Now more than ever, organizations have turned to as-a-Service models to gain the agility and cost predictability needed to survive, and thrive, amid rapidly changing business and market needs. In fact, IDC estimates that by 2024, more than half of data center infrastructure will be consumed and operated via an as-a-Service model.1 Our APEX portfolio of services aims to give organizations the speed, agility, and control they need, with a consistent experience so they can run what they want, where they want, the way they want—whether that’s in a private cloud, multiple public clouds, a colocation or at the edge.
This past year has been exciting one for APEX, and there’s plenty more coming in months ahead. But as we wrap up 2021, we wanted to take a moment to recap the top news from APEX this year. Here are the highlights.
We introduced our APEX portfolio of services
May was an important month as we formally introduced APEX at Dell Technologies World. We shared how APEX could provide a simplified technology experience to organizations, delivering as-a-Service infrastructure wherever it is needed. That way, organizations could focus more on running their business, accelerate innovation by quickly adapting to evolving business requirements and run IT operations more effectively on their terms–all while minimizing risk and maximizing resources. Dell Technologies owns, deploys, manages and supports the infrastructure, removing the complexity of lifecycle management. As a result, APEX simplifies tedious installation processes, reduces burdensome IT maintenance tasks and relieves the hassle of decommissioning activities. It alleviates the costs and stresses of downtime. Since May, we’ve also shared top APEX use cases to help you understand how APEX can address your most critical workloads.
We unveiled a simplified storage experience with APEX Data Storage Services
Building IT Infrastructure that supports application workloads while also optimizing financial and operational goals is a constant challenge for organizations. That’s why in May we launched APEX Data Storage Services, an on-premises, as-a-Service, scalable and elastic storage service created so you can respond dynamically to business needs while maintaining control of your data. This gives organizations the agility benefits of the public cloud with enterprise-class data features and the control and security of being on-premises. To bring you more choice and flexibility, we expanded our collaboration with global digital infrastructure company Equinix to bring you APEX Data Storage Services at Equinix locations. And to make it even easier and more transparent to get started, in August we launched an APEX pricing calculator to help organizations quickly calculate different storage configurations.
We made APEX Custom Solutions available for built-to order, on-demand environments
Create your own on-demand environment with infrastructure and services you customize to order.
A key component of our APEX portfolio is custom solutions that streamline the IT lifecycle with value-added services and cloud-like economics across our broad, end-to-end, industry leading portfolio. These include APEX Flex on Demand, a pay-per-use flexible consumption model for custom configurations, where elastic capacity is delivered and measured at the product level. Flex on Demand allows you to acquire infrastructure and services while paying for what you use without a large upfront expenditure. Or you can move some or all of your data center operations into a pay-per-use model with APEX Data Center Utility. Dell fully supports and manages your data center and its operations and you pay a monthly payment based on your actual usage. There are no minimum capacity requirements and reporting is individualized based on specific needs.
We introduced unified, modern IT service delivery through the APEX Console
In May, we also unveiled the APEX Console, your window into APEX. The APEX Console provides a unified experience for modern IT service delivery, so you can drive the right outcomes for your business. You can browse our catalog of subscription-based APEX services with fixed-rate and usage-based pricing models. You can create, configure and place subscription orders through self-service workflows that offer the ability to save draft configurations or submit them for financial approval. You can also monitor subscriptions to increase capacity, improve performance and balance storage data sets. Since then, we’ve shared a deeper dive into the console’s functionality to help you visualize a day in the life of the APEX Console.
We announced APEX Cloud Services for all your essential workloads
Many organizations that have turned to the public cloud for its self-service capabilities, increased agility and developer-ready tools also wish to take advantage of that same agility, speed and increased innovation in their private cloud environments. That’s why we introduced APEX Cloud Services, a turnkey portfolio of cloud services that provides a single platform for cloud native and traditional applications. Customers can choose between a simple cloud deployment with APEX Private Cloud or a hybrid cloud deployment with APEX Hybrid Cloud that can be extended to public cloud partners, all accessible via the APEX Console. You can also choose how you deploy these solutions, across on-premises or at a colocation facility leveraging 1- or 3- year term subscriptions.
We launched APEX Cloud Services with VMware Cloud
Building on our announcements from earlier in the year, in October we introduced APEX Cloud Services with VMware Cloud, providing software-defined compute, storage and networking with secure and consistent operations across multi-cloud environments—private, public and edge. Because the infrastructure is owned and managed by Dell Technologies, you’re freed from the hassles of day-to-day management, but can deploy critical workloads with cloud instances and self-service capabilities. The offering can be used with VMware Tanzu, letting you build, test and run cloud-native applications alongside traditional applications. You can choose between a variety of instance types—Memory Optimized, Compute Optimized, General Purpose and Large Scale Memory Optimized—and select what’s best for your use case or workload.
We expanded our APEX use cases to include strategic partners and mission critical workloads
In November we introduced RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, powered by APEX, so that organizations can maintain secure SAP environments in their own data centers while still reaping the benefits of Dell infrastructure and a cloud operating model. RISE with SAP S/4HANA Cloud, private edition with APEX delivers the solution on SAP-certified, Dell Technologies servers, storage and networking resources that are supplied, installed, monitored and managed in the customer’s own data center or colocation environment by Dell, simplifying lifecycle management.
We shared how customers are using APEX (and can’t wait to learn more)
We’ve been thrilled by what we’ve heard from APEX customers—they’ve told us they love the simplicity of the buying experience, the speed at which technology is delivered and our plans for what’s to come. RelateCare, a healthcare service provider, told us APEX helps them onboard customers faster while keeping data safe and secure where it was stored—just like in a flexible cloud-like environment. Said Jordan Reinhardt, Director of Information Services, RelateCare: “With APEX Custom Solutions we’re as agile and cost-effective as any cloud solution but without the concerns over data residency.” And in July we shared how GE is simplifying its global IT operations, including using APEX to quickly rebalance workloads across its business units without creating a significant impact on its businesses and spending. We’ve also listened deeply to customer feedback on where we can make APEX even better and will have more to share on January 19—stay tuned for more.
Looking ahead towards 2022
We continue to geographically expand and enhance our APEX portfolio and have many new announcements planned for the year ahead, including new offerings, new locations and more. To stay up to date on our latest news, follow APEX on our blog or on Twitter.
1 IDC “Business Value of Usage-Based Consumption Models for Storage” by Susan G. Middleton and Matthew Marden. April 2020. Commissioned by Dell.