Posts Tagged ‘DELL’

Microsoft Tablet Aimed at Fighting iPad Faces Long Odds

Monday, December 27th, 2010

Microsoft Corp. Chief Executive Officer Steve Ballmer, said to unveil new software for tablets at the Consumer Electronics Show next week, will face skeptics who say his company won’t soon narrow Apple Inc.’s iPad lead.

“By the time Microsoft gets it figured out everybody will already own an iPad,” said Keith Goddard, CEO of Capital Advisors Inc. an investing firm in Tulsa, Oklahoma, that holds Apple shares. “That train has left the station.”

Microsoft will announce a full version of the Windows computer operating system that runs on ARM Holdings Plc technology at the show, which begins in Las Vegas on Jan. 6, two people familiar with Microsoft’s plans said last week.

Allying with ARM is Microsoft’s way of stepping up rivalry with Apple, which has garnered the largest share of the tablet market with its iPad, a touch-screen device introduced in April that handles video, music and computing tasks. The effort may falter unless Ballmer can match the features consumers have come to expect from the iPad, Goddard said.

The new Windows version would be tailored for battery- powered devices, such as tablets and wireless handsets, the people said. Chips based on ARM technology are made by Qualcomm Inc., Texas Instruments Inc. and Samsung Electronics Co.

Frank Shaw, a spokesman for Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, declined to comment, pointing instead to remarks by Ballmer in July.

“We’re tuning Windows 7 to new slate hardware designs,” Ballmer told analysts then. He also said, Apple has “sold certainly more than I’d like them to sell.” (more…)

Dell Hybrid Tablet PC Inspiron Duo

Thursday, November 18th, 2010

The 10-inch Inspiron Duo tablet-netbook, positioned as an iPad competitor, runs a dual-core Atom N550 processor and offers work and entertainment features.

Trying to differentiate itself in the hot tablet market, Dell is expected next week to launch the Inspiron Duo, a hybrid device that acts as both a tablet and converts into a clamshell netbook.

The device resembles a netbook. But when the case is opened and the screen is flipped backward, it becomes a high-end netbook with a full QWERTY keyboard, running Windows 7 and a dual-core Intel Atom N550 processor, according to reports. Other features, including RAM and storage, are not yet known.

The 10-inch Inspiron Duo is being targeted as a competitor to the Apple iPad. When the device first appeared at an Intel developer conference in September, a marketing executive said that while tablets are good for entertainment purposes, they aren’t ideal productivity tools. The executive, Dave Zavelson, said the Inspiron Duo would be ideal for both work and entertainment, and then showed off the hidden keyboard, according to CNET. (more…)

Dell switching off BlackBerry, onto own smartphone

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

* 25,000 employees moving to Dell Venue Pro
* Dell to push customers to switch as well
* Dell and RIM now rivals in smartphone market

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov 4 (Reuters) – Dell Inc (DELL) will shift thousands of its employees off Research in Motion Ltd’s (RIM.TO) BlackBerry and over to Dell’s smartphones, the company said on Thursday.

The money-saving switch affects the roughly 25,000 Dell employees who carry a company-issued BlackBerry. Dell employs around 100,000 people worldwide.

Dell is also launching an effort to convince its business customers to switch to the company’s smartphone.

News of the company’s plans was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, and confirmed by Dell spokesman David Frink.

Frink said the switch will begin soon, but said it will take some time to complete. (more…)

Dell Moves Deeper into Cloud Computing with Boomi Acquisition

Thursday, November 4th, 2010

Dell leaped further into the clouds Tuesday, announcing an acquisition of software-as-a-service company Boomi. The deal aims to provide Dell (DELL) with some software magic designed to allow its corporate customers to transfer data from hosted, or cloud-based, applications to applications sitting inside computers at the customers’ offices.

Boomi’s integration software doesn’t require additional appliances, software or special coding to get the data to flow to customers’ apps, Dell says. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, indicating it was small enough not to be material to Dell. Boomi is privately held.

Dell, as with the other hardware makers, has been pushing to expand into cloud computing. For Dell, the Boomi acquisition has been relatively painless, especially compared with its previous effort to snag cloud-computing company 3Par. In a bruising battle that went on for several rounds, Dell lost out in a bidding war to HP (HPQ), which paid $2.35 billion for 3Par. Dell walked away with a $72 million termination fee.

Dell may have found good use for some of those termination fee funds in acquiring Boomi.

Newsweek Names Dell Greenest Company in America

Thursday, October 28th, 2010

It’s always nice to be recognized for your efforts. Although Dell is honored to take the top slot in Newsweek’s Green Rankings for 2010 (see the complete list here), we also see this award as a reflection of your commitment to environmental stewardship.

Having customers like you who strive to be greener is what inspires us to continually find better ways to help you achieve more. The efficiencies that come from greener practices, products and services are so often the key to finding those better ways.

Newsweek recognized us for building sustainability into our supply chain and operations, which ultimately makes it easier and more cost-effective for you to be green. For example, you have helped us divert more than 484 million pounds of equipment from landfills since 2006 through our convenient recycling programs. And our innovative bamboo packaging provides a strong, renewable packaging alternative that you can compost for easy disposal.

Newsweek also recognized our passion for helping you compute more while consuming less. For example, thanks to the energy management features on our OptiPlex? business computers, Dell customers have saved more than $5 billion in energy costs since 2006.
Newsweek Names Dell Greenest Company

About the Ranking

The Newsweek Green Rankings grades America’s 500 largest publicly traded companies, as measured by revenue, market capitalization and number of employees, on their environmental performance, policies and reputation as environmentally responsible companies.

Newsweek partnered with three independent organizations to assemble a “green score” for each company. That score is based on three components:

  • Environmental impact —?based on data compiled by?Trucost
  • Green policies —?derived from data collected by RiskMetrics
  • Reputation —?based on an opinion survey of corporate social responsibility (CSR) professionals, academics and other environmental experts who subscribe to CorporateRegister.com

CEOs or high-ranking officials in all companies on the Newsweek 500 list were also invited to participate.

Dell Settles S.E.C. Accounting Suit for $100 Million

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

Dell agreed on Thursday to pay $100 million to settle civil charges by the Securities and Exchange Commission that its senior executives used fraudulent accounting tricks to make it appear that the computer maker was meeting Wall Street earnings targets. Michael Dell, the company’s founder, chairman and chief executive, agreed to pay a $4 million fine as well.

“Accuracy and completeness are the touchstones of public company disclosure under the federal securities laws,” Robert Khuzami, director of the S.E.C.’s enforcement division, said in a statement. “Michael Dell and other senior Dell executives fell short of that standard repeatedly over many years, and today they are held accountable.”

The S.E.C. said that Dell received large special payments from 2002 through 2006 by the computer chip maker Intel for exclusively using Intel chips in Dell computers. (more…)

DELL SEC Settlement To Pay $100 Million Over Accounting Fraud Charges

Wednesday, October 13th, 2010

Computer maker Dell Inc. is paying $100 million to settle civil charges that it fraudulently used payments from Intel to pump up its profits to meet Wall Street targets over five years, the government announced Thursday.

Under the settlement with the Securities and Exchange Commission, company Chairman and CEO Michael Dell also agreed to pay a separate $4 million civil penalty.

The settlement culminated a five-year investigation by the agency. While the $100 million fine was far from the largest penalty levied by the SEC, the decision to charge a sitting chief executive of a major company and reach a seven-figure settlement with him is rare. Founder Michael Dell is one of the most prominent figures in the technology industry, credited for revolutionizing the PC market by making the computers cheap and widely accessible.

The SEC had accused Michael Dell, former CEO Kevin Rollins and former Chief Financial Officer James Schneider of playing a role in the company’s alleged violations of disclosure laws. Schneider and two other former executives were charged with taking part in the alleged fraudulent accounting.

Dell, based in Round Rock, Texas, is the world’s third-largest PC maker behind Hewlett-Packard Co. and Taiwan’s Acer Inc. The company’s net income was $441 million in its fiscal first quarter this year, which ran from February through April.

The SEC said the company also failed to disclose to investors large payments it received from Intel Corp. in exchange for not using central processing units made by Intel’s main rival, Advanced Micro Devices Inc. Those payments enabled Dell to meet its quarterly earnings targets, the agency said. After Intel stopped the payments, Dell again misled shareholders by not disclosing the real reason its profits had dropped, according to the SEC. (more…)

IBM stock shares reach all time high

Friday, October 8th, 2010

IBM stock shares hit an all-time high Thursday.

Shares closed at $138.72 on the New York Stock Exchange, up 88 cents from the previous day’s close.

A spokesman for Armonk-based IBM Corp. confirmed it was the highest that the shares had ever reached.

Such comparisons are adjusted to eliminate the effects of stock splits, in which a company typically splits one share into two.

During the day’s trading, shares rose as high as $138.88. Volume was 6.4 million shares, somewhat higher than average. Meanwhile, the Dow Jones industrial average, of which IBM is a component, dropped 19.07 points to close at 10,948.58.

The closing price gave Big Blue a market capitalization of nearly $175 billion.

The company went public in 1915. It will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2011.

Chief Executive Officer Samuel Palmisano has shifted IBM’s focus more to services and software, which offer high profit margins. Since he became CEO in 2002, IBM shares have risen from around $104, or a gain of about a third.

Fortune 500 2010 Ranking Fortune Magazines

Friday, April 16th, 2010

The companies in this year’s 500 list slashed costs so fast and so deeply especially labor that even in a feeble recovery, their earnings soared.

The long-awaited recovery is now under way, but it’s a slow, painful slog that’s short on trust and confidence and long on a drumbeat of numbers that mostly shift from dreadful to less depressing. Twenty-seven months after the recession began, unemployment is stuck at 9.7%. Housing starts are dragging near half-century lows. Consumers are finally spending again, but they’re still too fearful about their jobs and homes to crowd malls and auto lots with the buoyant abandon that heralds a full-rigged revival, the kind Americans are used to.

Amazingly, as consumers struggle, U.S. corporations are staging a nearly unprecedented comeback that’s largely escaping notice. The gargantuan, dispiriting job cuts that seem to dominate the news have also been the spur for an epic resurgence in profits. For 2009, the Fortune 500 lifted earnings 335%, to $391 billion, a $301 billion jump that’s the second largest in the list’s 56-year history, approaching the increase in the robust recovery of 2003. For last year the 500 raised their return on sales from less than 1% to 4%. That’s close to the list’s 4.7% historical average.

Hence, the 500’s profits virtually returned to normal after years of extremes — bubbles in 2006 and 2007, collapse in 2008 — despite a feeble overall recovery that’s far from normal. This year’s list — reminder: the Fortune 500 ranks U.S. companies by revenue — is packed with changes that reflect and spotlight the trends reshaping corporate America. The homebuilders that occupied 14 places in 2007 and three last year, including Centex and Pulte, have all disappeared, casualties of shrinking sales. No fewer than nine newcomers from recession-resistant health care joined in 2009, among them drugmakers Genzyme (sales: $4.5 billion) and Allergan ($4.5 billion). (more…)

Dell OEMs Data Domain and Celerra

Thursday, March 25th, 2010

Dell is broadening its storage product range by OEMing EMC’s Celerra and Data Domain products, and developing its own object storage product.

The background to this is the continuing and dramatic rise in the amount of semi- and unstructured information. This leads to a sheer storage capacity problem and to infrastructure problems, particularly when organisations need to respond to sudden and unpredictable changes in IT demand.

Dell is responding to that by increasing the ability for its customers to virtualise their IT environments, manage them more efficiently with infrastructure products, and equip their data centres with both servers and storage better suited to what it calls the virtual era.

The Reg covers the server, cloud and infrastructure parts of today’s Dell announcement set elsewhere; here we concentrate on the storage which focuses on the efficient storage of billions of files and objects.

Dell is introducing three new storage product sets: the DX object store; DD deduplication systems; and the NS unified file and block storage systems Both the DX and NS products are OEM’d from EMC whereas the DX is not. It appears that Dell decided not to take EMC’s Centera object storage product set. (more…)