Interview: Dell's Rollins lays out a road map, from services to AMD
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InfoWorld - After eight years at the company, Kevin Rollins was appointed president and CEO of the &#36;41.4 billion computer juggernaut Dell Computer last July. Many still think of Dell as a desktop supplier, but the company has become a powerhouse in server and notebooks as well and is making strong moves in the printer and storage markets.
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AUSTIN, Texas  - Dell Inc. DELL.O founder and   Chairman Michael Dell sees computer gaming becoming a $4   billion-per-year industry by 2010 as consumers hook up to   high-speed Internet services to battle monsters on-line.
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A new Web Services for Management (WS-Management) specification edited by Alan Geller (Microsoft) has been published. This initial joint publication of the specification names Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Dell
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Part of Dell Computer's transition strategy is to no longer focus all its interests on one side of the technology market exclusively. That was made clearer today with another acquisition of a service-oriented software provider.
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PC Magazine - Dell held a technology day in New York City this week to discuss its vision and strategy for the reminder of the year. PC Magazine's Mark Hachman talked with Alex Gruzen, senior vice president of Dell's Product Group, to discuss the company's recent notebook recall, what its Vista product plans might be, the Apple iTV, and the relationship with its newly-acquired Alienware subsidiary.
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(InfoWorld) - Stock in Dell was rising Monday on news thatÂ founder Michael Dell plans to remain as CEO for several years, trim the number of managers reporting directly to him, and eliminate bonuses. "We have a tough couple of quarters ahead. We didn't get here overnight, and we won't fix things overnight either," Dell wrote in a memo to employees on Friday. "Last year ... we had great efforts but not great results. This is disappointing, and it is unacceptable." Dell pointed to several problems with the company, including an overgrown bureaucracy and operating expenses that had grown too fast. "We have great people ... but we also have a new enemy: bureaucracy, which costs us money and slows us down. We created it, we subjected our people to it, and we have to fix it!" Dell said. "I am asking each of you to look across your organizations and eliminate redundancies." On Monday, a corporate spokeswoman confirmed the authenticity of the memo, which had been leaked to media over the weekend. The company has been buffeted in recent days by the resignation of CEO Kevin Rollins last Wednesday,Â Michael Dell announcing he would take over that job, and the accusation inÂ a lawsuit by investorsÂ on Friday that 15 top executives had garnered millions of dollars by selling their stock after propping up the company's faltering revenue with secret payments from Intel. Even before those blows landed, Dell was wobbling on a threat by the Nasdaq stock exchange to drop its stock unless the company files its overdue quarterly earnings reports.Â Dell has delayed filing those numbers for the past two terms as it struggles to satisfy an investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) of its accounting practices. It is not yet clear if that investigation is related to the investors' charges that Dell hid payments by Intel in exchange for staying exclusively loyal to one brand of microprocessor in its PCs. When Michael Dell announced on Wednesday he would return to his position as CEO, the company was already in the midst of a reorganization plan that calls for $100 million in spending to improve the customer service practices that allow it to bypass retail stores with its famed "direct sales" business model. The company was also following Rollins' plan toÂ remake itself as "Dell 2.0,"Â trying to move beyond an enormousÂ notebook PC battery recall in August by focusing on industrial design, overseas factories, and a move to diversify its computers by using chips fromÂ AMD as well as those from Intel. In his Friday memo, Dell added new details to that strategy. He promised to turn around the company by focusing on the SMB sector, enterprise servers and storage, shorter design cycles for new products, and increased sales in emerging markets. He also made a few corporate changes, recalling Paul Bell from his job running the company's markets in EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa) to lead Dell's new Americas group, which includes the fast-growing SMB sector. Dell also created a "global operations" division to focus on manufacturing and procurement. "I remember what it's like to start a company. We're moving fast. There is no luxury of time. The competitors are fierce. The difference is this time we have many new assets and some hidden ones that can be brought out," he wrote. Dell did not describe the hidden assets he would use to rescue his company's prospects, but he hinted that Dell had enough resources to outspend its competition. AlthoughÂ Dell handed the title of world's largest PC vendor to HP this year, it is still a corporate colossus. "When I started back in 1984, it was just me. But now we are blessed to have an awesome team, many great assets, and $11 billion or so," Dell said. Â
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Intel-only Inspirons online for now, almost With almost mud-like clarity, Dell has explained the way it's balancing the availability of AMD-based computers between its online, phone and retail sales channels. But one thing it wants us to be certain about is that it remains committed to AMD product lines.â¦
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DALLAS -- Dell Inc. chairman and founder Michael Dell defended his hand-picked successor's work at the world's largest PC maker yesterday, saying Kevin Rollins isn't solely to blame for the company's recent missteps.
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Dell Inc.  will use partnerships and acquisitions to become more services-oriented, the Financial Times reported in its online edition on Wednesday, citing an interview with Chief Executive Michael Dell.
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Don't expect to see a Dell Labs that focuses on fundamental research or a major move into highly bespoke "Big Iron" servers. But we are seeing a Dell that is showing some flexibility on what were once all-or-nothing principles.
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Michael Dell, who recently returned to the helm of the PC maker he founded, announces cost-cutting measures to employees in a memo.
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Dell Inc. DELL.O Chairman Michael   Dell on Tuesday threw his support behind Chief Executive Kevin   Rollins, while promising the computer maker was "working   diligently" to resolve its mounting problems.
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Shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD:NYSE - news - research) took a joyride Friday as news circulated that server giant Dell (DELL:Nasdaq - news - research) may adopt AMD&#39;s server chip.
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Dell (Dell:Nasdaq - news - research) and Microsoft (MSFT:Nasdaq - news - research) are partnering to develop and sell software that makes it easier for large businesses to manage their servers, the two companies announced Monday.
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Dell Inc. DELL.O Chairman Michael   Dell on Tuesday threw his support behind Chief Executive Kevin   Rollins and promised the computer maker was "working   diligently" to resolve its mounting problems.
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Dell CEO Kevin Rollins came out swinging against overseas outsourcing in a speech delivered Friday at a conference in Boston. [Outsourcing Blog]
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Dell CEO Michael Dell hinted Monday that his company could be shopping for more acquisition targets, and that they could be larger than the companies it has acquired to date.Speaking in Tokyo at a news conference, Dell made the comments after giving his views on a recent run of acquisitions in the PC market, such as the&#160;purchase of Gateway by Taiwan&#39;s Acer.&quot;I think the pace of consolidation will increase,&quot; he said. &quot;It think that it favors the larger companies, particularly as the growth is skewed towards emerging countries. In the last two years Dell has acquired five companies, two related to the consumer business, one related to software, and two related to services. These have all been relatively small companies but I would not be surprised if the nature and pace of acquisitions increases somewhat.&quot;He added that his company had looked at Gateway when it was available but decided against purchasing the company.Dell was in Tokyo to launch the company&#39;s &quot;simplify IT&quot; program. It aims to cut corporate IT management costs, thus freeing up spending for use on new computers and servers. He estimated that 70 percent of IT spending at Japanese companies over the next year will be related to maintenance of old systems and management and only 30 percent on new hardware.&quot;We need to flip that 70/30,&quot; he said.On the consumer side of Dell&#39;s business the company has recently begun&#160;offering PCs through retailers&#160;-- a break with its successful direct sales model. With a handful of retailers already selling its systems, Dell said more are on the way.&quot;The first steps that we have taken with the partners mentioned earlier are really just that, first steps,&quot; he said. &quot;So I think you can expect over the next several quarters or year or two, that in all major countries around the world like Japan, Korea, China, India, U.S., France, U.K., Russia, etc., you would see Dell having a small number of key partnerships which allow consumers to purchase Dell products at retail. It&#39;s really about making our products available in more places.&quot;&quot;I believe we can grow the direct business both on telephone and online and I believe we can grow a channel, a partner business. And we are also working very hard to extend the capabilities that Dell has to our channel partners,&quot; he said.Looking ahead, Dell promised new x86-architecture based products during his speech at Oracle Open World on Nov. 14. The products, which he didn&#39;t detail, will have &quot;breakthrough performance and power capability relative to others in the industry.