5 Things Partners Need To Know About Dell EMC's Pivotal-Boomi Collaboration

Keeping Things Running Smoothly

Two of Dell Technologies' fastest-growing companies, Pivotal and Boomi, are aiming to bring cloud-native integrations to companies deploying applications with Pivotal Cloud Foundry with a collaboration that promises customers integration and connectivity across any combination of cloud and legacy on-prem solutions.

The collaboration makes Boomi's AtomSphere integration platform as-a-service [iPaaS] offering available to Pivotal Cloud Foundry Customers. Enterprises use Pivotal Cloud Foundry to develop cloud apps quickly, but integration of those apps can be a challenge and an obstacle.

Pivotal is clearly a focus for top Dell Technologies executives, including Channel Chief John Byrne, who touted the San Francisco company and its technology as a key way for solution providers to "connect the dots" for customers exploring developing cloud-native apps. And Boomi has signaled that it is serious about the channel as it continues to grow at a rapid pace.

Click through to see five things solution providers should know about the Pivotal-Boomi collaboration.

Solving A Pain Point

The Pivotal-Boomi collaboration is targeted at customers using Pivotal Cloud Foundry for cloud-native app development. While development has become faster and more efficient with Pivotal, integration presents a problem, even an obstacle as businesses deploy more and more new cloud apps that need to connect to other cloud apps, as well as legacy apps, across public and private cloud environments. Boomi's AtomSphere iPaaS is designed to integrate those apps seamlessly.

Boomi Is Important To Dell Technologies

Dell hung on to Boomi when it sold its other software assets to Francisco Partners and the private equity arm of Elliott Management last year in the run-up to its acquisition of EMC. Dell bought Boomi in 2010. Chairman and CEO Michael Dell told CRN earlier this year that the business almost doubles in size every year.

Boomi Needs The Channel

Boomi hired its first dedicated channel chief, David Tavolaro (pictured), in March. At the time, Tavolaro told CRN cloud-based integration platforms are becoming more and more important as enterprises take on the digital transformation initiatives. "There are more endpoints, more applications than ever, and a need to go faster than ever, and that's where Boomi fits in," he said. The company plans to refresh its channel program this year to better facilitate partners facing rapidly increasing demand for iPaaS.

Boomi Is Getting Aggressive With It's Channel Plans

In March, Boomi acquired ManyWho, a cloud development platform firm, and said it plans to push that start-up's offerings through the channel as it accelerates its ability to provide workflow automation as part of a unified integration platform. The acquisition gives Boomi capacity to connect and manage data, ensure data quality, business efficiency and IT processes. ManyWho is being rolled into the Boomi channel, which includes about 260 partners and drives roughly half the company's revenue.

Dell EMC Is Aligning Pivotal Cloud Foundry With Its Cloud, Hyper-Converged Appliances

Channel Chief John Byrne (pictured) is on a mission to get solution providers to sell more of the Dell EMC portfolio, and that requires a certain amount of "connecting the dots," as he says. Dell EMC is doing some of the connecting itself. The Dell EMC Cloud for Microsoft Azure Stack, introduced at the Dell EMC World conference earlier this month, bundles VMware cloud with Dell EMC storage in a turnkey hybrid cloud offering. Dell EMC's XC Series hyper-converged appliance, which is built on Dell EMC servers and Nutanix hyper-convergence software is now being offered in several new versions. The Dell EMC Cloud for Microsoft Azure Stack allows customers to add Pivotal Cloud Foundry, while the XC is bundled with guides for deploying Pivotal Cloud Foundry.