Dell pushes enterprise with OpenStack deal

Joseph George, Dell's director of Cloud and Big Data Solutions, took some time out of his busy schedule to discuss the recent announcement that Dell and Red Hat are working together to offer packaged OpenStack-based on- and off-premises clouds.

George is an engaging, well-spoken Dell representative, and he found a lovely way to present Dell's focus on customer-focused solutions to business problems. The following bullets summarize our conversation:

• Dell has been involved with the OpenStack community since the very beginning. George pointed out that if one looks up the first press releases about the community formation, Dell is listed as an important contributor.

• Dell is seeking ways to use its products and services to help enterprises develop and deploy their own on- and off-premises clouds, regardless of whether the resources are dedicated or shared with others.

• While Dell is working hard with Red Hat to make OpenStack a good tool for its customers, it is also working with other groups and companies to strengthen OpenStack and increase industry interest.

• Dell is one of the few companies that can address the confluence of industry trends that include cloud, BYOD, mobility in general, and virtualization technology.

In the end, it was clear to me that Dell is balancing its need to sell products and services with its customers' needs to address business problems effectively.