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Thursday, December 22, 2011


Dell

This article is about the corporation known as Dell Inc. For other uses, see Dell (disambiguation).
Dell, Inc.
Public
Industry
Founded
Austin, Texas, U.S.
(November 4, 1984)
Founder(s)
Headquarters
1 Dell Way, Round Rock,
Texas, United States[1]
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Michael Dell
(Chairman & CEO)
Products
Revenue
increase US$ 3.43 billion (2011)[2]
increase US$ 2.63 billion (2011)[2]
increase US$ 38.59 billion (2011)[2]
increase US$ 61.49 billion (2011)[2]
Employees
100,300 (2011)[2]
Website
Dell, Inc. (NASDAQDELL) is an American multinational information technology corporation based in 1 Dell Way, Round Rock, Texas, United States, that develops, sells and supports computers and related products and services. Bearing the name of its founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest technological corporations in the world, employing more than 103,300 people worldwide.[2] Dell is listed at number 41 in the Fortune 500 list.[3]
Dell has grown by both increasing its customer base and through acquisitions since its inception; notable mergers and acquisitions including Alienware (2006) and Perot Systems (2009). As of 2009, the company sold personal computers, servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, and computer peripherals. Dell also sells HDTVs, cameras, printers, MP3 players and other electronics built by other manufacturers. The company is well known for its innovations in supply chain management and electronic commerce.
Fortune Magazine listed Dell as the sixth largest company in Texas by total revenue.[4] It is the second largest non-oil company in Texas – behind AT&T – and the largest company in the Austin, Texas area.[5]

History

Dell traces its origins to 1984, when Michael Dell created PCs Limited while a student at the University of Texas at Austin. The dorm-room headquartered company sold IBM PC-compatiblecomputers built from stock components.[6] Dell dropped out of school in order to focus full-time on his fledgling business, after getting about $300,000 in expansion-capital from his family.
In 1985, the company produced the first computer of its own design, the "Turbo PC", which sold for US$795.[7] PCs Limited advertised its systems in national computer magazines for sale directly to consumers and custom assembled each ordered unit according to a selection of options. The company grossed more than $73 million in its first year of operation.
The company changed its name to "Dell Computer Corporation" in 1988 and began expanding globally. In June 1988, Dell's market capitalization grew by $30 million to $80 million from its June 22initial public offering of 3.5 million shares at $8.50 a share.[8] In 1992, Fortune magazine included Dell Computer Corporation in its list of the world's 500 largest companies, making Michael Dell the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company ever.[citation needed]
In 1996, Dell began selling computers through its website, and in 2002, it expanded its product line to include televisions, handhelds, digital audio players, and printers. Dell's first acquisition occurred in 1999 with the purchase of ConvergeNet Technologies.
Dell surpassed Compaq to become the largest PC manufacturer in 1999. In 2002, when Compaq merged with Hewlett Packard (the 4th place PC maker), the combined Hewlett Packard took the top spot but struggled and Dell soon regained its lead.
In 2003, the company was rebranded as simply "Dell Inc." to recognize the company's expansion beyond computers.
In 2004, Michael Dell resigned as CEO while retaining the title of Chairman, handing the CEO title to Kevin Rollins who was the President and COO. Under Rollins, Dell began to loosen its ties to Microsoft and Intel, the two companies which were responsible for Dell's dominance in the PC business. During that time, Dell acquired Alienware, which introduced several new items to Dell products, including AMD microprocessors. To prevent cross-market products, Dell continues to run Alienware as a separate entity, but still a wholly owned subsidiary.[9]
However in 2005, while earnings and sales grew, sales growth slowed considerable, and the company stock lost 25% of its value that year. This has been attributed to a decline in consumers purchasing PCs through the Web or on the phone, as increasing numbers were visiting consumer electronics retail stores. As well, many analysts were looking to innovating companies as the next source of growth in the technology sector; Dell's low spending on R&D which worked well in the commoditized PC market prevented it from making inroads into more lucrative segments such as MP3 players. Lastly, Dell's reputation for poor customer service came under increasing scrutiny on the Web. By the fourth quarter of 2006, Dell lost its title of the largest PC manufacturer to Hewlett Packard which was invigorated under Mark Hurd.[10][11][12]
After four out of five quarterly earnings reports were below expectations, Rollins resiged in 2007 and Michael Dell assumed the role of CEO again. The founder announced a change campaign called "Dell 2.0," reducing headcount and diversifying the company's product offerings. The company acquired EqualLogic on January 28, 2008 to gain a foothold in the iSCSI storage market. Because Dell already had an efficient manufacturing process, integrating EqualLogic's products into the company drove manufacturing prices down.[13]
In 2009, Dell acquired Perot Systems, a technology services and outsourcing company founded by H. Ross Perot
On September 21, 2009, Dell announced its intent to acquire Perot Systems, based in Plano, Texas, in a reported $3.9 billion deal.[14] Perot Systems brought applications development, systems integration, and strategic consulting services through its operations in the U.S. and 10 other countries. In addition, it provided a variety of business process outsourcing services, including claims processing and call center operations.[15]
On August 16, 2010, Dell announced its intent to acquire the data storage company 3PAR.[16] On September 2, 2010 Hewlett-Packard offered $33 a share, which Dell declined to match.[17]
On February 10, 2010, Dell acquired KACE Networks a leader in Systems Management Appliances. The terms of the deal were not disclosed.[18]
On November 2, 2010, Dell acquired Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) integration leader Boomi. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.[19]


Dell facilities

Dell's headquarters are located in Austin, Texas.[20] As of 2010 the company employs about 16,000 people in the facility,[21] which has 2,100,000 square feet (200,000 m2) of space.[22] As of 1999 almost half of the general fund of the City of Round Rock originates from sales taxes generated from the Dell headquarters.[23]
Dell previously had its headquarters in the Arboretum complex in northern Austin, Texas.[24][25] In 1989 Dell occupied 127,000 square feet (11,800 m2) in the Arboretum complex.[26] In 1990 Dell had 1,200 employees in its headquarters.[24] In 1993 Dell submitted a document to Round Rock officials, titled "Dell Computer Corporate Headquarters, Round Rock, Texas, May 1993 Schematic Design." Despite the filing, during that year the company said that it was not going to move its headquarters.[27] In 1994 Dell announced that it was moving most of its employees out of the Arboretum, but that it was going to continue to occupy the top floor of the Arboretum and that the company's official headquarters address would continue to be the Arboretum. The top floor continued to hold Dell's board room, demonstration center, and visitor meeting room. Less than one month prior to August 29, 1994, Dell moved 1,100 customer support and telephone sales employees to Round Rock.[28] Dell's lease in the Arboretum had been scheduled to expire in 1994.[29]
http://bits.wikimedia.org/skins-1.18/common/images/magnify-clip.png
The company sponsors Dell Diamond, the home stadium of the Round Rock Express, the AAA minor league baseball affiliate of the Texas Rangers major league baseball team
By 1996 Dell was moving its headquarters to Round Rock.[30] As of January 1996 3,500 people still worked at the then-current Dell headquarters. One building of the Round Rock headquarters, Round Rock 3, had space for 6,400 employees and was scheduled to be completed in November 1996.[31] In 1998 Dell announced that it was going to add two buildings to its Round Rock complex, adding 1,600,000 square feet (150,000 m2) of office space to the complex.[32]
In 2000 Dell announced that it would lease 80,000 square feet (7,400 m2) of space in the Las Cimas office complex in unincorporated Travis County, Texas, between Austin and West Lake Hills, to house the company's executive offices and corporate headquarters. 100 senior executives were scheduled to work in the building by the end of 2000.[33] In January 2001 the company leased the space in Las Cimas 2, located along Loop 360. Las Cimas 2 housed Dell's executives, the investment operations, and some corporate functions. Dell also had an option for 138,000 square feet (12,800 m2) of space in Las Cimas 3.[34] After a slowdown in business required reducing employees and production capacity, Dell decided to sublease its offices in two buildings in the Las Cimas office complex.[35] In 2002 Dell announced that it planned to sublease its space to another tenant; the company planned to move its headquarters back to Round Rock once a tenant was secured.[34] By 2003 Dell moved its headquarters back to Round Rock. It leased all of Las Cimas I and II, with a total of 312,000 square feet (29,000 m2), for about a seven year period after 2003. By that year roughly 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2) of that space was absorbed by new subtenants.[36]
In 2008 Dell switched the power sources of the Round Rock headquarters to more environmentally friendly ones, with 60% of the total power coming from TXU Energy wind farms and 40% coming from the Austin Community Landfill gas-to-energy plant operated by Waste Management, Inc.[22]
The US and India are the only countries which have all of Dell's business functions and provide support globally: Research and Development, manufacturing, finance, analysis, customer care.[41]