Reliance on digital technology important for world and SA

The reliance on digital technology is extremely important for the world and South Africa, says Dell Technologies.

This comes after the tech giant announced that Dell Apex Data Storage Services is now available in South Africa.

New storage simplifies IT experience, allowing organisations to focus on outcomes and respond quickly to changes

Dell’s Apex as-a-Service hyperconverged, storage and data protection solutions are powered by Intel hardware.

This latest data storage helps South African organisations address challenges which are specific to the region including allowing them to choose how and when they invest in technology, making it easier to preserve cash.

Digital platforms

Speaking to The Citizen, Adrian McDonald, president for Dell Technologies EMEA, said the world’s dependence on digital platforms is now more than ever.

“The truly important thing for South Africa is to master digital, to have sufficient digital skills in its people and to be able to utilise digital to drive societal and business goods and likewise to bring great innovation as South Africa does.”

McDonald said cloud storage is evolving at a rapid pace.

“That world is evolving into something called multi-cloud, something that Dell Technologies is key and what multi-cloud says is you don’t have to go to any one public cloud to get these services, or locked in. You should be able to utilise any given workload from any cloud including your own.”

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Formula One

Dell is also the sponsor of the McLaren Formula one team and McDonald added that cloud storage plays a critical role during a race weekend.

So, we have the team out in Woking, the team at trackside an we assessed McLaren in having this unique communication platform where is essence the strategy is being driven by the people at the factory.

“So, McLaren will provide those services both through the cloud and directly,” McDonald said.

Privacy and security

Doug Woolley, general manager, Dell Technologies South Africa, said security is at the forefront of the Dell Apex cloud adoption.

He said during Covid, many companies who allowed people to work from home became security risks and vulnerable to cyber-attacks as staff accessed cloud services and information.

“From our endpoint devices, we have built of a lot of security from the ground up into the device and then work with a number of partners to build a security platform that is properly managed.”

Control

Woolley said with Dell Apex, customers and partners have flexibility and control over who performs day-to-day management operations with both Dell-managed and customer-managed options.

He said the data storage offering from Dell helps South African organisations address challenges which are specific to the region.

“With Apex, our customers maintain more control of data to minimise risk and maximise performance, all on their own terms.”

“In addition, load shedding challenges can be overcome with the Apex consumption-based model that can be hosted in any data centre, including shared facilities,” Woolley said.

Woolley added that organisations can select from multiple performance tiers for Dell Apex Data Storage Services File, Block and Backup Target, available in one- to five-year terms.

A recent survey conducted by Enterprise Strategy Group revealed that 54% of organisations would prefer a consumption-based model in which their data centre infrastructure is purchased on a pay-per-use basis.

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