Dell readies data storage rental service

The Wall Street Journal Online.

Dell says it will sell business customers space on a secure Dell data centre as well as offer consulting, data security and other services.

The product, which will run on VMware software, will be available in the US in the fourth quarter and in most of the rest of the world in 2012.

The move pushes Dell into deeper competition with a host of cloud computing rivals that includes IBM and Amazon.com.

The Australian says Dell becomes the seventh certified vCloud provider, joining the ranks of Singapore Telecommunications, Softbank, CSC, Bluelock and Verizon.

“This partnership also will build private clouds for customers,” Mark Bilger, VP and CTO of Dell Services, told eWeek. “By extension between the two, Dell Services will be providing hyper-cloud solutions between the private cloud data centres and Dell's public cloud offering.”