After the ink was dry on the $67-billion Dell EMC merger in 2016, the remaining question was whether the combined companies would be able to maintain critical partner and customer relationships. Based on conversations with both groups at Dell Technologies World this week, the returns so far are good.

“Customers were worried that Dell EMC would just be too big to solve their challenges,” said Keith Townsend (pictured, right, @CTOAdvisor), guest host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio. “They are pleasantly surprised that Dell Technologies has been able to serve up solutions.”

Townsend spoke during the kickoff discussion as part of theCUBE  on the third day at the Dell Technologies World 2018 event in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was joined by theCUBE co-hosts Dave Vellante (pictured, left, @dvellante), Peter Burris (@plburris) and Stu Miniman (@stu). They discussed the strength of Dell’s customer and partner relationships, the benefits provided by VMware Inc., and the importance of following the value of where data resides. (* Disclosure below.)

Partnerships key to meeting hybrid need

Customer interest in the hybrid cloud has placed additional pressure on Dell to form partnerships that bridge a wide range of network and storage solutions. The analysts noted that IBM Cloud is an exhibitor at Dell Technologies World this week, and Dell will need to live in the edge-computing environment as well.

“They have a portfolio of products that will live in those many environments,” Miniman said. “Dell has a lot of good partnerships that are growing.”

The presence of VMware and NSX in that portfolio of Dell offerings has been a major plus in the analysts’ view. “What a gem in the portfolio,” said Vellante, who pointed out that VMware represents 10 percent of the revenue yet provides half of Dell’s operating cash.

If there is a dark cloud on the horizon for Dell, it could be data as an asset and how the company adapts to customer need for protecting data’s overall worth based on where it resides. “You can’t say, ‘Don’t go up to the public cloud, but go up to our big honking server,’” Burris said. “You’re going to move your data closer to more intelligent networks. That’s not how Dell is set up today.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the Dell Technologies World 2018 event. (* Disclosure: Dell EMC sponsored this segment of theCUBE. Neither Dell EMC nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE