SaaSy Dell 2.0 buys MessageOne for $155m
522052
Dell on Dell on Dell on Dell Anyone confused by exactly what Dell 2.0 means should have a look at today's acquisition of MessageOne.â¦
68699
Rockies aimed for fairness by selling online, but their ticket website says software 'robots' cut in line.            Presented By     From Dell? Home!      &nbsp;&nbsp;The new Dell? Inspiron? 1520 notebook with hi-def widescreen and long-range wireless for only $799. Add mobile broadband for $150. Limited time offer. Click here. www.dell.com    Ads by Pheedo
202819
(InfoWorld) - Dell reached for a larger share of the small business market Tuesday, launching the "Vostro" brand of notebook and desktop PCs designed to simplify tech support, an area that has attracted complaints and lawsuits for Dell in recent months. To make Vostro PCs easier to use, Dell will ship them without any "trialware," Dell's term for the unwanted software applications that many PC manufacturers load on new computers in the factory in exchange for payments from the software vendors. In June,Â Dell agreed to let customers opt out of those programs after customers complained about that "bloatware" on a company blog. In another step intended to make Vostro PCs easier to use, Dell streamlined the setup process. A customer without any IT experience can get a Vostro PC up and running in six minutes and can connect it to the company network in only six steps, CEO Michael Dell said at a press conference in New York. And to make tech support easier for companies with fewer than 25 employees, Dell will offer support services, such as dedicating 6,500 of its customer service workers to Vostro products, offering 24-hour access to online tech support, and providing 10GB of online data storage for a year. The new computers include the Vostro 200 desktop with Intel Core 2 Duo processors and a choice between Microsoft's Windows XP or Vista operating systems. Vostro notebooks include the Vostro 1000 with dual-core AMD chips and Vostro 1400, 1500, and 1700, offering screen sizes of 14.1 inches, 15.4 inches, or 17 inches respectively. Dell is selling the models starting at $449 for the notebooks and starting at $319 for the desktop. The company also plans to add a high-performance desktop model to the family in late August. Although Dell has lost much of its market share to Hewlett-Packard in recent quarters, the company is playing to its strength by focusing on small business users, said one analyst who attended the press conference. "They still have a lot of brand equity in the small business market, and they're extending that with this offer," said Merle Sandler, senior research analyst at IDC. "With the services, they become a trusted advisor, and hopefully down the road they can turn that into a revenue stream." Michael Dell acknowledged that point in remarks to reporters, saying, "Small business is a rapidly growing market. It's also a place where there is enormous demand and need for technology." At the same time, he said, "Our customers all tell us, 'Make it simple'." Still, the company faces a challenge in repairing its reputation relative to customer service. In May, New York state's attorney generalÂ filed a lawsuit charging that Dell had used fraud and false advertisingÂ to increase profits on PC sales, applying high credit rates to computer purchases despite a promise of cheap financing. Indeed, Michael Dell stumbled over several of the questions posed by a crowd of small business owners at the press conference. He smiled at one user's story about experiencing Dell customer service problems after experimenting with competing PCs from Sony and Toshiba, and he winced at another customer's plea for Dell to keep offering Windows XP because of the "horror stories" she had heard about Vista. He also grew defensive after a customer asked whether Dell would offer a hundred-dollar laptop such as the XO computer designed for developing countries by a team at MIT led by Nicholas Negroponte. Dell pointed out that MIT had recently raised its price to $170 and that a better way to get cheap PCs in the hands of schoolchildren would be to re-use the 125 million PCs discarded each year by users in western nations. "We've sold more PCs in the U.S. than anyone else ... but that doesn't mean we're going to walk away from our responsibility. Our team has made big investments not only on the product side but in service and support," Dell said.
766177
InfoWorld - Dell has signed a deal with a U.K. mobile phone retailer to distribute free laptops with the purchase of a broadband Internet access subscription, continuing the company&#39;s&#160;push into the retail market.
436441
IT services vendor LogicaCMG Plc's involvement in the mobile communications software space is over following the sale of its telecoms products division to a private equity group for 265m pounds ($348m) in cash.
555201
Boston Communications Group Inc. of Bedford, a major US provider of prepaid wireless services, yesterday said it has agreed to be purchased by an Indian company for $65 million.
364059
Yahoo Inc. has agreed to buy Zimbra Inc., a privately held company whose Web hosted collaboration and messaging suite is considered a successful example of the software-as-a-service model (SAAS).
281657
InfoWorld - Google announced new pricing for its Postini hosted e-mail security and compliance management package on Tuesday in hopes of pushing more customers to consider a move to the SaaS (software-as-a-service) offering.
242850
Google Inc.  said on Monday it has agreed to buy Web-based security provider Postini for $625 million, expanding its package of online applications to compete with Microsoft Corp.'s  Office.
153183
On a Lark Dell 2.0 has acquired former Sun Microsystems corporate communications chief Andy Lark as its new VP of marketing and communications.â¦
766730
Yahoo has agreed to buy Zimbra, a privately held company whose Web-hosted collaboration and messaging suite is considered a successful example of the SaaS (software as a service) model.
431602
Google has agreed to buy messaging security company Postini for $625 million, a move intended to increase the appeal of Google's hosted software applications among big businesses, the companies announced Monday.
301560
OSLO/LAS VEGAS  - Microsoft Corp  bid $1.2  billion to buy Norwegian business search software company Fast  Search & Transfer  in a deal focused on helping  corporations manage and sift through their own files, a growing  market also targeted by Google Inc .
442074
By Alex Black  Dell has finally filled its EMEA comms director role after luring the former head of comms and PA at agri-business firm Syngenta.   Rainer von Mielecki joined Dell last week, becoming the top European comms professional at the world's largest computer maker.
498890
Telecommunications equipment maker Ericsson AB  will buy data networking equipment vendor Redback Networks Inc.  for $2.1 billion in cash, the companies said on Tuesday.
346042
Dell Inc. has signed a deal with a U.K. mobile phone retailer to distribute free laptops with the purchase of a broadband Internet access subscription, continuing the company&#39;s push into the retail market.
432226
Novell plans to make its SuSE Linux Enterprise Server 9 software available direct from Dell on factory-loaded Dell servers. The companies said Wednesday that beginning in 2005, customers buying Dell&#39;s PowerEdge