Dell held its inaugural storage forum conference in central London last week, the key message being that it is serious about becoming a storage company in its own right, instead of being a reseller of other providers' storage products.
Dell has acquired four storage companies over the course of the past 4 years - Equallogic, Compellent, Exanet and Ocarina - alongside services company Perot Systems (2009), and it is building its own intellectual property based on the leading-edge next generation storage technology from its acquisitions. It used the London forum to launch four new storage products, which it will take to market through its well-developed distribution network.
Bottom line for ICT Buyers:
1. Dell is serious about becoming a storage provider, not just a reseller, and should now be taken seriously by enterprise storage buyers. It is investing heavily in developing its acquired technologies, and creating differentiating intellectual property. As an ICT buyer, you can expect good technology and support from Dell, as it is committed to succeed in this market. We therefore advise buyers to take Dell into account when planning their next storage hardware purchase.
2. One of the key assets that Dell acquired with Compellent is the latter's excellent customer support services approach, known as "co-pilot". This will now be implemented across Dell's storage portfolio and should - if done well - mean excellent support for corporate storage users.
3. Dell continues to build its 'solution stacks' with its software partners, be it backup with Symantec and CommVault, Microsoft SharePoint with Avepoint and other, industry- specific solutions. So when planning your next IT project, consider testing a solution stack from Dell as well.
Dell has acquired four storage companies over the course of the past 4 years - Equallogic, Compellent, Exanet and Ocarina - alongside services company Perot Systems (2009), and it is building its own intellectual property based on the leading-edge next generation storage technology from its acquisitions. It used the London forum to launch four new storage products, which it will take to market through its well-developed distribution network.
Bottom line for ICT Buyers:
1. Dell is serious about becoming a storage provider, not just a reseller, and should now be taken seriously by enterprise storage buyers. It is investing heavily in developing its acquired technologies, and creating differentiating intellectual property. As an ICT buyer, you can expect good technology and support from Dell, as it is committed to succeed in this market. We therefore advise buyers to take Dell into account when planning their next storage hardware purchase.
2. One of the key assets that Dell acquired with Compellent is the latter's excellent customer support services approach, known as "co-pilot". This will now be implemented across Dell's storage portfolio and should - if done well - mean excellent support for corporate storage users.
3. Dell continues to build its 'solution stacks' with its software partners, be it backup with Symantec and CommVault, Microsoft SharePoint with Avepoint and other, industry- specific solutions. So when planning your next IT project, consider testing a solution stack from Dell as well.
