Although a host of sales issues still need to be worked out before Dell officially merges with EMC later this year, the combined companies are aiming to exploit a number of areas on Day One after the merger. One of those major synergies that often is overlooked may very well be the ability to combine Dell PC platforms with EMC infrastructure and security to create new solutions.
Dell Technologies should be able to combine Dell PCs with EMC’s RSA security technologies to create a more secure Windows environment, said David Schmoock, president of global sales for client solutions at Dell. That’s critical because more than 85 percent of the Fortune 5000 have a Windows 10 deployment in the pilot stage today. It’s really only a matter of time before those Windows 10 deployments go into production environments that need to be secured, Schmoock said.
Another area of potential synergy is virtual desktop infrastructure (VDI). In general, VDI has been something of a disappointment. Less than 15 percent of IT organizations have adopted it largely due to costs associated with refreshing their back-end services. Dell Technologies already envisions combining thin-client technologies it gained with the acquisition of Wyse Technologies with EMC servers and storage to create more affordable VDI offerings that will scale across larger enterprise IT deployments, Schmoock said.
Longer term, he also notes there will even be unique applications that make use of holographic technologies from Microsoft to create augmented-reality applications running on back-end servers.
Of course, how well Dell can execute on this vision remains to be seen. Sales of PCs, security and data center infrastructure have historically been separate within most IT organizations. But Schmoock says CIOs have already been making it clear they are looking to deal with fewer not more IT vendors.
What’s more, the sales of those end-to-end solutions are also likely to change channel partners’ relationship with Dell. As Dell envisions the world, a much larger percentage of the overall revenue any solution provider generates will come via technologies built by Dell Technologies. As such, channel partners will be much more inclined to view Dell Technologies as a strategic partner that helps them achieve their overall quarterly revenue and profit goals, Schmoock said.
The combined companies already are working on crafting IT solutions that partners can sell starting on Day One of the official completion of the merger, he said.
In the meantime, both Dell and EMC have already begun signaling to partners that some serious thought is already being put into identifying what those opportunities are.
Mike Vizard has covered IT for more than 25 years, and has edited or contributed to a number of tech publications, including InfoWorld, CRN and eWeek. He currently blogs daily for IT Business Edge and contributes to CIOinsight, Channel Insider and Baseline.