Who is Dell EMC and why should you care? Glad you asked is Jim Ganthier’s quick response. Ganthier is SVP for validated solutions and high performance computing for the new (even bigger) technology giant Dell EMC following Dell’s acquisition of EMC in September. In this case, says Ganthier, the blending of the two companies is a 1+1 = 5 proposition. Not bad math if you can pull it off.

Indeed, contends Ganthier, if you combine Dell and EMC revenue (server and storage), the entity overtakes HPE as the top dog in the market. Doubtless HPE would say otherwise. No matter. In this SC16 video interview Ganthier and Ed Turkel, senior strategist, Dell EMC, talk with HPCwire editor John Russell about Dell EMC’s synergies, ambitions to both democratize HPC and advance it at the high end, and strategies for moving forward.

A major element of the Dell EMC strategy is a solutions focus that incorporates technology from both sides of the new company. A good example, says Turkel, is a genomics solution demo’d at SC16 that features Dell compute and incorporates Isilon’s (EMC) new all flash offering. Isilon is already widely used in life sciences research HPC.

Moreover, says Ganthier, Dell EMC is continuing Dell’s recent efforts to make it easier to acquire and use ‘validated solutions’ for various domain areas. One tool is Dell EMC’s systems builder, an automated web-based ‘configurator’. First steps are answering business outcome and technology workload questions. It’s aimed at SMB and smaller enterprises.

“Take life sciences for example,” says Ganthier. “Questions like how many genomes do you plan to look at? Are you going to keep them on premise or off premise? What kinds of software are you using? The system will not only give you a configuration but a quote, that is modifiable, but if you like it as is, you can order it.” Machine learning, financial services, and manufacturing are also verticals targeted.

Dell EMC also plans to play at the high end. It won the contract for TACC’s Stampede 2.0 – which may make its way into the top ten when installed. More details of Stampede 2.0 are likely around the ISC17 timeframe, says Ganthier. There’s more in the video interview providing a good summary of Dell EMC’s early HPC plans.