We have been getting a lot of calls and questions today.  Many are wondering about Dell's services strategy, especially in light of the news in the tech industry today. In fact, many of our customers enjoy the benefits of the partnership between Dell and EDS and we look forward to meeting their needs well into the future.

Customers value flexibility, value, configurability, access to innovation and control - this deal is likely to reduce all five for affected customers and perpetuate an old model. We believe the Services Industry is at a key inflection point. Dell will lead the transition to Configurable Managed Services, giving customers access to the best innovations in the world through remote infrastructure management and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) offerings. By doing so, we will Simplify IT and give customers control, choice, flexibility and the best value in systems and services. 

Dell's strategy was recently discussed by Steve Schuckenbrock over at our Inside IT blog.  He noted "Dell will continue building out our plan to dramatically simplify IT infrastructure services and give companies choice and flexibility in how they purchase and manage services. Our goal is to improve the price/performance of infrastructure services to save companies millions -- potentially billions-- of dollars for IT that will grow business and improve competitiveness." For more information, you can see Steve's Services deck from our Equity Analyst Meeting in April.

For example, our recent acquisitions of MessageOne,  SilverBack, Everdream and ASAP Software are building a SaaS-enabled services delivery platform to remotely monitor, manage and troubleshoot routine IT infrastructure issues such as patch management, anti-virus, asset tracking and software license management.

The Dell approach to consulting services is to use innovative tools and automated discovery agents and technology based analysis and profiling-- instead of armies of consultants-- to virtualize and improve data center power consumption, simplify storage and improve end-user computing, systems management and network security.

Our new ProSupport service is also customizable, letting customers configure their support by speed of response, level of protection and pro-active vs. reactive services that meet their needs. 

In each of these cases, Dell services break from standard industry practices.  We are building out Dell's services to be configurable and subscription based so customers can start or stop a service or any combination of services at any time, in just one click.

Delivering services that simplify IT is where businesses today derive more value, choice and flexibility.  That is crucial to how businesses purchase and manage their information technology. 

Dell is bringing to market a fundamentally different services offering than that which has been offered for the last decade or so.  As a result, we are also delivering a very different value from "outsourcing"  and pure play consulting.  We believe our approach will prevent many of the issues that challenge businesses of all sizes, and in true Dell fashion, offer customizable IT services that meet specific business needs and give customers control, choice, flexibility and the best value in simplifying IT.