Dell disaggregates private cloud to cut costs, support AI workloads

Dell targets private cloud economics with disaggregated architecture

Dell Technologies is repositioning private cloud infrastructure around independent scaling of compute and storage, responding to enterprise pressure on public cloud costs, AI workload demands, and changing virtualization strategies.

The company's Dell Private Cloud platform separates compute from storage while using automation to maintain operational simplicity, according to Caitlin Gordon, vice president of product at Dell. The architecture supports VMware, Red Hat OpenShift, Nutanix, and Microsoft Azure Local on shared infrastructure, allowing organizations to change operating environments without hardware replacement.

"Dell Private Cloud gives you a disaggregated infrastructure, the ability to buy just the infrastructure you need and then scale independently," Gordon said during Dell's "Rethinking Private Cloud for the Age of Intelligence" event, as reported by SiliconANGLE. "But, importantly, it keeps the simplicity of HCI."

The shift reflects changing enterprise priorities. Gordon said cost now ranks as the top concern customers cite, followed by openness, flexibility, and simplicity. Traditional hyperconverged infrastructure simplified deployment by tightly coupling compute and storage, but forced organizations to scale resources they might not need.

Why it matters

Disaggregated private cloud architecture addresses a fundamental tension enterprises face as AI workloads reshape infrastructure requirements: the need to scale compute and storage independently while avoiding the operational complexity of traditional three-tier data centers. Dell's approach could influence how organizations evaluate private cloud investments, particularly as many reconsider virtualization platforms and seek infrastructure that can adapt to multiple operating environments without forfeiting the management simplicity that made HCI attractive.

PowerStore Elite increases density for AI-era data centers

Dell's PowerStore Elite storage platform targets the physical constraints AI workloads impose on data centers. The system delivers three times the performance and efficiency of previous generations in a three-rack-unit form factor, according to Jodey Hogeland, PowerStore global evangelist at Dell.

The platform provides up to 6:1 data reduction and includes 40 E3 SSD bays, with NVRAM and battery backup moved into controllers to maximize front storage capacity. Dell shifted to standard OCP network interface cards for greater connectivity flexibility.

Consolidating storage infrastructure can free rack space, power connections, and cooling capacity for AI servers, Hogeland noted. "We have customers … having to accelerate infrastructure purchases to consolidate, to get more efficient," he said.

Automation addresses disaggregation complexity

Dell's Automation Platform applies lifecycle management and validation across the private cloud stack to prevent disaggregation from increasing operational burden. Gordon said Dell's testing shows up to 66% time savings with Dell Private Cloud and automation software compared to managing a three-tier environment without automation.

The platform enables granular updates targeting storage, compute, or individual security patches rather than requiring full-stack updates. PowerStore includes Dynamic Node Affinity, which adjusts volume placement and backend paths based on performance and workload conditions.

Brian Beeler, editor of StorageReview.com, examined PowerStore Elite in lab testing and highlighted how Dell Automation Platform Orchestrator can deploy private cloud using configuration files and blueprints. "The array stops being a destination you provision to and becomes a resource the platform composes for you," Beeler said.

Most current Dell Private Cloud deployments still use VMware, but many organizations are evaluating alternatives, Gordon said. "The value prop they're buying into is the fact that they know they have the escape hatch to where they're going to go into the future."

Details were first reported by SiliconANGLE during Dell's private cloud event.