Dell Technologies has enhanced its Apex portfolio of consumption-based servers, storage and hybrid cloud infrastructure. Dell designed the updates specifically for partners to offer as managed or subscription-based services. Partners can also now resell Apex services.

The expanded ensemble of Apex offerings widens the range of partners that can deliver the portfolio. Dell is also looking to bring Apex, the as-a-service infrastructure launched last year, to a more diverse customer base.

Rola Dagher, Dell’s global channel chief, noted in a blog that demand for consumption-based services has increased.

Dell’s Rola Dagher

“These portfolio updates and new market access, coupled with existing Apex Custom Solutions, will afford even greater opportunities for partners to differentiate and promote their individual capabilities while extending the value of Apex to a broader range of customers in more than 35 countries,” Dagher noted.

Dell’s new Apex offerings include data storage services and cloud services with VMware Cloud. The additions to the Apex portfolio come just weeks after Dell released its managed VMware Tanzu Kubernetes Grid (TKG). Dell released its TKG as an addition to Apex Cloud Services with VMware Cloud (VMC), its infrastructure-as-a-service solution.

“The nice thing about TKG in this use case is you have the flexibility of adding VM-based services, and container-based services all on the same infrastructure,” said Dell VP Chad Dunn, who leads Apex product management, speaking at the recent VMware Explore conference. “And you can balance those resources according to the needs of your business and the needs of your IT organization.”

Adding Services to Apex

Dell’s latest Apex additions aim to let partners tack on their own services. Partners can deliver the new Apex data storage services with or without Dell’s managed services.

“This is an ideal solution for partners who want to incorporate their own value-added capabilities or whose customers want to manage their own as-a-service experience,” Dagher noted.

Apex data storage services are now available for partners to deliver with Dell or customer-managed options. According to Dagher, Dell has enabled partners to offer Apex storage in 16 counties, according to the company’s regional availability chart.

The new Dell Apex Cloud Services with VMware Cloud let partners add cloud native apps to VMC to modernize applications.

“For partners, such as service providers who have shifted to selling services in a recurring model, this enhancement enables them the continued opportunity to consume IT the way they are already selling as a service,” Dagher added.

Flexibility for Partners

Dagher emphasized that the new Apex Private and Hybrid Cloud gives partners more flexibility.

“Partners can now deliver their own managed services and incorporate Apex into broader data center management contracts,” she explained. “[They] can also implement the new instance-based approach, allowing customers to only pay for resources they need.”

Partners are seeing increasing demand for Apex. Among them is Dell partner TierPoint, which recently launched a new managed private cloud offering based on Apex. TierPoint’s Apex-based service, based on Dell VXRail, was introduced during the VMware Explore event.

TierPoint’s Greg Ahlheim

“CIOs are looking for solutions that can be procured through more flexible subscription models, with accelerated installation and shorter subscription terms — all managed by a provider that offers exceptional, cloud-agnostic guidance, service and support across a diverse portfolio of world-class data centers on the network’s edge,” said TierPoint senior VP of product development Greg Ahlheim. “TierPoint’s Managed Private Cloud on Dell Apex – the first of its kind – responds directly to this need.”