Dell Technologies to Expand Apex with Cyber Protection, Object Storage Support
Dell is also partnering with Snowflake to integrate the cloud data platform with on-premises infrastructure.
May 2, 2022
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Beginning Dell Technologies World on Monday, Dell is launching APEX Cyber Recovery Services, designed to ease recovery from cyberattacks. Apex Cyber Recovery Services consist of standardized configurations and recovery service options with runbook and procedure templates.
“We’ve done this for compute services, we’ve done this for data storage services, we’ve done it for data protection. Now we’re doing it for a full stack solution,” said Chad Dunn, Dell’s VP of Apex product management.
Dunn said that 67% of customers surveyed for Dell’s Global Data Protection Index are not confident that they could recover from an attack.
“With Apex Cyber Recovery Services, customers can feel confident in the ability to recover from a destructive cyberattack and achieve more agility by offloading the day-to-day management of data protection,” Dunn said.
Dell is also expanding the PowerProtect Cyber Recovery offering launched last year enables customers to host their cyber recovery vaults in public clouds. Launched initially for Amazon Web Services (AWS), Dell is expanding it to Microsoft Azure.
The new PowerProtect Cyber Recovery for Microsoft Azure is available in Microsoft’s Azure Marketplace. Dell said it will allow the deployment of isolated cyber vaults that aim to reduce data loss from breaches. In the event of a ransomware attack or other event that blocks access to data, PowerProtect is designed to provide various recovery options. The vaults provide protection in data centers, new Azure private networks or hosted Azure environments, according to Dell.
“We really see an increased desire and flexibility of how customers and where customers want to create these cyber vaults,” said Caitlin Gordon, Dell’s VP for software and solutions product marketing. “Being able to do that in the public cloud not only gives them another opportunity in another location, but actually enables them to be able to test recovery very efficiently as well because they can spin up and spin down those resources in the public cloud.”
Expanding on the launch of PowerProtect Cyber Recovery for AWS last year, Dell is launching CyberSense. The new CyberSense for Dell PowerProtect Cyber Recovery for AWS is a monitoring solution that monitors files and databases. It scans metadata and files using adaptive analytics, forensic tools and machine learning looking for evidence of an attack. It’s also designed to determine the last clean copy of data.
“It will provide full content indexing of those air-gapped cyber vault copies,” Gordon said. “In the case of a ransomware attack, you’ll be able to use CyberSense to find the last known good backup copy and be able to recover that confidently in the public cloud.”
Building on the introduction of Project Alpine storage software earlier this year, Dell is demonstrating it this week. Project Alpine is Dell’s new block and file storage software designed to provide common management of stored data on-premises and in public clouds with “operational consistency.”
Project Alpine aims to provide unified movement of data between Dell’s traditional storage offerings and multiple public clouds. It also lets developers build applications regardless of where they will be deployed. Dell is demonstrating it and will show new features in the pipeline, according to Gordon.
“Because we’re building off of our existing storage software, you can take advantage of things like the native mobility and replication technologies to move data from on prem to the cloud and back seamlessly without having to use any new tools without having to retrain staff,” she said. “Just like we have with data protection today, customers can consume this as a native cloud service through public cloud marketplaces so they can draw down against the pre committed spends with the hyperscalers.”
Gordon also discussed Dell’s new partnership with Snowflake, noting it’s the first of planned alliances with SaaS providers.
“This is all about enabling our customers to keep data and place data in their applications in the right place, but still be able to use the Snowflake data analytics platform against that data.”
Noting that Snowflake is a public cloud-based data analytics platform, Gordon said customers want to keep certain data on-premises, while using Snowflake’s cloud-based analytics capabilities. While not changing where the analytics runs and keeping the data in place, Dell will enable the external table capability of the Snowflake Data Cloud to read the data that exists within its on- prem storage with AWS and Azure object storage services. According to the announcement, product integrations and joint go-to-market efforts will begin in the second half of this year.
Gordon also discussed Dell’s new partnership with Snowflake, noting it’s the first of planned alliances with SaaS providers.
“This is all about enabling our customers to keep data and place data in their applications in the right place, but still be able to use the Snowflake data analytics platform against that data.”
Noting that Snowflake is a public cloud-based data analytics platform, Gordon said customers want to keep certain data on-premises, while using Snowflake’s cloud-based analytics capabilities. While not changing where the analytics runs and keeping the data in place, Dell will enable the external table capability of the Snowflake Data Cloud to read the data that exists within its on- prem storage with AWS and Azure object storage services. According to the announcement, product integrations and joint go-to-market efforts will begin in the second half of this year.
DELL TECHNOLOGIES WORLD — Dell Technologies is expanding its new Apex managed infrastructure services portfolio with cyber recovery offerings. Partners will also get their first look at Project Alpine, Dell’s effort to bring its software-defined block and object storage to public clouds.
The Dell ecosystem is gathering for the first live event held by the company in three years. Dell Technologies World is taking place this week in Las Vegas with an estimated 5,500 partners and customers. In one of the first major live gatherings held by a major IT provider, Dell is planning to make a big splash.
Apex, which Dell started rolling out last year, will be a big part of this week’s gathering. Apex represents the future of how Dell will enable its partners to deliver infrastructure as managed cloud services. Besides adding cyber protection and storage migration services, Dell will reveal plans to expand the Apex ecosystem. In the first such effort, Dell is announcing an alliance with Snowflake. The companies are working to enable integration with Snowflake, among the leading SaaS data analytics platforms, and Dell on-premises infrastructure and public cloud object storage services.
Dell’s Sam Grocott
“We will have seamless integration with Dell infrastructure,” said Sam Grocott, Dell’s SVP of product marketing. Grocott, joined by product marketing executives, spoke during a media and analyst briefing. The event kicks off in earnest on Monday, led by Michael Dell, the company’s founder and CEO.
Check out our slideshow above for our coverage of the Apex announcement and more as Dell Technologies World kicks off.
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