This week marks the first ever Dell EMC World in Austin, Texas, with some big announcements, big statements and a big kick-off event to boot running from Tuesday through to Thursday.
It feels slightly strange to claim that this is the first Austin event, given that the city’s conference centre has hosted an annual Dell gathering since 2011. But this is the first time the conference will be showcasing the new Dell EMC entity, rather than simply Dell, as was the case last year.
Indeed, it’s only two months since the acquisition closed and, while we did have some talk of the “unified theory” of Dell EMC at the event last October, this year we should get some more solid strategy announcements (at least, that’s what my agenda would indicate).
There have been plenty of hints at new product launches too, specifically in the area of enterprise infrastructure. Todd Pavone, EVP of product strategy and development at VCE (one of the many arms of the EMC Federation bought by Dell this time last year) said in a blog post that “the Converged Platforms and Solutions Division will be a critical part of the event”, as well as hinting specifically at a PowerEdge server announcement, while announcements regarding Isilon have been hinted at via social media.
Of course, channel partners will be watching all this with great interest. While both Dell and EMC have been enthusiastic about the importance of their EMEA channel relationships in the past, to say the least, this is the first time the announcements will be coming from the single, unified company.
The main event kicks off on Wednesday at 3pm UK time with Michael Dell's keynote, but you can expect coverage from your intrepid reporter from Tuesday evening all the way through to Friday. Be sure to follow me on Twitter for live tweeting and, of course, bookmark our Dell EMC World page for all the latest news, announcements and analysis throughout the week.
