Dell enterprise division reaps benefits of clearly defined strategy

Dell has managed to further its market share in the local enterprise sector by sticking to its stated objectives and providing technologies tailored to its users while still basing these on industry standards.

Says Brendan McAravey, head of the Enterprise Systems Group at Dell SA: "The Dell strategy has always been one to carve ourselves a position in the market while concentrating on scalable enterprise computing. The Dell formula is to adopt standard building blocks in the enterprise and build onto these when either capacity or change in the business environment dictates it."

The company already occupies the number one slot for enterprise computing in the US and is sitting at number two locally. McAravey adds that local market trends are starting to shift in Dell`s favour as users see the benefit of standards-based computing based on internationally recognised and supported brands.

"Our motto in the past, and what will continue to be the way in which we do business in the future, is to base our business not only on standards-based computing platforms but on partnerships as well. It is with this in mind, that you can expect to see our partnerships with Oracle, SAP and EMC grow from strength to strength," continued McAravey.

On the back of the phenomenal growth by the enterprise division of Dell and the scalable enterprise philosophy, the company today also announced three new product additions to its enterprise offerings. These include the Quad Itanium 7250 server, the Serial ATA AX100 storage device as well as a new range of Power Connect Network Switches the 2600 series.

According to Tiny Maubane, enterprise product manager at Dell SA: "The strength of an ICT company is to continually reinvent oneself and in this dynamic industry we need to ensure that our products, as well as our services, are best of breed. The new set of products launched today proves once again that Dell delivers quality without compromise on performance."

The Quad Itanium 7250 defines true 64-bit computing and is being positioned at the high end of the market. The box is designed to handle the load of high-end ERP and database applications and will support all major 64-bit ready applications. The new release gives Dell the edge over other commercially available RISC-based servers and the build to order model gives one the ability to build up the product on their own specification.

The serial ATA AX100 is the perfect standalone Fibre Channel network attached storage solution for the SMB market. Based on Serial ATA technology with 2GB Fibre connectivity, this box provides the customer with an easy to implement and scalable storage solution at a highly competitive price point. Once again the build to order model from Dell gives the user the ability to scale up from a single drive to a maximum of 10 with the ability to store 3TB of data. With an initial price point of under R40 000 (including VAT and delivery), the ATA AX100 is ideal for the data intensive SMB, or even enterprise file share environment.

The new range of PowerConnect 2600 switches are true plug and play networking for the home user right through to the workgroup user. With Gigabit having become the industry standard across all commercially available products as well as Dell`s own extensive line of products, the PowerConnect switches provide instant networking for devices with little configuration needed. With the entry-level 8 port switch priced at R1 600, the 16 port at R3 367, and the 24 port at R4 410, all three of which include VAT and delivery, these switches provide best quality computing at affordable prices.

All of the above-mentioned products come with Dell`s minimum service guarantees that customers can tailor according to their direct needs. The Dell enterprise model provides customers with all of the key ingredients needed to efficiently manage their technology environment, service, quality, standards-based computing, all at the most affordable price on the market.

Says Rob Nunn, enterprise services manager at Dell SA: "According to IDC the most critical factor for a customer when selecting an IT vendor is support services with over 25% of respondents rating services as critical to them. It is with this that we can see the fruits of our own-tiered approach to services starting to pay off.

"The Dell Platinum, Gold, Silver and Bronze approach to services allows the customer to select his exact support requirements based on his specific uptime requirements, with the flexibility to select additional value options such as on-site troubleshooting, onsite spares, remote Web-based troubleshooting. The aim of this model allows the customer to cut the total cost of investment he has to make into his initial purchase, the model itself has proven to be highly successful as Dell has surpassed many of its non-traditional competitors as a global IT services provider."