Dell Technologies has unveiled a portfolio of “as-a-service” options that spans the company’s servers, storage, data protection, hyperconverged infrastructure in the recently held Dell Technologies World.

In a bid to push everything-as-a-service , Dell Technologies APEX, also includes managed services options to support customers and partners that choose to run Dell infrastructure in Equinix data centers worldwide.

Experts says, APEX reflects a push toward hardware as a service (HaaS) consumption models. But ultimately, the effort extends far beyond hardware to include various cloud-based management software, managed services options, and far more.

APEX seems like to counter, HPE GreenLake (on-premises cloud services) and Cisco Plus (network as a service and more), along with public cloud services such as Amazon Web Services (AWS), Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform (GCP).

HPE CEO, Antonio Neri said, to Sell ‘Everything as a Service’ by 2022. Announced this two years before in 2019, the move will be to make on-prem IT more like public cloud, the company says GreenLake is its future. HPE GreenLake speeds insights to unlock data’s value, with pay-per-use and financial flexibility for new ventures and business operations, so you can free up capital, and boost operational and financial flexibility.

Dell announces for providing partners a market leading 30 percent incentive on Apex deals with the goal of taking share from the likes of HPE GreenLake and public cloud providers in the new hybrid cloud era.

Apex is essentially the creation of the new Dell as we move forward,” said Sam Grocott, senior vice president of product marketing for Dell in an interview . “We’re transforming internally every facet of the business, as well as externally, as we drive this change to as-a-service consumption model for our entire portfolio. This is a very, very important moment for Dell Technologies from a channel standpoint.”

At the same time, partners said, Dell’s Apex appears to be more lucrative for channel partners compared to HPE’s GreenLake as-a-service offerings, which provides partners a 17 percent upfront rebate. Now, HPE GreenLake hit the market several years ago and is available across the globe and it is a great success stories.

Dell APEX as-a-Service Portfolio includes:

• APEX Data Storage Services;
• APEX Cloud Services spanning public cloud, private cloud and edge solutions.
• APEX Custom Solutions spanning servers, storage, data protection, and hyperconverged infrastructure (together known as APEX Flex On Demand) coupled with custom metering and managed services applied across customer data centers (known as APEX Data Center Utility).
• APEX Console, which allows customers to manage their entire APEX lifecycle. Indeed, Dell customers can configure, order, monitor and make changes to their APEX services from that console.

Dell APEX-Equinix Partnership: Key partners include Equinix, a global provider of data centers, colocation centers and high-speed network interconnections. As part of the relationship, Dell is prepared to manage APEX infrastructure in an Equinix data center of a customer’s choice and will consolidate colocation costs in a single bill. Also, customers will be able to use the APEX Console to provision APEX services at select Equinix locations, Dell says.

In a prepared statement about the partnership, Eric Schwartz, chief strategy and development officer at Equinix, said:

“As companies continue to create more data, they want the ability to store and manage that data when and where they need it. Whether their data lives within a data center, at the edge or across public and private clouds, customers want more choice and greater flexibility in managing their hybrid IT infrastructure. By collaborating with Equinix, Dell Technologies can provide APEX Data Storage Services to support these customers’ hybrid multi-cloud requirements on a global scale.”

The Dell-Equinix relationship essentially gives Dell an on-demand and managed data center footprint alternative to public clouds such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure and Google Cloud Platform.

Allison Dew, CMO and EVP, Dell Technologies said, APEX will be generating plenty of buzz across the Dell channel ecosystem today. Summarizing the overall strategy, Allison Dew, chief marketing officer and executive vice president of Dell Technologies APEX, said:

“The world is innovating faster than ever to meet new demands of customers, students, patients and constituents – driving the need for a more agile and simple technology approach. This is what APEX offers. With the industry’s leading IT portfolio, decades of data center services experience and an unmatched global supply chain and partner network, no other as-a-Service portfolio comes close to our capabilities.

Let’s wait and watch on how quickly partners will embrace and monetize APEX? And what type of managed services can partners wrap around APEX?