Dell Technologies is the first IT company to embrace innovation that helps businesses run powerful artificial intelligence (AI) workloads in VMware environments. Designed to make AI easier to deploy and consume, new Dell EMC Ready Solutions based on VMware Cloud Foundation help companies gain AI insights with the combination of Dell EMC systems and new features of VMware vSphere 7, including Bitfusion. 

“Artificial intelligence is a game changer, but our customers tell us they’re lagging behind in adoption because they’re dealing with skills and infrastructure gaps,” said Tom Burns, senior vice president, Integrated Products & Solutions, Dell Technologies. “We’re bringing together the power of Dell Technologies to help customers simplify the process of running AI workloads at scale in their familiar VMware environments.”

Two new Dell EMC Ready Solutions—backed by global services and delivered through Dell Technologies On Demand flexible consumption—help companies get systems into production quickly and economically. With close IT integration, Dell Technologies is innovating to help customers speed AI adoption, so they can meet business pressures to digitally transform faster.

Dell EMC Ready Solutions for AI: GPU-as-a-Service frees up accelerator access

Co-processors like graphics processing units (GPUs) are typically trapped in individual workstations or servers and often underutilized, sometimes at less than 15% of capacity. The Dell EMC Ready Solutions for AI: GPU-as-a-Service deliver two different designs to create virtual GPU pools to make better use of these valuable resources.

The newest design includes the latest VMware vSphere 7 with Bitfusion, which VMware announced today and makes it possible to virtualize GPUs on premises. Factory-installed by Dell’s flexible supply chain, VMware vSphere 7 in combination with Bitfusion lets developers and data scientists pool their powerful IT resources and share them across data centers. This helps increase utilization rates by providing self-service access to the right resource for the right workload at the right time.

Dell EMC Ready Solutions for AI: GPUaaS also uses the latest VMware Cloud Foundation with VMware vSphere 7 support for Kubernetes and containerized applications to run AI workloads anywhere. Containers make it easier to bring cloud-native applications into production with the ability to move workloads as needed to make the most of hybrid clouds.

Dell EMC Ready Solutions for Virtualized HPC speed time from testing to operations

Most HPC workloads run on dedicated systems that require specialized skills to deploy and manage. These Dell EMC Ready Solutions for Virtualized HPC (vHPC) architectures can include VMware Cloud Foundation with VMware vSphere 7 featuring Bitfusion, making it simpler and more economical to use VMware environments for demanding HPC and AI applications in computational chemistry, bioinformatics and computer-aided engineering.

For very large HPC implementations, the Dell EMC Ready Solutions for vHPC provide an option to include VMware vSphere Scale-Out Edition for additional cost savings.

With the ability to virtualize HPC and AI operations with VMware, IT teams can quickly provision hardware as needed, speed up initial deployment and configuration, and save time with simpler centralized management and security. According to Forrester Consulting, Dell EMC Ready Solutions for vHPC can deliver up to 18 times faster AI model development—reducing the time from months to days. It also delivers up to 20% faster hardware configuration and integration than self-installation and an estimated return on investment up to 111%.¹

Dell EMC OpenManage software advances systems management

The Dell EMC OpenManage systems management software, included with PowerEdge servers in these new Ready Solutions, helps AI and advanced computing administrators improve system uptime, keep data insights flowing and prepare for AI-enabled operations. New OpenManage advancements include:

• OpenManage Integration for VMware vCenter, supporting vSphere Lifecycle Manager, automates software, driver and firmware updates holistically to save time and simplify operations.
• The enhanced OpenManage Mobile app gives administrators the ability to view power and thermal policies, perform emergency power reduction and monitor internal storage from anywhere in the world.

Dell Technologies On Demand delivers flexible consumption options

Dell Technologies On Demand helps customers adjust costs for these new AI and advanced computing solutions based on usage. The program features flexible payment options to match utilization and provides overflow capacity for scaling up or down as needed.

Availability

• The Dell EMC Ready Solutions for AI: GPUaaS and Dell EMC Ready Solutions for Virtualized HPC are available globally now.
• Factory installation of VMware vSphere with BitFusion will be available globally on Dell EMC PowerEdge servers in July 2020.

Additional resources

• Visit the virtual press kit for additional technical details, photos and solutions briefs
• Read the blog from Arthur Lewis, president, Server & Infrastructure Systems, Dell Technologies, how Dell is dedicated to getting AI into the hands of businesses and institutions of all sizes to harness the power of their data
• Connect with Dell via Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and LinkedIn