Dell Private Cloud with Azure Local is a way to run a true Azure environment on-premises using Dell infrastructure. It’s designed to help you manage a mix of workloads—legacy apps, AI, containers, databases, and virtual desktops—on a single, consistent platform.

Instead of choosing between traditional three-tier architectures (flexible but complex) and hyperconverged infrastructure (simple but often rigid and costly at scale), Dell Private Cloud offers a disaggregated architecture that lets you scale compute and storage independently. This helps you avoid overprovisioning while still meeting performance needs.

Key elements include:

• Compute: Runs on new or existing Dell PowerEdge servers.
• Storage: Uses your existing Dell storage or new systems, with options for platform-integrated (automated lifecycle) or platform-compatible storage.
• Azure Local licenses: You procure Azure Local through your usual channels and manage it with familiar Azure tools—no new training required.

Under the hood, the Dell Automation Platform (a no-cost control plane) automates deployment, management, and scaling. Blueprint-driven workflows and intelligent lifecycle management keep the environment in a continuously validated state, which helps reduce operational risk and day-to-day effort.

For organizations where IT complexity is rising and many say their environments are as complex or more complex than two years ago, this approach is meant to rethink how you run Azure services next to your data—keeping control and data locality while using Azure-native tools and services.

Dell Private Cloud with Azure Local is built to support both traditional and modern workloads on the same platform, so you don’t have to maintain separate silos. It’s especially useful in five areas:

1. Azure Virtual Desktop (AVD)
   

   For remote and hybrid work, AVD lets you deliver Windows 10/11 and Microsoft 365 apps from a Microsoft hybrid cloud environment. Running AVD on Dell Private Cloud with Azure Local helps you:

   • Keep desktops and apps close to your data for performance and compliance.
   • Use Azure Arc for hybrid management and governance.
   • Give users a rich Windows and Microsoft 365 experience while IT retains precise control.
2. AI and Foundry-style tools
   

   By pairing Azure AI services with Dell Private Cloud, you can run Azure AI containers (language, translation, speech, document intelligence, vision) on-premises using the same APIs as in Azure. The platform is engineered to support the latest GPUs, including NVIDIA RTX PRO 6000 Blackwell Server Edition GPUs, for both VM-based and container-based AI workloads.

   This is useful when you need:

   • Strict data locality and compliance.
   • Lower latency for AI inference and training.
   • More predictable and optimized AI infrastructure costs.
3. Azure Kubernetes Services (AKS)
   

   For cloud-native applications, Dell Private Cloud lets you run AKS (enabled by Azure Arc) on-premises alongside traditional VMs. Benefits include:

   • Provision AKS clusters using Azure Portal, Azure CLI, ARM templates, Bicep, or Terraform.
   • Run Linux and Windows containers side by side on the same platform.
   • Use Azure RBAC, Azure Monitor for containers, Microsoft Defender for Kubernetes, Azure Policy, and more.
   • View AKS clusters across on-prem and Azure in a single place for inventory and governance.
4. Hybrid Database-as-a-Service (DBaaS)
   

   Dell Private Cloud with Azure Local supports Azure SQL Managed Instance and PostgreSQL on-premises, giving you a consistent data platform across private cloud, public cloud, and edge. This helps:

   • DBAs and IT admins simplify management and speed up database provisioning.
   • Scale resources flexibly as workload demands change.
   • Improve resiliency and meet SLAs for availability, data integrity, and performance.
   • Use Azure Arc-enabled management for fleet-level visibility and governance.
5. Traditional virtualized workloads
   

   For established applications, you can run legacy workloads alongside modern ones without a separate stack. With Azure Arc Resource Bridge and Azure Migrate, you can:

   • Provision and manage VMs directly from Azure while they run on-premises.
   • Move VMs from Hyper-V and VMware vSphere to Azure Local with secure, on-prem data transfer.
   • Support older Microsoft workloads like Windows Server 2012–2016 and SQL Server 2012–2014, including up to three years of extended security updates at no additional cost when rehosted.

Across these scenarios, the common thread is a consistent Azure experience on-premises, with Dell’s automation and lifecycle management helping to reduce manual effort and operational complexity.

Dell Private Cloud with Azure Local is designed to help you reshape how you operate your infrastructure by combining automation, lifecycle management, and flexible scaling. The impact shows up in both cost and daily operations.

Cost efficiency

• Lower cost vs. traditional HCI in internal testing: Dell’s internal analysis (August 2023) compared the three-year cost of a five-node HCI cluster (92 TB storage, 163 TB capacity) with Dell Private Cloud using bring-your-own storage (BYOS). The testing showed cost savings for Dell Private Cloud under those assumptions (compression, DDR ratios, VMware RAID 5 erasure coding, and 1.5x compression). Actual results will vary, but it indicates potential savings when you avoid rigid, scale-out-only models.
• Disaggregated scaling: You can scale compute and storage independently, which helps reduce overprovisioning and align spend with actual workload needs.
• Leverage existing investments: You can use existing Dell servers and storage and procure Azure Local licenses through your current channels, which can ease adoption and budgeting.

Operational simplification

• Fewer manual steps: Internal Dell testing shows that many manual steps are automated through a single Dell Private Cloud blueprint, reducing the number of actions required to provision and manage infrastructure.
• Faster Day‑2 operations: Validation by Prowess Consulting (commissioned by Dell, April 2026) found that Day‑2 tasks on Dell Private Cloud can be completed in less time than on a traditional three-tier architecture. Actual results will vary, but it highlights the impact of automation and integrated lifecycle management.
• Intelligent lifecycle management: The platform continuously validates the stack and automates updates and compliance tasks, helping you keep firmware, software, and configurations aligned without constant manual intervention.
• Single operational model: You manage VMs, containers, databases, and AI workloads through a common, Azure-consistent toolset, which can reduce the learning curve and reliance on niche skills.

Risk and complexity reduction

• Extensively validated platform: Dell notes that Dell Private Cloud is extensively tested, which is intended to reduce integration risk when you deploy Azure Local on Dell infrastructure.
• Control with cloud agility: You keep sensitive data local for compliance and performance, while still using Azure-native services, governance, and security capabilities.

For teams that are already feeling the strain of rising IT complexity and operational overhead, these capabilities are meant to reimagine how you deliver services—moving from manual, ticket-driven operations to more automated, policy-driven management.