Dell promises to simplify IoT

As companies face the challenge of analysing massive amounts of data generated by connected devices, says Dell, computing must moves from the centre to the edge.

At the Dell EMC World expo in Las Vegas this week, Dell Technologies announced new Internet of Things (IoT) products and partnerships that it promises will help customers take the complexity out of their IoT deployments and more quickly realise Digital Transformation.

According to a recent Gartner report, there will be 20.4-billion connected things in use globally by 2020.  Companies are looking for faster, real-time analysis of the massive amount of data produced by all of these “things” on their networks. For some, it’s too expensive to move all the data from the edge of the network near the devices to the data centre. Computing at the edge helps determine which data sets are interesting, relevant and need to be sent back to the data center or the cloud for further analytics and longer term storage, saving bandwidth and reducing costs and security concerns.

Dell Technologies announced the following new IoT Products and Services:

Simplified “Things” Management – The new VMware Pulse IoT Center is a secure IoT infrastructure management solution that will enable customers to have complete control of their connected things. VMware Pulse IoT Center will help customers to more efficiently manage, operate, scale and protect their IoT projects from the edge to the cloud. Dell will be offering VMware Pulse IoT Center as the preferred enterprise management and monitoring solution for Dell Edge Gateways. By plugging Pulse IoT Center into the new EdgeX Foundry, VMware will be able to offer system and device management for the EdgeX ecosystem.

IoT Advisory Services – IoT Technology Advisory Service is a new consulting offer from Dell EMC Services to help organizations determine the key capabilities and architecture required to leverage IoT data (e.g., sensors, beacons, gateways, mobile phones, wearables, connected devices). This information can be used for initiatives such as optimizing key operational processes, reducing compliance and security risks, uncovering new revenue opportunities and creating more compelling customer engagements.

Open Source Framework for Interoperable Edge Computing – The Linux Foundation recently launched EdgeX Foundry, an open source software project chartered to build a common framework and surrounding reference platform for edge computing. It will drive interoperability between proprietary value-added applications and existing connectivity standards. It was started by a community of more than 50 companies such as AMD, Analog Devices, Dell EMC, Foghorn and VMware to enable an ecosystem of plug-and-play components that can be combined to quickly create secure and scalable IoT solutions. Dell contributed more than a dozen microservices and over 125,000 lines of source code under Apache 2.0 to seed the project, additional contributions are already underway from other members. EdgeX Foundry is architected to operate on any hardware, on any operating system and with microservices developed in any application environment for maximum scale.

Carefully Curated Partnerships

Dell has carefully curated a group of IoT software and services partners through the Dell IoT Solutions Partner and Dell EMC Partner Programs. Many partners have deep, proven expertise in industry-specific IoT challenges, and can help with everything from managing multiprotocol data sources to security to analytics. New partners recently added to the program include Atos, Bosch, GreatBay Software, ForgeRock, IOTech, Mocana and Modius.

Today’s key IoT partner news includes:

• Dell and Bosch have jointly developed an Industry 4.0 jump start kit to help customers implement IoT projects quickly to realize faster ROI. The kit consists of multiple Bosch XDK sensors, a Dell Edge Gateway, ready-to-go use-cases, cloud integration and software, all preconfigured.
• Atos and Dell EMC are working together to build an IoT service management framework, Atos Codex IoT Services, to allow customers to be assured that all users can continuously create value from their connected devices.

Dell Technologies – An IoT Heavyweight

Dell Technologies is the industry’s broadest Internet of Things (IoT) infrastructure solutions provider. The company offers a complete edge-to-core-to-cloud portfolio of infrastructure for IoT solutions that includes everything from infrastructure, embedded PCs, IoT gateways, security and manageability solutions and more.

Dell Technologies’ capabilities in IoT allow for fast innovation and simplified integration and include:

• More than 30 years of IT heritage and more than 15 years of operations technology (OT) experience through the Dell EMC OEM Solutions team – deep understanding of both IT and OT, critical for successful IoT implementations
• Technology and expertise of Pivotal to rapidly develop and update cloud-native software
• Dell EMC infrastructure for storing and analyzing the data that the “things” generate
• Ruggedized, purpose-built IoT hardware designed to collect data at the edge of the network including Dell Edge Gateways and Dell Embedded Box PCs
• A curated Dell IoT Solutions Partner Program with more than 70 technology and services partners
• Trusted security solutions from RSA and SecureWorks that ensure data is transferred securely and quickly
• Industry-leading global service and support and financing options