In a keynote speech at the Dell Technologies World conference, the company’s CEO formally launched an initiative to branch into the managed services space, offering cloud-based infrastructure services under the Dell Technologies APEX banner. The brand, originally announced in October 2020, seeks to simplify how customers can utilize IT as-a-service, providing a variety of platforms to deploy and manage cloud-based infrastructure technologies.
“We want to give you cycles back by making your infrastructure highly automated, multi cloud and as a service, so you can dedicate your time, and energy and investments to your data, your applications and creating business results and competitive advantage. That’s where Apex comes in, to bring together our cloud and as-a-service capabilities,” said CEO Michael Dell in the virtual announcement.
Some of the services on offer include analytics, cloud storage, and support for public cloud platforms such as Microsoft Azure or Google Cloud, as well as a new partnership with Equinix, enabling businesses to deploy APEX-enabled applications and services at over 200 data centers in 63 major metropolitan areas, where Dell’s team will manage and maintain scalable infrastructure. An additional partnership was announced in the form of Manufacturing Edge Reference Architecture with PTC, pairing with APEX Private Cloud solutions to increase production line reliability, leading to reduced operational costs and improved data-driven decision making.
With the global managed services market size estimated at $214.7 billion in 2020, the move comes at a time of heightened emphasis on cloud solutions, with a rapidly growing number of organizations moving to public cloud and IT as-a-service to lower costs, increase efficiency, and free up personnel to focus on business priorities. Seeing APEX as a first step in an official strategic shift to compete with market leaders like Cisco and HPE, the company is leveraging its extensive experience in the hardware and services sector to transform itself into a major player in the as-a-service market.
While Dell has been providing PC hardware using the as-a-service model since 2017, the shift marks the beginning of Dell’s transition from a well-established hardware company to a managed services powerhouse. As leadership looks across the company and re-engineers the entire organization to focus on delivering experiences over products, APEX is looking to be just the beginning.
