Dell Cloud Dedicated: Will Partners Embrace Private IaaS?

Dell Cloud Dedicated, a private IaaS service, is the latest addition to the PC giant’s cloud services strategy. Also this week, Dell (NASDAQ: DELL) introduced online ordering for public and hybird cloud services, and the company also expanded its VMware-oriented vCloud Datacenter Services to more countries. That’s a lengthy list of moves. But can Dell PartnerDirect companies — VARs and MSPs — cash in on the initiatives?

Let’s take a look at each move. Dell indicated:

1. Dell Cloud Dedicated Services offers customers managed private IaaS services from Dell data centers.  The solution assigns individual servers to each customer.
2. The company will soon introduce a Dell Cloud portal in the U.S. to simplify the ordering and onboarding process of Cloud Services.
3. And Dell is expanding its public and hybrid cloud services from the US and Canada into the UK, France, Ireland and Mexico in September.

But here’s what really impresses me: The Dell announcement specifically mentioned channel partners. Stating:

“Dell also recently enabled channel partners to offer Dell cloud services as part of the PartnerDirect Program in the U.S. and Canada. Channel partners can now offer the full suite of solutions and services that enable them to build, access and integrate Dell cloud services into their business.”

Does Dell Cloud work as advertised for channel partners? Talkin’ Cloud doesn’t know for sure. But Dell is using the right words in this conversation. That’s refreshing, considering so many public, private and IaaS cloud initiatives lack any type of channel partner mention.

Still, those Dell channel partners will wind up competing with Dell on some fronts. the PC giant is offering a “comprehensive portfolio of Virtualization and Cloud Computing Consulting services which includes a Virtualization Readiness Assessment (VRA) offer, a Virtualization Health Check Service offer and a Cloud Readiness Assessment (CRA) offer. These services can help customers define their cloud strategy, design and implementation to achieve lower total cost of ownership and increased return on investment.”

Welcome to cloud computing, channel partners. Plenty of opportunities — and competitive challenges — await you.