Dell NativeEdge: Revolutionizing AI Deployment at the Edge

Dell NativeEdge Platform Brings AI To Edge Operations

'So we have embarked on this thing that effectively created an edge cloud,' Dell's senior vice president of edge computing, strategy, and execution, Gil Shneorson, tells CRN. 'And it's still the only edge operations software that does all of those things combined. There's nothing like that out there.' Edge applications in retail or factory environments had AI built into them to measure and analyze data years before generative AI was popularized, Dell Technologies' Gil Shneorson told CRN. So the brass ring for customers now is to bridge those devices with modern generative AI solutions to optimize and analyze data, which he says Dell's new NativeEdge platform has accomplished. "NativeEdge connects those two dots. You can deploy the software to collect it. You can deploy the application that analyzes the data," Shneorson told CRN. "People in industries like manufacturing or retail, for them AI has been there forever. They're not surprised by it. We just make it far simpler to deploy those workloads into those locations." The NativeEdge platform seeks to deliver VxRail simplicity to edge environments, Shneorson said, which led Round Rock, Texas-based Dell Technologies to combine its capabilities around secure device on boarding, touchless on-boarding, multi-cloud orchestration with an AI application catalog. "So we have embarked on this thing that effectively creates an edge cloud," Shneorson told CRN. "And it's still the only edge operations software that does all of those things combined. There's nothing like that out there ... So if you want Nvidia NIM microservices deployed at the edge so you can run an AI application, we can do that for you." Dell NativeEdge has a catalog of other products for edge environments like the open source Apache Spark, Apache Airflow, MLflow, and Grafana. Additionally, Dell can tie partners into Aveva Unified Operations Center, EPIC iO, which uses real-time analytics for retail operations. Dell Data Collector, which is used to collect and transfer data from sensors and IoT devices to various locations in near real-time, is also in the catalog. The goal, Shneorson said, is to make AI application deployments scalable and make AI easy to use at the edge, he said. Dell said its NativeEdge advancements fold into its Dell AI Factory and are made for organizations which need high availability options to provide resiliency and reliability in edge system management. The product is unique in the industry, Dell said in a statement, in its ability to deliver secure device onboarding at scale, remote management and multi-cloud application orchestration. Shneorson said NativeEdge is a chance for Dell partners to talk with customers about the future of the edge, which can lead to talks about whether their current infrastructure is ready for what is coming. He said in edge environments such as manufacturing the buyer is thinking two to three years ahead, so the timeline is not "tomorrow" and partners have access to blueprints to deliver AI outcomes. "Are you only going to think about what you have been running or is AI going to change what you are going to be running?" he said. "Let's talk about how the workload is going to change. It may change in the next year. I can build for you blueprints that will be deployable to your edge endpoints. There are a lot of opportunities for partners right now to have those conversations." Users of the new platform now have access to multi-node high-availability clustering for NativeEdge endpoints, such as Dell PowerEdge servers, OptiPlex and Precision workstations and Dell Gateways. The endpoints can be clustered, or grouped together by NativeEdge software to act like a single system. "It's kind of a big deal because now you get the best of both worlds," Shneorson said. "You've got all of the simplification of cloud management capability and a highly available environment. And more interesting, you can do it on the on the server grade machine or machines but also on a set of Optiplex PCs to reduce cost. And also on a set of Dell Gateways, the user experience is the same." More data is heading to the edge -- with Gartner predicting more than 50 percent of enterprise managed data will be processed outside the data center or cloud by 2025. Instead, workloads and data will be run across several edge systems and locations.

Dell Technologies Expands AI Innovations at the Edge

Dell NativeEdge software provides secure, high-availability clustering capability for NativeEdge Endpoints to boost edge workload resiliencyFrom retail stores to factory floors, Dell NativeEdge AI innovations simplify operations and automate AI deployments at scale across a diverse range of edge environments Dell Technologies announces advancements to its Dell NativeEdge edge operations software platform to simplify how organizations can deploy, scale and use AI at the edge. Why it matters: According to Gartner®, "by 2025, more than 50% of enterprise-managed data will be created and processed outside the data center or cloud."1 As organizations increasingly move data toward the edge and AI accelerates new edge workloads, the demand is rising for agile, connected and secure systems to deploy and manage AI models across multiple edge locations. Today's Dell NativeEdge advancements, part of our Dell AI Factory capabilities, address these needs and offer organizations AI software integrations and high-availability (HA) capabilities to provide more resiliency and reliability in the deployment and management of AI at the edge. Boost Edge and AI Workload Efficiency with NativeEdge Dell NativeEdge is the industry's only edge operations software platform delivering secure device onboarding at scale, remote management and multicloud application orchestration2. NativeEdge software now enables multinode high-availability (HA) clustering for NativeEdge Endpoints, such as Dell PowerEdge servers, OptiPlex and Precision workstations and Dell Gateways. The endpoints can be clustered, or grouped together by NativeEdge software to act like a single system, so organizations can: Provide high-availability capabilities to maintain critical business processes and edge AI workloads, despite network disruptions or device failures. Virtual machine (VM) migration and automatic application, compute and storage failover provide organizations increased reliability and continuous operations.Easily adapt to changing workload demands across diverse environments, from retail stores to utility companies.Integrate NativeEdge Endpoints with external storage solutions, such as Dell PowerStore and Dell PowerVault, to support the training and deployment of AI models with the versatility of single, two-tier or three-tier solutions at the edge. NativeEdge AI Software Integrations Simplify Edge AI Deployments Organizations implementing AI inferencing at the edge may find it tedious and time consuming to deploy AI applications and solutions across hundreds, if not thousands, of edge locations. Dell offers a comprehensive catalog of more than 55 pre-built Dell NativeEdge Blueprints that automate the deployment of an organization's choice of AI applications and frameworks for faster time to value. The NativeEdge Blueprints provide customers an easy button to assemble and deploy new use cases and AI inferencing capabilities at the edge, while reducing manual set up time and errors. Dell is expanding the catalog to include: Open-source tools, such as Apache Spark™, Apache Airflow®, MLflow, and Grafana, to support continuous MLOps workflows tailored for edge use cases, for quick and efficient deployment of AI-enhanced solutions.Aveva Unified Operations Center, to facilitate city infrastructure modernization in integrated operations, building systems, master planning, intelligent urban mobility and critical connectivity.EPIC iO, which uses real-time analytics for retail operations to enhance the in-store shopper experience.Dell Data Collector, to collect and transfer data from sensors and IoT devices to various locations in near real-time with. Organizations can use Dell Data Lakehouse to query the data for real-time insights and AI workloads. The Intel® Geti™ software solution, to accelerate the development of computer vision AI models at the edge.Updates to the NVIDIA AI Enterprise software platform, which includes NVIDIA NIM microservices, enable developers to more efficiently and securely deploy AI inferencing capabilities at the edge, while reducing manual setup time and minimizing errors. Dell Services for NativeEdge Blueprints help organizations design and develop custom NativeEdge Blueprints for Dell validated and customer-owned applications, providing seamless deployment using Dell NativeEdge software. Perspectives "AI is accelerating new edge workloads and opportunities at an unprecedented rate, and organizations across industries are asking for simpler and more reliable ways to use AI at the edge," said Gil Shneorson, senior vice president, solutions and platforms, Dell Technologies. "Our NativeEdge expansion automates the deployment and management of edge AI workloads, with features to support business continuity, so organizations can continually use the latest AI advancements at the edge to drive revenues and positive customer outcomes." "With over 1,000 IoT-enabled facilities, Dell NativeEdge helps us monitor real-time infrastructure elements, ensuring optimal conditions for our produce, and receive comprehensive insights into our produce packaging operations," said Keith Bradley, vice president, Information Technology, Nature Fresh Farms. "Dell NativeEdge has enhanced our operational efficiencies and reduced costs, while supporting our continued growth and innovation in yield optimization and environmental monitoring." Availability The Dell NativeEdge advancements will be available by January 2025.Dell NativeEdge customers can purchase and activate NVIDIA AI Enterprise licenses for NVIDIA GPUs directly from Dell to simplify NativeEdge deployment and support.For more information, please visit Dell.com/NativeEdge. 1Gartner, Hyperscalers Stretching to the Digital Edge, Tom Bittman, July 24, 2023. GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally and is used herein with permission. All rights reserved. 2 Dell Technologies internal analysis, May 2024. "Apache" is a registered trademark or trademark of the Apache Software Foundation in the United States and/or other countries.

Dell Technologies Simplifies AI Deployment at the Edge with NativeEdge Software Enhancements

Dell Technologies announces advancements to its Dell NativeEdge edge operations software platform to simplify how organizations can deploy, scale and use AI at the edge. According to Gartner®, "by 2025, more than 50% of enterprise-managed data will be created and processed outside the data center or cloud." As organizations increasingly move data toward the edge and AI accelerates new edge workloads, the demand is rising for agile, connected and secure systems to deploy and manage AI models across multiple edge locations. Today's Dell NativeEdge advancements, part of our Dell AI Factory capabilities, address these needs and offer organizations AI software integrations and high-availability (HA) capabilities to provide more resiliency and reliability in the deployment and management of AI at the edge. Boost Edge and AI Workload Efficiency with NativeEdge Dell NativeEdge is the industry's only edge operations software platform delivering secure device onboarding at scale, remote management and multicloud application orchestration. NativeEdge software now enables multinode high-availability (HA) clustering for NativeEdge Endpoints, such as Dell PowerEdge servers, OptiPlex and Precision workstations and Dell Gateways. The endpoints can be clustered, or grouped together by NativeEdge software to act like a single system, so organizations can:

Edge data is critical to AI -- here's how Dell is helping enterprises unlock its value

Join our daily and weekly newsletters for the latest updates and exclusive content on industry-leading AI coverage. Learn More It's anticipated that by next year, more than 50% of enterprise data will be created and processed outside traditional data centers or clouds. In this age of AI, enterprises need to be able to quickly access and extract value from that edge data -- but it can be time-consuming and complicated to do so, and many enterprise leaders are still operating with a cloud mindset. To help reduce complexity and make edge computing more accessible, Dell is today announcing new advancements to its Dell NativeEdge edge operations software platform. The offering aims to help simplify how enterprises deploy, scale and use AI across numerous types of edge environments. "The edge is a place where there are a lot of opportunities but a lot of silos and challenges," Pierluca Chiodelli, Dell's VP of edge product management, told VentureBeat. "We wanted to create a platform to democratize the edge." Supporting inferencing, offering multi-node capabilities At the far edge, most deployments are on a single node, Chiodelli explained. But this can present challenges when it comes to reliability, scalability and computing power, not to mention cost. Dell NativeEdge, which is part of the company's AI Factory, provides multi-node high-availability capabilities. This means that endpoints can be grouped together to act like a single system, allowing enterprises to maintain business processes and edge AI workloads even when there are network disruptions or device failures. It also supports virtual machine (VM) migration -- the process of moving a machine from one physical location to another without disrupting availability or performance -- as well as automatic app, compute and storage failover. AI inferencing is increasingly important at the edge, but it can be tedious and time-consuming to deploy AI across "hundreds, if not thousands," of edge locations, Chiodelli pointed out. To address this, Dell is now offering a catalog of more than 55 pre-built blueprints that automate AI deployment. The new catalog includes several popular open-source tools as well as a data collector that transfers data from sensors and IoT devices and Geti-branded software that can accelerate the development of computer vision AI models at the edge. Chiodelli explained that Dell NativeEdge is consumption-based, and customers pay per each device under management (whether that be a small gateway or a large server). Zero touch, zero trust, adapting with fast-moving AI Chiodelli pointed out that it is important that users have the ability to adapt to changing workload demands across broad environments; they must also be able to adjust on the fly. "With AI, everything changes everyday," said Chiodelli. Human users need to not just be able to intervene on day 0 (inception) but also on day 2 (management) to keep up. Zero touch is important to all this because "You don't need to have IT people going to different locations and trying to deploy things," said Chiodelli. Security is also paramount; Dell NativeEdge is built on a zero-trust model, and the platform continually monitors the security of edge infrastructure, Chiodelli exaplained. "You really need zero trust because you are in the land of nowhere, you cannot trust anybody," he said. Dell NativeEdge has been deployed by customers across numerous industries. French-headquartered multinational IT company Atos, for instance, used the platform to create Atos business-outcomes-as-a-service (BOaaS). The edge management tool works with AI and machine learning (ML) and helps customers deploy, automate and optimize their edge environments through a single dashboard. As one example, BOaaS has allowed Atos's manufacturing customers to see measurable business improvements as the result of predictive maintenance. This in turn has helped them reduce downtime, decrease costs and optimize production. Another customer is Ontario-based Nature Fresh Farms. While most wouldn't necessarily consider farms to be all that IT-savvy, the family-owned company has been using edge computing to support yield optimization and to perform real-time environmental monitoring. Previously, "they had a lot of solutions that were very siloed," Chiodelli explained. It was a challenge to look at the entire estate and manage updates. "Dell NativeEdge helps us monitor real-time infrastructure elements, ensuring optimal conditions for our produce, and receive comprehensive insights into our produce packaging operations," said Keith Bradley, VP for IT. In other cases, Dell NativeEdge has been used to perform preventative maintenance of amusement parks and to inspect railways and train tracks, Chiodelli noted. Other companies using the platform include GE, EY, AIShield and Nozomi Networks. "AI is accelerating new edge workloads and opportunities at an unprecedented rate, and organizations across industries are asking for simpler and more reliable ways to use AI at the edge," said Gil Shneorson, SVP for Dell's solutions and platforms.