Dell Technologies World 2024 showcases AIOps, sustainability

AI to track IT sustainability

Dell launched a rebranded version of Moogsoft -- an AIOps platform -- as Apex AIOps. This new name signifies the integration of Moogsoft's AIOps capabilities with existing infrastructure management tools, such as CloudIQ for infrastructure observability across the Dell portfolio and IBM's Instana for application observability. This move also creates a relatively comprehensive suite for AI-driven IT operations management that should be suitable for organizations that rely on Dell for compute and storage.

The new sustainability metrics feature is among the most noteworthy additions to Apex AIOps. The live demonstration showed how users can track and monitor energy consumption across their IT infrastructure with a few mouse clicks. By providing granular insights into energy consumption at the device and workload level, Apex AIOps helps organizations identify areas for optimization and to take control of their environmental footprint.

Jon Brown

Increasingly, we're seeing hardware vendors, such as HPE and Pure Storage, offer sustainability-focused features and product licensing options. These options are designed to help organizations meet their sustainability goals through just-in-time purchasing of storage capacity and improved and guaranteed data compression, which increases the density of stored data. By doing so, these tools can potentially help lower overall power consumption for a similar amount of usable capacity.

Dell's goal of end-to-end sustainability

I had the opportunity to sit down with Cassandra Garber, vice president of corporate sustainability and environmental, social and governance (ESG) at Dell, to discuss the company's sustainability approach, how that affects Dell customers, the industry and her plans for the future.

Garber discussed how the company embraced a concept it calls end-to-end sustainability, designed to minimize the negative environmental effects of product manufacturing and supply chain on the back end while helping customers achieve their sustainability goals. This approach includes supplying customers with energy-efficient IT equipment together with the expanded Apex AIOps software to measure energy consumption on Dell devices and offer optimization capabilities.

This focus on sustainability is important because in a study from TechTarget's Enterprise Strategy Group, "The Role of ESG Programs in IT Decision Making," 71% of organizations said they have mature or partially mature ESG and sustainability programs, and 57% of IT buyers use ESG and sustainability in their requests for proposal when they're looking to purchase new equipment and services.

By providing granular insights into energy consumption at the device and workload level, Apex AIOps helps organizations identify areas for optimization and to take control of their environmental footprint.

A continued focus on the future

Dell's commitment to sustainability was evident at Dell Technologies World 2024. The company's announcements showcased a comprehensive approach, encompassing both hardware advancements and software tools.

The rebranding of Moogsoft as Apex AIOps, with its integrated sustainability metrics feature, means that organizations get a set of tools to track and optimize energy consumption across their IT infrastructure. This process aligns well with the growing demand for sustainable IT tools.

Dell's approach positions it as a strong and committed player in the drive toward greener IT operations and continues to keep on-premises tools competitive with offerings from the cloud providers. This new approach is especially important in an era where IT leaders are making important decisions about managing the power demands from new AI workloads.

Jon Brown is a senior analyst at TechTarget's Enterprise Strategy Group, where he researches IT operations and sustainability in IT. Jon has more than 20 years of experience in IT product management and is a frequent speaker at industry events.

Enterprise Strategy Group is a division of TechTarget. Its analysts have business relationships with technology vendors.