Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) executives believe that the client refreshes that have been delayed for a year or more as companies have cut IT budgets may finally be on the way in nine months to a year, offering the potential to rejuvenate PC sales.

What’s coming then? Enterprise fleets of PCs will be 4 to 5 years old by then, and corporations won’t be able to put off the refreshes for much longer than that.

“We are seeing a big deferral of server purchases by corporations,” Chairman and CEO Michael Dell tells financial analysts during the company’s earnings call. “But they are planning a pretty big 2010 client refresh.” Dell says these companies passed on upgrading to Microsoft’s Vista operating system but are now getting ready for Microsoft’s forthcoming Windows 7 operating system, expected this year.

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“There will be a pretty powerful cycle of upgrades in the client environment,” says Dell.

Dell says that there is also a data center opportunity, but the bigger opportunity that is coming sooner is for clients in the enterprise.

“Users are getting restless with these 4-year-old and 5-year-old machines,” says Dell, especially when they are experience all the great features on their newer machines at home.

New products from Microsoft and Intel will contribute to what could become a perfect storm of client upgrades.

“If you get the right combination of new product cycles—Intel’s got an interesting one coming, Microsoft’s got an interesting one coming—you could ignite a pretty interesting refresh cycle,” Brian Gladden, senior vice president and CFO at Dell, tells financial analysts during the company’s earnings call.

Dell reported an earnings decline of 63 percent on revenues that declined 23 percent. A full report on Dell’s fiscal Q1 earnings is here.