It may seem like a long time ago, but there actually was a time when Dell Technologies Inc., years before it become Dell EMC, was struggling to gain a foothold in the storage business.

For years, Dell would get outflanked by other players at the time, including Hewlett-Packard Co. and EMC itself. In 2011, it finally crossed the chasm with the acquisition of Compellent Technologies Inc., a move that not only set Dell on a course for storage success, but one of the Compellent resellers too.

“We were concerned about it at the time,” recalled Scott Winslow (pictured), founder and president of Winslow Technology Group. “We wondered how we could fit into the ecosystem of this, at the time, $60-billion company. Little did we know that it would be the best thing that ever happened to us.”

Winslow spoke with Stu Miniman (@stu), host of theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s mobile livestreaming studio, during the WTG Transform event in Boston, Massachusetts. They discussed how Dell’s continued success in the storage server market has benefited Winslow’s business and the landscape for both Nutanix and VxRail products (see the full interview with transcript here). (* Disclosure below.)

Dell gaining server market share

Since 2011, Winslow’s firm has reaped the benefits of its partnership with Dell. WTG was a $37-million business last year and is expected to generate $47 million in revenue for 2019, according to Winslow.

“Over the last eight quarters, Dell has taken six or seven points of share in the server market from their competitors,” Winslow said. “That’s been fantastic for our business.”

WTG built a relationship with Nutanix Inc. as well, and this has helped its business in the hyperconverged infrastructure market. Dell and Nutanix formed a partnership involving the joint XC Series five years ago.

“That relationship is not going away, despite what some people may say in the industry,” Winslow said. “The fact is, they’ve got 35,000 units out there, and there’s a billion-dollar pipeline of XC Series.”

Winslow’s company is also a reseller of VxRail, which has emerged as the core solution for Dell in its hybrid cloud strategy.

“Initially, when VxRail first came out, we didn’t think that it had some of the capabilities that it needed,” Winslow said. “As it’s evolved, we think that VxRail has gotten a lot better — and it’s a lot more competitive. Right now, we’ve got the number one and two horse in the industry.”

Watch the complete video interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE’s and theCUBE’s coverage of the WTG Transform event. (* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for WTG Transform. Neither Winslow Technology Group LLC, the sponsor for theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Photo: SiliconANGLE