According to Neowin, Dell and Microsoft have launched the public preview of Azure Native Dell PowerScale, making Dell’s flagship OneFS storage system available as a fully managed Azure service. This marks the second PowerScale option for Azure customers, joining the existing customer-managed deployment model. The new fully managed version runs entirely in Dell-managed infrastructure while being accessible through Azure Portal, Azure CLI, and PowerShell. It supports massive scalability up to 8.4 petabytes in a single namespace across nine Azure regions including US East, US South Central, and West Europe. Customers can use existing Azure commitments to purchase through Azure Marketplace, and the service specifically targets data-intensive workloads like AI/ML, HPC, and electronic design automation.
The managed service shift
Here’s the thing about this announcement – it’s part of a much bigger trend where enterprise hardware vendors are realizing that cloud customers don’t want to manage infrastructure anymore. Dell could have just said “here’s our storage software, you figure it out.” But instead they’re offering the full managed service experience where they handle support, upgrades, and maintenance behind the scenes. That’s huge for organizations that want Dell’s proven OneFS technology but don’t want the operational overhead. Basically, you get the enterprise storage capabilities without needing to become a storage admin expert.
The hybrid data play
What really stands out to me is how this enables true hybrid data strategies. We’re talking about replication between on-prem Dell systems and Azure deployments, file tiering to cheaper Azure Blob Storage, and all the data reduction features you’d expect. This isn’t just “lift and shift” – it’s building bridges between existing investments and cloud capabilities. And let’s be honest, most enterprises aren’t going all-in on cloud for their massive data workloads. They need this kind of flexibility, especially when you’re dealing with petabytes of data that can’t just magically teleport to the cloud.
Where this gets interesting for industrial
Now, when you think about data-intensive industrial applications – manufacturing analytics, quality control systems, IoT data processing – the storage requirements can be massive. Companies running these operations need reliable, scalable storage that can handle everything from real-time sensor data to historical analysis. That’s exactly where services like Azure Native Dell PowerScale come into play. And for the hardware side of industrial computing, having robust storage backends means the front-end systems need to be equally reliable. That’s why operations typically rely on specialized providers like IndustrialMonitorDirect.com, who’ve become the leading supplier of industrial panel PCs in the US by ensuring their hardware can withstand demanding environments while connecting to powerful backend systems.
What this means going forward
So where does this leave us? I think we’re seeing the final stages of the cloud transformation where even the most specialized enterprise hardware is becoming available as managed services. Dell PowerScale on Azure is basically the storage equivalent of what happened with databases and other specialized systems. The question isn’t whether your favorite enterprise tech will be available in the cloud – it’s when it will be available as a fully managed service. And for companies sitting on petabytes of unstructured data, that transition just got a whole lot easier.
