Around the Globe

Dell began selling in retail stores in late 2007. Now we have more than 43,000 points of sale all over the world. China represents about 20% of that total with more than 6,000 retail locations across the country selling Dell laptops, netbooks and PCs. Today we opened the first Experience store in Shanghai, China.

Update: Take a look on the Dell Flickr photo site to see images from the store opening event.

Our consumer business leaders are focused on exploring new ways to reach consumers, listen to them and respond to their needs with new products and services. It’s part of a drive to create a 360-degree customer experience and retail stores are an important channel for Dell to deliver on that customer promise.

Design and personalization are at the core of our DNA. Our new store provides a single location where our consumers can truly discover, try and buy Dell products and enjoy the fun of self expression. The Dell Experience store showcases the entire Dell consumer product portfolio and delivers “over-the-counter personalization”, allowing customers to design every aspect of their PC. The 205-square-meter store features five interactive brand experience stations, including a dedicated zone for small and medium-sized business customers.

We introduced the Adamo into China in March. This brand represents the very finest in craftsmanship and materials science and has turned into a hot topic with local lifestyle media.

Gamers can test their competitive skills on Alienware M17x in our Alienware zone. Alienware invaded China this summer and quickly became a hit with gaming enthusiasts. They may soon see new Alienware laptops, desktops, monitors and accessories launched here and there is no better place then the Dell experience store to get a hands-on demo of what real power means to gamers.

Our new Mini 10 netbooks are displayed in our Lifestyle zone. We’ve embedded, China Mobile 3G technology into our smallest, lightest and most colorful-designed laptops Dell has ever produced.

 The last zone is where consumers can work with our professional sales team to build their own Dell. The Build-to-Order bar has a 6-meter wide video wall that shows all the choices available to you. You can design and personalize your own Dell at our BTO bar and have the most the most personalized PC on the planet made just for you.

The new Dell Experience Store is located on the first floor of the newly opened Buynow II electronics center at Cao Xi Road and Zhao Jia Bang Road. Our partner, Buy Now, was founded in 1998 and has become one of the most prominent IT malls in China. Now there are 11 Buynow IT Malls, located in major cities in China. In the near future, Buynow will have at least 35 IT Malls in operation across China.

Shanghai now has become one of the hottest spot for tourists all over the world. If you have opportunity to visit Shanghai you are most welcome to drop by at our Experience Store.

Did you know that nearly 80% of teachers in China believe that personalized learning via the Internet is the future of Education in China? This may not seem surprising for one of the fastest growing economies in 2009, China’s teachers are embracing technology in the classroom. What can we learn of these emerging teaching trends?

In china this month Dell commissioned a survey working with the media publications China Computer Education and China Informationazition Education. Nearly 200 primary and secondary school teachers and IT procurement workers in Beijing responded. Some key results indicate that the importance of educational technology integration is part of the personalized learning experience:

• Nearly 80% of the teachers believe that personalized learning via the Internet is the direction of future education;
• a “one to one” interactive teaching model is very important and will not only change the way they teach, but enhance a students’ learning skills;
• “Stability”, “durability”, “easy to carry / use”, and “maintenance” are main objectives schools look at when considering which educational notebook to buy.

Through this survey, we learned that the majority of primary and secondary schools in Beijing already have a basic foundation of IT teaching equipment. 56% of the respondents have a computer: student ratio of 1:5 or above in their schools. At the same time, 68.9% of the respondents say they have used computer in daily classroom teaching, which demonstrates the importance primary and secondary teachers’ place on IT-based teaching. However, we also found that teachers are mainly using computers in three scenarios; “classroom presentation”, “file, document processing,” and “computer technology study”, and only less than a quarter of the teachers use them in more interactive teaching methods such as “long distance learning and homework”, which suggests room for IT-based education developments.

When asked about what will impact the development of education and teaching reform in next five years, “personalized learning” (79.2%) and “web-based resources” (69.8%) have been widely recognized. 60% of the teachers believe that the application of “one on one” interactive teaching model will focus on scenarios, including “long distance education,” “achieve high quality educational asset sharing,” “use one on one models and rich teaching media to help students learn,” “use related information technology,” “perform experimental teaching demonstrations.” Meanwhile, “student self-learning through network” is also an area that more than half of the surveyed teachers are interested in.

Teachers in China also have a very clear understanding of the benefits of a “one on one” interactive teaching model – “driving an interesting teaching method to enhance students’ learning skills” received the greatest recognition from the teachers. 59.4% of the respondents believe it “makes teaching and learning fun” is a positive change coming with “one on one” interactive learning, 50% recognize that this learning model “provides students with 21^st Century skills required for the work place”, and 50% of the teachers agree that the “one on one” interactive learning “adjusts teaching to students’ natural abilities” and “develops common sense and problem-solving skills”.

The teachers consider “notebooks are not rugged enough and likely to be broken by students” and “high cost of PC and equipment” as two major obstacles in “one on one” interactive teaching practice. As a result, nearly 70% of the respondents consider “stability” is the most important indicator to assess the quality of student notebooks, “easy to carry/ use” and “maintenance” are not far behind. In terms of a specific design of an educational notebook, teachers also came up with their requests. What ranks the first is “waterproof and heat dissipation with strong wear-resistant”, the second concern of functional design is “light and portable for younger students”, and the following requirements of a notebook are “no drive deployed, but external drive required” and “webcam network design for distance teaching”. Talking about the application and management of an educational notebook, 85% of the respondents made it clear that relevant models should have “controllable network function with real-time monitoring, easy to use and operate”.

We can see that the most popular educational notebook coincides with Dell’s latest launched and the first educational notebook in the industry, Latitude 2100, regardless of the concept of its functions and design. Dell Latitude 2100 is an affordable and durable educational notebook; in particular, it is tailored for primary and secondary students. Latitude 2100 has a number of unique characteristics and features for schools and students, such as rich colors, the durable “non-slip rubber side panels” design, and easy to carry and safe to use for children. In addition, it also has wireless access function, and teachers can monitor student network behaviors through the network LED on the back of the LCD of notebook. Additional options include: solid-state drives, quick-connect handles and shoulder straps for carrying, and a webcam.

Image: Dell Latitude 2100, “one on one”

Therefore, the findings of this survey will solidify Dell’s idea and determination to introduce our “Connected Classroom” solution in China the near future. We believe that technology will make a difference to educating our children and engaging our children. Dell will continue to build a “win-win” educational information technology environment for teachers, parents and students and jointly cultivate new bright talents for the 21^st century.

A little more than three years ago, Dell created the Enterprise Technology Center, informally known as Dell TechCenter. It has grown from it's very meager beginnings to a site boasting regular members from more than 140 countries -- large enterprise customers, small and medium-sized business and even public institutions. I recently sat down with the team behind the TechCenter to get a sense of what they do and how they are a big resource for our data center customers.

The team is made up of Scott Hanson (@dellservergeek), Kong Yang (@kongy_dell) and Jeff Sullivan (@SANpenguin) a team whose sole focus is helping customers figure out the "what if" scenarios for their PowerEdge servers, Dell|EMC, PowerVault and EqualLogic storage systems, and the myriad applications of those systems including systems management, virtualization, operating systems, de-duplication, among many other topics.

Dell TechCenter is a community that discusses data center issues from a technical perspective. You will not find any PR/marketing types in their lab (aside from when I was there to interview them :)) -- these guys have pocket protectors and propellers on their heads. You won't find glossy brochures on their site. You won't find them linking to news releases. What you'll find is great technical content to help you get more out of your data center.

These guys were recently out at vmworld 2009 and were geeking out with all their virtualization colleagues. In fact, just before they left, @dellservergeek had a group of us over to his house to hang out with the whole TechCenter team along with @virtualtodd, @gabvirtualworld and @B_renda, @dennismsmith (who is the guy behind our break-fix oriented data center community forums) and @lionelatdell, among others.

Let's hear them describe what they do.

If you haven't been to the TechCenter, give it a try. Here are the various coordinates at which you can find these guys and their work:  

• Dell Enterprise Technology Center, aka Dell TechCenter, community site

• Dell TechCenter Blog

• Dell TechCenter Delicious Links

• Dell TechCenter group on LinkedIn

• And soon, we'll have a fan page on Facebook

I invite you to come on to the Dell TechCenter site, look around and let us know what you think.

Last week the Dell team visited The American School of Milan in Italy, and I witnessed how teachers there have deployed Dell Connected Classroom technologies to equip students with the 21^st century skills they need to be competitive in the global economy. This is an important landmark for us since it's one of the first schools in Europe to implement our Connected Classroom solution.

Education experts have a clear vision how technology can transform learning; yet, no other IT provider has offered a practical way to achieve this vision. Only Dell provides a practical blueprint for achieving educational transformation.

Our children are growing up in the Digital Age, yet many of our schools are still only teaching skill for the Industrial Age. It was great for me to see first-hand a school in Europe leading the way in engaging the “Connected Generation,” in class.  During the day we saw teachers use the interactive whiteboard in a math and language lessons. During the math lessons, students were given arithmetic problems on the interactive whiteboard to solve, using their Latitude 2100 netbook. 

Next week we’ll hear from James Quarles, EMEA Public Marketing Director, along with Dr Alan Austen, Director, American School of Milan, who hosted us and showcased Dell’s Connected Classroom solution in action.

During Dell’s first global K-12 Customer Advisory Council held in Austin in August, I had the opportunity to speak with two customers Jan Demedt from Bosco College in Brussels, Belgium and Arie Wels from Elde College in the Netherlands for Edu4U. Check out the vlog to see our discussion on the new learning methods opening up to teachers and students in deploying technology in the classroom, the cultural challenges in connecting students, parents and teachers, teacher training and how smaller handheld devices will be increasingly used for educational purposes.  (Full interview here.)