By: Shridhar Acharya, Managing Principal, Cognitive Infrastructure Services, LTIMindtree

Insights from the Annual Dell Technologies World Conference 2025

The expansive venue of The Venetian in Las Vegas provided an excellent setting for the 2025 edition of the Annual Dell Technologies World Conference.  While the tagline of Las Vegas is ‘What happens here, stays here,’ a modified version, ‘What happens here should be amplified everywhere,’ may be more appropriate for this event, given the extensive knowledge and innovations on view.

As thousands of leaders, scientists, engineers, technology enthusiasts, and notable public figures from the entertainment industry convened on a warm Monday morning, the atmosphere was vibrant and dynamic. Despite the bustling scene, the event was well organized, with extensive breakout sessions covering multiple technologies.

Once the initial excitement subsided, Michael Dell commenced his keynote address to a packed audience with characteristic enthusiasm. He emphasized that he views AI as a collaborator—rather than a replacement for humans—that distills experience into actionable insights, accelerates decision-making, and liberates teams to focus on innovation and problem-solving. Michael expressed his belief that AI will become as essential as electricity, ushering in a new era of human progress.

The age of ubiquitous intelligence

Michael described this new chapter as the “age of ubiquitous intelligence,” where AI is deeply integrated into every device and location, from personal computers to massive industrial factories. This vision emphasizes the importance of delivering real-time intelligence at the edge, ensuring efficiency and relevance in all use cases.

The shift to on-premises AI

One of the most prominent trends revealed during the keynote was the growing preference among enterprises to shift generative AI workloads to on-premises. This change is driven by the realization that on-premises solutions are up to 60% more cost-effective than running AI workloads in the public cloud. Michael stated that Dell is committed to making AI more accessible, partnering with leading technology companies to deliver comprehensive solutions tailored to diverse industries.

Customer success stories

The practical application of Dell’s AI solutions is evident in customer success stories from JPMorgan Chase and Lowe’s. These industry leaders have utilized Dell’s technology to drive significant productivity gains, enhance user experiences, and improve risk postures, illustrating the transformative potential of AI across industries. In a highly interactive session with leaders from JPMC and Lowe’s, Michael subtly showcased Dell’s technological prowess and the ability to co-author solutions with clients for mutual benefit.

A trillion-dollar vision

Looking ahead, Dell projected a trillion-dollar investment in AI over the coming years, with the technology expected to substantially contribute to the global economy by 2030. This bold prediction underscores AI’s pivotal role in shaping the future of industries and societies worldwide.

A cosmic perspective on AI

In a fascinating session, astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson and Dell’s CTO, John Roese, explored the intriguing parallels between AI and the expanding universe born of ‘The Big Bang.’ The duo touched on topics ranging from the universe’s mysteries to the demotion of Pluto as a planet. This lighthearted discussion emphasized the importance of learning and adaptability as the true drivers of innovation, outweighing the mere availability of vast amounts of knowledge.

Metrics, infrastructure, and the road ahead

During the event’s second day, Dell’s COO and CTO, Jeff Clarke, provided insights into measuring AI’s effectiveness as enterprises transition from generative AI proofs-of-concept to full production. Clarke highlighted the long-term cost benefits of on-premises AI data centers, predicting a dramatic increase in token generation—from 25 trillion tokens in 2024 to an astounding 35,000 trillion tokens over the next four years. He stressed the importance of modern infrastructure to support these advancements.

Clarke also shared research, indicating that up to 39% of current data centers remain underutilized. As AI’s power and cooling demands grow, Clarke also emphasized that enterprises must adopt robust technologies such as liquid cooling and efficient compute, network, and storage solutions – as while the cost per token has dropped significantly over the past two years, this benefit is offset by the massive surge in generative AI usage, making efficient infrastructure even more critical.

Dell’s AI factory and innovations

Dell’s AI factory solution, built around NVIDIA GPUs and encompassing compute, storage, networking, and data-cleaning capabilities, has shipped over 3,000 units in the past 12 months. Clarke also announced exciting innovations, including GPU-dense racks capable of handling power cooling requirements exceeding 80 to 100 watts. Some other notable announcements were in areas such as:

• Disaggregated storage solutions built on PowerFlex and new NVME-based dense and fast storage like PowerScale and ObjectScale
• Dell Data Lakehouse, a data lake solution to cater to HPC and Gen AI solutions
• On-premise Gemini AI solutions in collaboration with Google
• Project Lightning: A high-performance parallel file system with efficiency, speed, and throughput to match Gen AI requirements.

Collaborations with Cohere (for insights, automation, compliance, and data security for GenAI) and CoreWeave (where Dell provides hardware and services to support Cloud AI solutions) were highlighted, positioning Dell as the one-stop shop for all Gen AI-related needs.

Jeff highlighted that enterprises should prioritize developing a data strategy before implementing GPU solutions. He suggested that most clients might not initially require extensive or high-powered GPU solutions, and they should aim for an ROI on any Gen AI project within the first six months. This recommendation was based on Dell’s internal experiments with their Gen AI projects, which were thoroughly explained.

Dell’s Chief Partner Officer, Denise Millard, delivered a passionate note showcasing Dell’s success with its partners and highlighted a few recent wins in partner-led deals. She also briefly interviewed Michael, and both leaders underscored the importance of Dell’s partners.

Surprisingly, there wasn’t much of a buzz on Dell Private Cloud solutions that work on various platforms like Nutanix, Red Hat, OpenShift, Azure Local, and VMWARE, though it did find a mention in Jeff’s address.

Several key Dell partners, such as Equinix, Intel, Red Hat, and Druva, participated in a large expo at the event with Generative AI as the primary focus. The expo also featured a broad section presenting Dell’s AI Factory 2.0 and AI and PC solutions, the latest rack and cooling innovations, and PowerEdge servers. This also included a family of storage solutions.

Additionally, booths showcased industry vertical solutions involving generative AI in areas like insurance, computer vision, cybersecurity, and agentic AI. An innovation booth displayed concepts funded by Dell, such as a flying car and a humanoid robot, demonstrating physical AI, adding an engaging element to the event.

These advancements underscore Dell’s commitment to adopting AI and accessibility at scale. While they may still need to fix a few white spaces to build a true Gen AI stack, this conference provided a glimpse into the direction Dell is taking in the future.

Bottom line

The vision for the ‘age of ubiquitous intelligence’ should serve as a crucial guide for enterprises seeking to leverage the transformative power of AI. By emphasizing accessibility, cost-efficiency, and practical implementation, organizations can better position themselves to excel in this rapidly evolving environment. As industries embark on their AI endeavors, concentrating on innovation, strategic investments, and purpose-driven applications will be essential to fully realize AI’s potential for business growth and operational excellence. The Dell Technology World Conference offered valuable insights into these perspectives.

LTIMindtree has established a long-standing relationship with Dell and holds the status of a Gold Partner worldwide. The two companies collaborate to provide a comprehensive range of solutions, including Hybrid Cloud, Modern Backup, Pay-as-you-go Infrastructure, Device-as-a-Service, and advanced Generative AI, optimized for client requirements. LTIMindtree, leveraging its unique solutions powered by Dell, is prepared to assist our clients in navigating the era of ubiquitous intelligence.