Computing and telecom companies are looking to leverage their respective strengths to better compete in the growing cloud services market. Dell on December 12 announced that it’s expanding its Dell Cloud Partner Program at Dell World 2013 with the addition of CenturyLink and its new CenturyLink Cloud service.
The Dell-CenturyLink alliance will provide Dell customers globally with a “slate of public cloud services, including Infrastructure-as-a-Service (Iaas) and Platform-as-a-Service (Paas), which can be deployed across CenturyLink’s global data center footprint,” according to a press release. Dell will also serve as a single-source supplier, and provide centralized solution integration, control and direct support services.
“Customers continuously tell us they need choice, flexibility and support in planning, deploying and managing cloud environments,” Dell Cloud Services’ executive director and general manager Jeremy Ford was quoted as saying.
“Those three elements are critical to Dell’s cloud strategy and our continued expansion of the Dell Cloud Partner Program. CenturyLink’s best-in-class public cloud offerings combined with Dell’s leading end-to-end, scalable solutions and services enable customers to build, control and use cloud-based solutions to drive a competitive business advantage.”
Through its Cloud Partner Program, Dell will also provide:
- Expert guidance in helping assess, build, operate and run cloud environments with Dell Cloud Consulting and Application Services, whether customers are just starting in cloud, already have significant cloud investments, or are somewhere in between;
- The ability to manage single or multiple public, private and hybrid clouds through one pane of glass with Dell Cloud Manager, formerly Enstratius; and
- Direct support from a Dell salesperson to advise customers through the best purchasing, deployment and maintenance options to meet their unique needs, accounting for budget, workloads, current infrastructure, use cases, etc.
“Companies want to take the complexity out of deploying and maintaining cloud infrastructures so they can focus on running their business,” CenturyLink Savvis’ vice president and general manager of cloud Suku Krishnaraj stated. “Our partnership with Dell allows businesses to run the simplest workload to the most complex, demanding application on public cloud environments with ease and confidence to quickly and consistently achieve measurable business results.”
