When Michael Dell took the CEO role back a couple of years ago, he made a priority of shifting the company’s attention to virtual computing. As part of the initiative, Dell has adapted its sales force to provide custom data sharing solutions across corporate networks. One of the main advantages of Dell virtual servers is the ability to run multiple operating systems on a single network – traditionally, companies were tied to ASP (Microsoft .Net) or Linux, even though their software vendors were usually split between the two. Additionally, partitioning computing power among several machines was resource intensive in and of itself.
As a result, Dell has customized its Power Edge servers to provide data sharing by way of either VMWare or Cirtix hypervisors: with a modular setup, companies can easily scale their systems and store data completely in a secure cloud, limiting the need for server rooms or licenses for expensive in-house firewall technology. Many companies rely upon data to adjust forecasts and prices in real-time; integrating a complete Dell data-sharing solution that doesn’t rely on a chain of isolated physical machines will help improve uptime as well as speed. A few years out, it looks like Dell is finally beginning to turn the corner, much as its founder had envisioned.
Many people still see Dell as a consumer-driven company, which has been unable to keep up with the likes of HP and Apple. As a result, their stock price has been in decline, while Dell himself has been working on a “redo” of his original corporate re-organization strategy. The CEO realizes, however, that improving their core enterprise offerings is a much more sustainable business than chasing a fickle consumer market from trend to trend.
