eastern Europe and Russia region of Intel, and Pavel Betsis, president of Microsoft in Russia.
An Intel spokesperson spoke about the rapid development of computing and the evolution of IT. So, only in the last five years, processor performance has increased 2.5 times, graphics - 30 times. And now the newest 6th generation Intel Core processors with 14nm process technology again “change IT”.
Intel Inside – Amazing Experience Outside
Pavel Betsis called IT "the condition of the existence of civilization" at all. It is not by chance that in 2015, IT costs in the world will amount to 3.8 trillion dollars. A bright trend is the “device revolution” - by 2020 there will be 212 billion of them in the world.
Another trend - cloud technologies, opening up access to IT to small and medium-sized businesses.
Today, Microsoft and Dell are “building the future together, promoting each other’s solutions.”
“Building the future together: Microsoft and Dell global partnership”
VDI as future technology
Andrei Komarovsky, Dell Enterprise Solutions Consultant, spoke about effective technologies for building VDI infrastructure .
VDI is the technology of the future, it meets current cloud trends, simplifies workplace management, ensures security and reliability, energy saving, remote access, simple integration with applications and operating systems.
“Dell offers a full range of solutions for VDI: servers, storage, client systems and software. Thus, the customer can receive everything from one source. ”
One standard dual-processor server can serve 100–150 VDI clients. VDI solutions pay off in about six years, in particular, due to energy savings of up to 50% or more. ThinOS operating system for thin clients Dell Wyse occupies only 10 MB and requires minimal hardware resources. For solving various problems of customers in building the VDI environment, Dell offers a wide selection of both hardware platforms and software.
An example of VDI implementation in Russia was the “success story” of the Center for Simulation and Personnel Training (CTS), one of the leading aerospace enterprises in the country, which developed a comprehensive workplace virtualization solution based on servers, storage systems, network equipment, Dell thin and zero clients.
Vadim Yanyushkin, Deputy General Director for Technological Development of C & A Center:
“We understood that VDI is an excellent choice. We are a small team of specialists, we wanted to simplify administration and concentrate on the development of our systems for the training of astronauts. ”
In the simulator, in particular, the process of docking of the Soyuz-TMA spacecraft with the ISS is being worked out.
No powerful graphics stations are required for such 3D modeling. Visualization uses Wyse thin clients and NVIDIA K2 graphics cards on the server. Software also runs on virtual machines on the server. The simulation system is built on the basis of Dell PowerEdge servers, and NVIDIA GRID technology allows you to work with one graphics chip simultaneously for several users: the resources of the graphics processor are shared between several virtual machines. TsTiPP plans to release a commercial version of such a system.
Yevgeny Kim, director of IBS Platformix integrated solutions department, noted that Dell is becoming the largest player in the virtualization market in general and VDI in particular. Dell's VDI solutions have such advantages as lower license costs compared to competitive solutions, cost optimization through the purchase from one vendor and support costs, a single virtual environment management platform. All this ultimately affects the capital and operating expenses.
Today, Dell is virtually the only provider of VDI “from A to Z”, including servers, storage systems, desktop virtualization (Wyse vWorkplace), infrastructure monitoring and management (Dell Foglight), workplace equipment (Dell Wyse), and server virtualization (VMware ).
“Profitable Wyse vWorkspace - Dell Comprehensive VDI Solution”
Service and support
Dell’s comprehensive offerings are complemented by services that play an important role in the life cycle of an IT system. They include systems deployment and technical support.
Artem Denisyuk, Dell Services Sales Manager, highlighted such services as ProSupport and ProSupport + support, ProDeploy services offered in conjunction with partners, and services for ProSupport Flex data centers. The latter allow you to quickly solve problems in a heterogeneous environment - this is specialized support for the entire data center, including environments from different vendors.
Artem also spoke about the new ProDeploy Enterprise Suite service package, which expands proposals for the deployment and customization of corporate solutions. It will facilitate the transition to IT outsourcing and allow enterprise IT departments to focus on core business objectives.
"Dell New Services"
Not just hardware: Dell Software
An important part of Dell's business is software. Jacob Fishelev, Regional Software Sales Manager for Dell Software, introduced the company's extensive product line to conference participants.
It includes solutions that are divided into three main areas: systems management, IT security, and information management.
Dell Software today has more than 6,000 employees worldwide, over 200 products in the Dell portfolio, eight brands (Quest, SonicWALL, KACE, Boomi, Statsoft, etc.) with an annual turnover of over $ 1.8 billion. Dell Software customers include 90% of the 1000 largest companies in the world. In Russia, Dell Software has over a thousand customers.
The forum also presented examples of Dell Software projects implemented in Russia - using the company's development to manage user access rights and auditing (Dell ChangeAuditor and ActiveRoles), monitoring and optimizing system performance (Dell Foglight) and integration (Dell Boomi).
“Dell Software: New Approaches. Case Studies in Russia "
No less interesting and important than the experience of implementing existing software solutions are becoming new approaches. After all, they form the future of the IT industry. And today software-defined (Software Defined), or, as they are called, software-configurable solutions - networks (SDN), storage systems (SDS) and even entire data centers (SDDC) are widely discussed.
Software-defined storage
Software-defined storage, TLC flash memory and other trends that transform the landscape of data storage technologies were the topic of the panel discussion that ended the plenary session of the forum.
As IDC polls show, in the world about 16% of customers are already investing in SDS and 36% are considering this possibility. Russian companies are also showing interest in software-defined storage systems, but so far they are looking more closely at them and are trying to evaluate their benefits.
Fyodor Pavlov, Dell storage technology consultant in Russia, Kazakhstan and Central Asia led the discussion, and Vitaly Tsybulsky, Head of Infrastructure Maintenance Department of the National Settlement Depository CJSC CJSC, Andrey Vulin, Head of IT Infrastructure Department of Moscow Credit Bank ”, Yuri Samokhvalov, Head of the Server Department of CJSC Svyaznoy Logistics, and Dmitry Yushkevichus, Head of the Infrastructure and Telecommunications Division, Clinic Management Group.
As participants of the discussion noted, the concept of SDS with the separation of software and hardware components of storage and using standard servers as a hardware platform has been known for a long time. However, right now it has begun to be considered as a technology of the future that can radically change the market of data storage systems. Progress in processor technologies, data storage technologies, the emergence of multi-layer solid-state flash memory, which is already approaching in terms of capacity and cost to hard disk drives — all this makes us look at the storage system architecture of both vendors and customers in a new way.
Almost all leading storage system manufacturers have already submitted their SDS solutions. Customers expect SDS to reduce costs and simplify administration, but are currently not in a hurry to deploy SDS in a production environment, doubts are caused by insufficient maturity and reliability of solutions.
Although, according to IDC analysts, already in 2016, the global market for SDS will reach $ 6 billion, the panelists believe that the actual implementation of software-defined storage systems will begin only in two or three years. To do this, they should not yield to traditional solutions neither in functionality nor in reliability (for information is sometimes the most valuable asset of an enterprise). And, at a minimum, they should exceed them in economic performance and ease of administration.
Currently, Dell is deepening its partnership with suppliers of innovative SDS solutions, including Red Hat (Red Hat Storage Server based on Gluster, OpenStack and Ceph), Nexenta (NexentaStor), Microsoft (Storage Spaces), VMware (Virtual SAN and EVO: RAIL ), Nutanix (Nutanix Virtual Computing Platform). All these solutions are installed and delivered on Dell-optimized servers.
They target different market segments. For example, the Nexenta NexentaStor task — archiving files and content, Red Hat Inktank Ceph is used to deploy large-scale XaaS applications, the Nutanix Virtual Computing Platform is a hyperconvergence-independent solution for virtualization and medium-sized VDI infrastructure, Microsoft Storage Spaces is designed for software testing and development for Microsoft and hosting environments, VMware VSAN and EVO: RAIL - for testing and developing in a VMware environment and deploying a small-scale VDI.
SDS and non SDS: storage economics
In his presentation “New data storage economy” in the session part of the forum, Fyodor Pavlov also touched on the topic of SDS. He began with the shortcomings of modern storage systems. Replacing them is difficult and time-consuming, expensive to upgrade.
“By and large, the whole problem is that the storage system is still considered as a device, and a device with a limited service life, without any strategy of development and modernization. Need a storage platform, not a device. The approach to storage systems as a device leads to a ruinous storage model. Modernization is sometimes impossible even in a single generation storage system. The current financial model can be significantly improved by moving to a storage platform in which software and hardware are abstracted from each other. ”
But can software-defined storage systems solve the problems of a traditional financial storage system model?
Many customers dream of moving from specialized storage devices (applliance) to a pure software solution on standard hardware. But the software vendor is asked: what hardware does it recommend for its software, has it been tested, is it provided with hardware platform support, can it integrate hardware and software? The answer to these questions can only be appliance. The circle closes.
For reliable operation of the storage system, it is very important that all components of the storage system — capacity, calculator, and logic — are closely soldered to each other in a single device with a single support. As a solution, Dell offers its own Compellent storage systems. Their controllers are being upgraded - it is possible to move on to the next generations, moreover, “on the go” and with the transfer of licenses. It is possible to combine in one system shelves of different generations (FC, SAS6, SAS12), supports gradual data migration to new media. It is not by chance that 95% of the Compellent storage systems ever sold are still under active service support.
Such an economic model corresponds to software storage, software is purchased once, unified support is provided for software and hardware. Moreover, data migration, even between data centers, does not require a virtualizer. So are SDS needed in this case?
However, Dell does not stay aside from the trend and along with the classic devices offers customers an extensive portfolio of software-defined storage systems, in particular, the solutions of the Dell XC series. Forum participants could get acquainted with them at the exhibition of solutions.
"New data storage economy"
Solutions Show: Big Data, Mobility, Security, Cloud
An interactive exhibition of Dell solutions and technology partners worked throughout the forum.
It demonstrated technologies for building data centers, mobile devices and applications for implementing personal devices into the corporate network, client systems, software solutions for centralized management of IT infrastructure, comprehensive data protection and disaster recovery, server and hyperconvergent infrastructure solutions, tools for virtualization of workplaces .
Visitors to the exhibition could get acquainted with the new Dell PowerEdge 13th generation servers, SC9000 corporate storage systems with flash drives, Dell Storage Center 6.7 software, network equipment, laptops, tablets and thin clients, as well as a number of other products and solutions.
Denis Tropin and Andrei Komarovsky conducted a “tour of the demo zone”, stopping at each stand and telling about what was on it.
In the interactive zone of the Center for Simulation and Personnel Training, based on Dell solutions, it was possible to test prototypes of specialized software used in the Space Education Center, to feel like an astronaut performing docking of spacecraft in manual mode.
The Big Data booth was dedicated to Dell ready-to-use Big Data solutions and analytics tools. Fyodor Pavlov spoke about the strategy for developing data storage solutions aimed at specific workloads and based on flexible modular architectures. Visitors also learned about the benefits of the new Dell Storage SC storage systems.
On the Big Data bench, a comprehensive solution for exploration was presented. It is based on servers, storage systems and Dell clients. Dell systems are used to build high-performance computing systems and meet the requirements of demanding 3D graphics applications. Experts also talked about the possibilities of the new version of the platform for working with Big Data and Dell Statistica 13.0 analytics.
In the exhibition area Mobility solutions were presented to ensure the mobility of employees. Here you could take part in testing the strength of Latitude Rugged protected laptops, find out what Dell Precision mobile workstations are capable of and how to use the Dell Endpoint Systems Management tools to manage a fleet of mobile devices from a single console, as well as test the operation of a Dell device - laptops , tablet PCs, all-in-one PCs and compact desktop systems.
Security demo zone showed Dell integrated solutions that provide security at various levels: from the gateway to the database, from the network device to the application, and from the firewall to corporate data. Visitors were presented with access control and management solutions, to protect workloads on virtual machines, physical servers and in the cloud using a single application, as well as backup, replication and recovery of critical data using AppAsure software.
In addition, at the exhibition one could see new Dell Networking network equipment, modular switches, and Open Networking solutions. Today, Dell has become one of the leaders in the development of open networks, offering switches under its brand, which can work not only under the control of its own network operating system, but also software from other manufacturers, such as Cumulus Networks, Big Switch Networks and Pluribus Networks.
Edge Gateway 5000 border gateways in combination with Statistica analytical platform allow you to organize preliminary data processing at the edge of the network and optimize communication channels in systems that use the Internet of things technology.
The task of the Cloud zone is to show how Dell cloud solutions based on open standards are able to optimize the data center infrastructure. Here, visitors could learn how to prepare their infrastructure for the introduction of cloud technologies, how to choose the cloud platform, what hardware and software components should be preferred, to get acquainted with the joint solutions of Dell and partners to build cloud infrastructure.
At the IBS Platformix stand, a VDI solution based on Dell vWorkspace 8.6 was deployed with streaming video optimization. The IBS Platformix system integrator provides customers with a range of services related to infrastructure integration in a modern enterprise, including auditing, design and development of solutions, implementation, support and maintenance.
Citrix is ​​one of the leaders in the transition to software-defined workplaces, virtualization, mobility management, network technologies, and solutions for providing software as a service. Citrix solutions help organize business mobility using secure mobile workstations. At the booth were presented products that provide employees with access to applications, desktops, data and communications from various devices.
Softline is a provider of IT solutions and services, offers integrated IT solutions, software licensing, hardware and related services, and Softline’s own cloud platform provides customers with access to public, private and hybrid clouds. In its solutions, Softline makes extensive use of Dell products, for which it has been awarded with a number of awards and statuses.
Compulink presented a range of services in IT and consulting: integrated project management, IT and business consulting, construction and equipment of data centers, engineering solutions, creation of data transmission networks and unified communications, information security systems, equipment and software, service. CROC Solution Center provides customers with the opportunity to simulate the organization's IT infrastructure based on Dell solutions and evaluate its effectiveness.
Step into the Future
The wide range of solutions offered by Dell and its partner ecosystem have identified a thematic diversity of reports on forum threads united with the slogan "IT: A Step Into The Future." And thematically they were organized so that the forum participants had the opportunity to study in detail each of the areas and discuss them with Dell specialists.
At the Mobility session, Dell experts talked about how to ensure employee mobility and not lose control of the infrastructure with a growing number of devices, operating systems and IT security threats, and how to integrate corporate devices, applications and their management services. Dell solutions help you get the most out of your employees' personal mobile devices and reduce risk by reliably protecting corporate and personal devices in a physical, virtual, and cloud environment.
Those interested in workplace virtualization learned about how to solve client workplace issues with virtualization, the results of Dell Wyse and Citrix's many years of collaboration in building VDI, using Nvidia GRID 2.0 for delivering applications, and Dell solutions for building 3D application virtualization systems.
“Wyse vWorkspace - Dell's VDI budget broker”,
Andrei Komarovsky, Alexander Tarasov, Dell CCC Russia.
“Desktop virtualization from Dell Wyse and Citrix is ​​a natural choice!”,
Sergey Halyapin, Chief Engineer, Citrix Systems RU & CIS,
Andrey Komarovsky, Dell Wyse,
Alexander Tarasov, System Engineer, Dell Wyse.
“NVIDIA GRID 2.0 - any application on any device, anywhere,”
Dmitry Konyagin, NVidia Senior Sales Manager.
“Dell solutions for building 3D application virtualization systems”,
Andrei Komarovsky, Alexander Tarasov, Dell CCC Russia.
The Cloud session was dedicated to improving the efficiency and flexibility of IT. It described how to build a cloud infrastructure based on Dell solutions based on industry standards, using a universal approach that allows you to choose the platform and supplier that meets business needs.
The presentations addressed the issues of “simplifying IT” and increasing resource efficiency through converged infrastructure solutions, Dell’s comprehensive solutions for the infrastructure of tomorrow (including Nutanix and Nexenta), EVO: RAIL is a hyperconvergent infrastructure solution from VMware and Dell, and Softline experts told about building a software-defined storage based on the metrocluster on Datacore and Dell PowerEdge. Infrastructure themes are reflected in the presentations on building corporate networks of the new generation based on Dell Networking solutions, monitoring key elements of the data center as a condition for the deployment of cloud services.
"Simplify IT and increase utilization with converged infrastructure solutions",
Pavel Borokh, Dell Enterprise Solutions Marketing Manager.
“EVO: ​​RAIL - hyperconvergent infrastructure solution from VMware and Dell”,
Alexander Patrushev, VMware SE.
“Metro cluster on Datacore and Dell PowerEdge as the basis of software-defined storage,”
Ivan Orlov, Lead Business Development Manager, Infrastructure Solutions Department.
“Building a new generation of corporate networks based on Dell Networking solutions”,
Sergey Gusarov, Dell Network Solutions Consultant.
Currently, Dell offers both reference architectures (blueprints) and ready-made integrated infrastructure solutions for a variety of tasks and workloads.
Dell Integrated Solutions for the Infrastructure of Tomorrow,
Mikhail Orlenko, Head of Technology Solutions at Dell.
Security session topics, as you might expect, were security issues. To ensure the productivity and efficiency of employees and to support innovations, security technologies today must take into account the realities and well-established methods of employees' work, take advantage of cloud technologies, the ability to work on personal devices, and mobility. Experts from Dell told how the company's integrated solutions provide the necessary level of security for data, personal information, networks and services throughout the organization.
The Big Data session was dedicated to effectively using analytics to transform data into knowledge. The Dell Big Data Analyzer solution combines natural language processing, self-learning and tonality analysis with easy-to-use search and visualization capabilities and allows you to gather information, identify relationships, and get the most out of big data. Forum participants learned how to extract and analyze useful data in order to use this information to make more informed decisions.
The forum participants learned useful toolkits at information security incident investigation presentations, Dell solutions for data protection and storage optimization, mobile client management with Dell KACE, Big Data predictive analytics, and assessment of actual storage requirements for IT infrastructure using Dpack.
“Dell solutions for data protection and storage optimization,”
Dmitry Krainov, Regional Business Development Manager in Russia and Kazakhstan, Dell Software.
"Dell Mobile Devices and Dell KACE Solutions for Effective Mobile Infrastructure Management,"
Yevgeny Gorshkov, Client Device Marketing Manager.
« Big Data: , , »,
, StatSoft Russia,
, StatSoft Russia. .
For example, the Dell Foglight toolkit allows you to proactively respond to an increase in IT infrastructure workload, get a clear analytics of system performance, manage workload and predict its growth. This makes it possible to optimize the density of virtual machines in the data center, properly configure the CPU and memory. It is also possible to work with a network topology, monitor communications between VMs and monitor virtual vSwitch switches, as well as monitor the VDI environment (VMware View).
In future versions of the product, Capacity Management is planned for both physical and virtual servers, support for Citrix XenServer and XenApp, the new generation of Hyper-V, and for the SMB segment a SaaS version will appear.
"Monitoring of virtual infrastructure as a guarantee of readiness for cloud technologies",
Dmitry Krainov, Regional Business Development Manager in Russia and Kazakhstan, Dell Software.
Another interesting and relevant solution presented to the audience was the Dell One Identity Manager (D1IM) product, designed to manage user access rights. It allows managers to view the powers of a particular employee, is easily configured and adapts to existing needs, focused on the tasks of the business. Employees can be empowered for a given period of time. This eliminates the causes of many incidents. And the IT Search toolkit helps organizations investigate logs, permission changes, etc. to parse security incidents. The average investigation time when analyzing more than 10 TB of data does not exceed 10 minutes. In the future, it is planned to implement data collection from various sources.
“The Access Pyramid” and Quick Investigations of Information Security Incidents,
Konstantin Shurunov, technical partner manager, Dell Software.
In short, that's how it was. In our subjective opinion, the Dell 2015 Solutions Forum has turned out to be exceptionally rich and interesting, perhaps you will even agree with us :)
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/158771/
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