What you missed at the “Make It Real” Dell Technologies World: An executive recap summary

The Metia team has recently returned from another impressive year at Dell Technologies World, Dell Technologies’ annual customer and partner conference in Las Vegas.

Now bigger and better than ever, Dell hit the jackpot, hosting a record-setting 14,000+ attendees (and an additional 35,000 via live streaming). It was the perfect place to discover emerging trends, get your hands on the latest technology, and meet up with the gurus who make it all happen. 

As one of Dell Technologies’ global marketing agencies, with a 10-year relationship, this year was especially exciting as we got to see some of the great customer stories we have created over the past year come to life on stage as Michael Dell kicked off the event.

Here are some of our favorite customer, partner, and internal moments:

Virtual reality is helping veterans
Emmy and Tony award-winner Jeffrey Wright of Westworld, is a visionary in his own right, and he certainly knows a thing or two about “transformation.” During the opening keynote, he talked about how technology and the arts are working together to assist our veterans in their fight against PTSD. He and Skip Rizzo, director of Medical Virtual Reality at the USC Institute for Creative Technologies, discussed how virtual reality is helping vets both on and off the battlefield.

Human-machine partnerships
Newly appointed CMO, Allison Dew, began with a high note of her own, telling the crowd that “now is the time where big data, blockchain, and emerging technologies will combine for real transformation.” She continued with insightful discussions on Dell’s thought leadership and research efforts around human-machine partnership with the introduction of the Dell Technologies Institute: the new hotbed of Dell thought leadership and a continuing partnership with Institute for the Future (IFTF). Echoing Michael Dell’s comments, she declared, “We’re entering the next era of human-machine partnership, a more integrated, personal relationship with technology that has the power to exponentially amplify the creativity, inspiration, intelligence, and curiosity of the human spirit.”

Advancing partnerships
Dell’s Global Partner Summit occurred alongside the Dell Technologies World event and started off with a ROAR! Everyone was excited to learn about the new initiatives being implemented in the Dell EMC Partner Program. It has been positioned to be the best partner program available in the market, and Dell is hyper-focused on being easier to work with and putting more money in their partners’ pockets. Overall, the goal is to make the tech partnership simpler and more profitable. It shows Dell’s commitment to drive growth for the entire industry. Metia even created an inspirational kickoff video which, was played ahead of a message from Jay Snyder, VP of Global Alliances. 


Power up to make IT real 
Jeff Clarke, Dell EMC’s vice chairman of products and operations, took a big step by introducing PowerMax, which he described as “the world’s fastest storage array today and in the future.” PowerMax delivers up to 10 million inputs/outputs per second (IOPS) along with 50 percent better response times—twice as fast as the nearest competitor’s offering. In addition, the PowerMax OS includes a built-in machine learning engine, which makes autonomous storage a reality, leveraging predictive analytics and pattern recognition to maximize performance with no management overhead.

Further commitment to AI
Just a few short years ago, servers with specialized parallel processing capabilities were limited and expensive. Today, things are different. At the conference, Dell EMC launched two new additions to the PowerEdge portfolio — PowerEdge R940 XA and R840, 4-socket servers that are built to power real-time data analytics, AI, and machine learning workloads. These new servers are helping data centers to accelerate AI initiatives, manage the IT infrastructure, and rapidly transform data insights into business outcomes.

The Solutions Expo brought great customer experiences to life 
The Solutions Expo, also known as the exhibit floor, is the place to experience the full Dell Technologies ecosystem. The fun included GoalControl’s Robokeeper, an automated goalie; Top Golf’s swing analysis and putting green; McLaren’s newest sportscar with race simulator and race track; and an Escape Room. The Customer Advocacy section also had some innovative areas that featured advanced AI innovation and technology that could turn attendees’ reflections into works of art. You can take a peek inside through this expo hall montage. 

Overall, the event was massive and featured the latest, most innovative products and solutions that will help us handle the big challenges in business and our lives today and in the future. We were excited to once again be a part of the event, and we look forward to next year and the next great innovation from our continuing partner Dell Technologies!


(Pictured left to right: Kate Andrews, Dan Brooks, and Jennifer Pyron)