Dell EMC Streaming Data Platform integrates open source technology
Dell combines several open source streaming data technologies, including Apache Kafka, Apache Flink and Pravega, to create a new streaming data platform.
Dell Technologies is advancing its data efforts with the release of the Dell EMC Streaming Data Platform, which became generally available Tuesday.
Dell's entry into the streaming data market comes as demand for data -- especially real-time event data -- continues to grow. The ability to stream data can also be a resource-intensive process, which is one reason why Dell is getting into the market. Its new streaming data platform is not a standalone service; rather, it's tied to Dell hardware.
Among the widely deployed technologies for streaming data today is the open source Apache Kafka technology, which Dell is using as part of its streaming data platform. Kafka recently reached its 2.4 release milestone, which brings new performance gains to users. Dell is also integrating the Apache Flink stream processing framework to provide query processing for event data. Another open source component that Dell is integrating is the Pravega storage abstraction layer for streaming data.
"While the concepts behind the Dell EMC Streaming Data Platform have existed for some time, the onus was on the customer to piece them together into a cohesive solution," said Dave McCarthy, a research director at IDC. "This removes barriers to adoption and makes it easier for enterprises to extract value from their ever-growing number of data sources."
McCarthy added that Dell's new streaming data platform takes into account a variety of data types, including both structured and unstructured, as well as both edge and data center locations.
How the Dell EMC Streaming Data Platform is being used
At its core, the Dell EMC streaming data platform is intended to enable business analytics processes.
This removes barriers to adoption and makes it easier for enterprises to extract value from their ever-growing number of data sources.
Dave McCarthyResearch director, IDC
"This is a solution that's designed to intake real-time streaming data, process that data, analyze that data and return a real-time result," said Matt Baker, senior vice president for strategy and planning at Dell EMC, during a press briefing call.
Though the technology is only now generally available, there have already been some Dell customer deployments.
Baker said Dell has an unspecified number of customers using the streaming data platform to intake unstructured video data, and using video analytics from that stream processing platform to detect anomalies inside of the manufacturing process. He added that customers previously had to enable that process in a more manual way, with a number of different technologies that needed to be put together by the user.
"The Dell EMC streaming data platform is designed to enable our customers to easily deploy a streaming analytics solution quickly without having to assemble all of the parts," he said.
Other products being released
The Dell EMC Streaming Data Platform launch comes as part of a rollout of hardware, including the Dell EMC PowerEdge XE2420 server and the Dell EMC Modular Data Center Micro 415. Dell also announced the iDRAC9 Datacenter software for server management as the company continues to expand its data center product portfolio.
According to Baker, Dell is building out an ecosystem of hardware and software to enable businesses to benefit from real-time insight.
"In order to develop a real-time inferencing application, it typically requires that you train it against a large set of data," he said.
