May 2009 - Direct2Dell

AMR Research announced yesterday the winners of its 2009 AMR Research Leadership Awards, which award companies for performing well in corporate social responsibility, sustainable leadership and leveraging technology. Dell took the top spot in Operational Sustainable Performance for “striving to incorporate sustainability into every facet of its business, fully integrating design for environment into its products, services, and operations, and accounting for end-of-life products,” AMR told Environmental Leader.

I must say, we’re on a bit of a roll! Just last week, TBR announced that we topped its first-ever Corporate Sustainability Index. Before that, GreenFactor’s  survey named Dell the number one green technology brand. It’s all great recognition, and it’s very rewarding for the teams within Dell that work so hard to ensure we operate responsibly (like buying renewable energy where we can) and make it easy for customers to “be green” (like our free recycling program for consumers).

The real reward, though, is knowing we’re doing right by our planet.  There’s so much to do, and with World Environment Day just around the corner (June 5 – mark your calendars!), we’re as inspired as ever to keep at it!

As every business-owner knows, maximizing employee productivity is critically important especially in these tough economic times. One key productivity tool gaining ground among small and medium businesses is the laptop. What previously prevented widespread adoption of laptops– higher prices, less performance - is gone, replaced by greater value, reliability and processing power.

Today, more than half of small and medium businesses in the U.S. currently own a laptop PC, and roughly 30 percent of small firms and more than 45 percent of medium-sized businesses plan to buy additional laptops in the next 12 months. But when it comes to buying a laptop, not all brands are created equal.

According to an IDC report released this month, a larger share of SMBs own and plan to buy more Dell laptops than any other brand. [Source: 2008 U.S. Small and Medium-Sized Business Notebook PC Brand and Channel Preferences: Small Firms Become Increasingly Slippery Targets, May 2009 Doc # 218246].

What’s more, Technology Business Review (TBR) [Source: Notebooks: Corporate IT Buying Behavior & Customer Satisfaction Study, Technology Business Research, May 20, 2009] published its Q1 Notebook Computer Customer Satisfaction Study results last week, and Dell holds the No. 1 customer satisfaction ranking for the third straight reporting period among the mid-size and large businesses surveyed.

At Dell, we’ve invested a lot in our mobility solutions in the past year refreshing our Latitude, Precision and Vostro laptop lines to improve product design, performance, reliability and overall value. ProSupport mobility services and other investments in our service and support infrastructure are also getting noticed by customers according to TBR and Dell’s own data with repair time, parts availability, phone support and customer loyalty among Dell’s greatest strengths. Quoted in the TBR report, “Dell is the only competitor with a scarcity of dissatisfied customers across nearly every category.”

We’re really proud of that statement, but always strive to do more to be your technology provider of choice and meet your high expectation. We agree with TBR that all laptop manufacturers face similar challenges and opportunities to meet the design and quality needs of highly mobile professionals at a price you can afford.

If you have feedback for us on how we are doing that with our current solutions or improvements you’d like to see us make, we’d love to hear them here or submit your idea on IdeaSorm.

We’ll have more exciting news to share on the mobility front in the coming weeks and months, and truly value being your laptop brand of choice!

Today we unveiled a sweet new laptop in the US and Canada, the Studio 14z, just in time for those of you looking for that “perfect” laptop for school. I like this notebook a lot, because it’s a true “thin and light” that slides right into a backpack and is ready to go with you anywhere. The bonus is that despite its slim and svelte form (4.3 lbs) it doesn’t compromise on performance – combining standard Intel mutli-core mobile processors with award-winning NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics. It’s an  affordable (starting at $649) yet stylish homework-busting tool by day, with an alter ego as an entertainment powerhouse when it’s time to relax and recharge. We offer it in 6 colors: Black Chain Link, Spring Green, Midnight Blue, Purple Plum, Ruby Red and Promise Pink (US-only for that last specific color—we’ll donate $5  to Susan G. Komen for the Cure).

One reason that the Studio 14z is so sleek (note: click on image above to see a larger view) is that is does not have a built-in DVD/CD drive. Now I understand that this might make some folks nervous, but really, let’s ask ourselves when was the last time did you use that DVD/CD drive and for what? Bet you it was to load software. So let’s ask ourselves –do we really need to carry something around that we might use a couple of times a year? For those of you who are on your 3rd or 4th PC you may remember the fear and trepidation we all felt when floppy drives became optional. Today’s youth acquire most, it not all, of their content online – downloading music and movies, watching streaming  video, listening to internet radio, updating Facebook, etc.

There are a few other features on the Studio 14z that ensure it’s position at the top of the class:

• Standard built-in webcam makes staying in touch, whether across campus or across the country easy and fun. The webcam also supports FastAccess  Facial recognition software, helping to make sure that your personal files stay personal.
• Should your laptop go on an unauthorized “walkabout,” you can track it down and securely encrypt your data over the Internet with the optional Phoenix Failsafe Theft Protection software.
• Given that the slim and sleek form of the Studio 14z is one of its primary features, the designers and engineers teamed up to created an optional eight-cell extended life battery that’s the same size as the standard six-cell battery –so no annoying “bump-out.” The optional eight-cell battery delivers just under 7 hours (6:46) of battery life.
• The 14-inch HD WLED display is great for watching HD content by yourself or with a friend, or use the HDMI port to connect to an HD TV and catch up on the latest episode of a favorite show via the Internet (we do this at least once a week in our house.
• The optional backlit keyboard is handy when you’re wrapping up that research paper in the wee hours while your roommate is catching some ZZZZs.
• Choice of six colors –including a new Black Chain Link option (click on image below to see a larger version), which is a glossy black color with a subtle raised “design” that resembles, well, chain links, and  frankly does a pretty good job standing up against fingerprints..

And finally, I know some of you are wondering Why the “z” in Studio 14z?” Well, in the 3-dimensional design world of laptops, there are three key measurements – width (side to side), depth (front to back) and thinness, or “z-height.” While the Studio 14z isn’t the thinnest laptop in the world (that would be the Adamo by Dell), it’s finely tuned balance of portability and performance should make it a serious contender on the back to school shopping list.

For many more images take a look at this set on our Flickr page.

Dell is adding two new two-socket PowerEdge servers to its 11^th generation family. Like the five servers introduced in March, these compact, energy-efficient systems make the most of the new features available with Intel Xeon 5500 Series processors for phenomenal performance. The new PowerEdge T410 tower server and PowerEdge R410 rack server are designed to bring energy-efficient performance to small to mid-sized businesses and technical computing environments.

Small and mid-sized business owners want easier-to-manage and less costly technology to run their company. The Dell PowerEdge T410 tower server fits the unique needs of these companies with enhanced performance for general business applications to do more with less by simplifying daily operations. Here are some highlights of the new server:

• Compact design: Standing only 24 inches deep with an interactive LCD panel, the PowerEdge T410 is an ideal choice for the small business with the need for simple to own technology;
• Easy to manage and use: It has embedded management features so business owners can set up the server themselves, spend minimal time to keep it running, and improve productivity;
• Uptime Reliability: Durable industrial materials including improved chassis, rails, and hard drive carriers improve system reliability;
• Geared for Growth: Dell focuses on system commonality, making it easy to expand systems based on business growth;
• Security: The control panel is designed with the power switch locked behind the bezel to prevent accidental activation or intentional tampering;
• Virtualization Ready: With availability of up to six hard drives, increased memory and more integrated I/O, the PowerEdge T410 has advanced virtualization capabilities.

You can see more images of the T410 in this set posted on our Flickr pages.

While the powerful, compact and quiet Dell PowerEdge R410 rack server provides the right balance of features for High Performance Computing (HPC) and technical environments, in addition to providing flexible internal storage features for space-constrained small- and mid-sized businesses. Here are some other features:

• Balanced Performance: Specifically configured to increase productivity while reducing costs for intensive HPC workloads, the PowerEdge R410 has the raw computational horsepower needed for technical computing, balanced with energy efficient technology. It is designed to save energy with policy-based power and thermal management, and standards-based Energy Smart components;
• Increased scalability and performance: High speed interconnects such as InfiniBand QDR and DDR give the throughput needed for communication intensive applications using PCIe gen2 I/O slots that double the theoretical I/O bandwidth of PCI gen1. It has excellent scalability with DDR3 memory and the availability of up to four hard drives;
• Simplified Management: The server has both Dell Management Console (DMC) and Dell Lifecycle Controller for simplified management. DMC helps simplify operations with a single view and a common data source into the entire infrastructure management. Lifecycle Controller is embedded and integrated into the system for significant flexibility and capabilities for deploying operating systems with built-in driver installations, BIOS and firmware update and rollback, hardware configuration, and diagnostics;
• Inspired Design: These rack servers are designed with system and image commonality and a LCD screen positioned to provide aisle level access for excellent diagnostics. Convenient placement of interface ports and power make installation and redeployment easier. Clutter-free cable routing makes it less complex, makes airflow more efficient and makes it easier to maintain.

Click here for the Flickr set of the Dell R410.

The new PowerEdge servers are available today worldwide starting at US $999 on www.dell.com/PowerEdge or through any of Dell’s more than 45,000 Global PartnerDirect Channel Partners.  You can see these photos, and others, on Dell's Official Flickr Page.

Lisa Onstot, PowerEdge product manager, gives us a tour of the new features in each server in this video.