May, 2008

Truly invested in the betterment of the California school system and catering specifically to California’s County Offices of Education (COE), at least half of Escape Technology ’s employees have previously worked in the public school environment. Escape views itself as part of the school business community, sensitive to the demands and challenges school districts face. Many school districts today are held back by out-of-date and disorganized processes like manual budgeting and...

For the third year in a row, Dell Norway has kicked off its annual recycling initiative and competition, gjenVINN.no . 3,300 schools all over Norway are invited to collect as much old IT equipment as possible during the collection period, May 20 to June 6. The school that collects the most, per student, wins 15 Dell PCs, runner up gets five Dell notebooks, and third place gets a Dell projector. At the launch event, the Norwegian Minister of Government Administration and Reform Heidi Grande...

Rob Williams just published a post over at the DellShares blog that provides some insight behind our Q1 Earnings .

Many of you have heard that Microsoft will no longer allow Windows XP to be sold after June 30, 2008, and that, due to this restriction, Dell will no longer offer systems with Windows XP skus after June 18 to allow for shipping times. Some of you may have seen my blog post (or other articles ) about Dell’s plan to offer a way for customers to continue to get preinstalled versions of XP after the Microsoft cutoff through our Windows Vista Downgrade Service (also called Windows Vista Business...

Founded in 2003, TechMD started just like any other IT service company. However, as soon as co-founder Mark Perez realized that his company was truly bettering the community with its service to non-profit clients, he knew TechMD had found its niche. “Most non-profits were being poorly serviced by companies that didn’t understand their needs,” said Mark. “We saw the difference we could make by helping non-profit clients use technology to better serve their mission...

Given the current state of the U.S. healthcare system, saving money is an urgent need and a daunting task. One business, however, is implementing technology to make a big change. RNs On-Call, LLC develops telehealth technology to offer a cost-effective solution to the growing shortage of nurses, flood of aging baby-boomer patients and stressed out doctors. How does it work? RN’s On-Call employs nurses, from the convenience of their own home, to take after-hours patient phone calls...

We recenty introduced the Dell Service Partner Program (SPP) for independent service providers who manage local or regional computer repair needs. These are smaller service provider businesses - sometimes just one employee big. And, like larger, multi-national computer repair companies, Dell Service Partners provide essential consulting and repair to their customers, so we're here to provide support that will help them answer a customer's needs fast. In an effort to offer more benefits...

Today we're introducing a new Energy Smart Vostro Desktop Computer designed to drive unprecedented customer savings. By integrating Energy Smart technologies, including circuit designs, fans and power management features, Vostro 410 desktops save customers up to 47 percent in annual energy costs without sacrificing power and performance. Starting at $599, the Vostro 410 desktop is available in North and South America and the United Kingdom. It will be available to customers in Asia...

Last week, Jonathan Perry, our WEEE Take Back and Recycling Programme Manager in the UK, took part in a panel discussion at CRN’s annual ChannelExpo show in Birmingham, UK, examining how the channel community can work with customers to implement Green IT strategies. The panel covered a number of environmental issues resellers and their customers are facing today - primarily, who is responsible for disposing safely of IT systems and what more can be done by manufacturers to assist the channel...

“After Hurricane Wilma damaged my home, I had a fortune to spend with contractors,” said Brian Javeline, President and CEO of ServusXchange, LLC . “During the repair process, I witnessed an unprecedented amount of inefficiency between the various contractors working on my house.” The unfortunate effects of Hurricane Wilma led Brian, experienced in the software industry, to research how technology could help with some of the problems he personally experienced with his...

In case you missed it, HP sent out a press release yesterday, mainly focused on greening its printers. Printing and ink cartridges are important, especially for a printer company, so this is a good first step. As an industry, we can only do more. At the urging our customers, we’re designing more energy efficient products , enhancing our free consumer recycling program , aggressively pursuing our goal of becoming the first carbon neutral computer company and engaging customers in dialogue...

Short and sweet this week: Welcome to New Users! This week our community grew by more than 230 new members. A special thanks to drewness and binarygrind for really jumping in and really participating! Number of ideas More than 65 new ideas were submitted over the last week (several that focus on improvements for XPS). It seems like we’ve set a good pace of about 60 new ideas every week. Gaining Momentum After several members shared their opinions, our own chris_m joined the...

Realtors are the ultimate road warriors requiring access to MLS listing information in real time whether in the car, in a client's home or the office. Phones are OK, but playing telephone tag with other agents can make the difference between getting a commission and losing a client. So realtors, what if you could scan complete MLS listings, property info and pricing history on your laptop from any location, including your car? Imagine how impressed your customers will be, especially if you can...

Some of you have known this was coming . Today, we're rolling out the Dell Channel blog. Take a look at my introductory post for a bit more context of what to expect. You can access the Dell Channel Blog here: www.direct2dell.com/channel And if you want to check out content via the RSS feed, go here: http://direct2dell.com/channel/rss.aspx

The community has weighed in, the votes have been tallied, and at last the wait is over. A winner has been selected in the ReGeneration: International Green Computing Technology Design Competition . Five incredibly inventive and environmentally responsible technology designs were recently showcased on the pages of ReGeneration.org, ranging from the fanciful to the practical, and the global online community was invited to discuss them and cast a vote for its favorite. After many a spirited debate...

Earlier today I had the chance to present to the Texas House of Representatives Committee on House Administration about energy-efficiency. The committee’s Chairman, Representative Tony Goolsby , is actively looking at ways to make the Texas State Capitol building more energy-efficient and asked us to share our experiences. The House Administration Committee’s first charge from the full House of Representatives was to “ Study and make recommendations with assistance from the State...

If you think social networking sites are synonymous with unflattering Friday-night photos or connecting with a long lost love, think again. More and more business owners and marketing professionals are using Facebook and other sites as viable ways to connect with potential customers online. That was the topic of last week’s Irish Internet Association ’s annual congress where I had the privilege of speaking to hundreds of their members. Taking place in Croke Park, Dublin, the IIA’s...

I’m speaking today at Merkle’s 5 th Annual DbM (database marketing) Executive Summit here in Austin, where marketing leaders from the Fortune 1000 are discussing how to connect with customers in what is arguably the most challenging, but most opportunity-rich era in the history of marketing. On one hand, people in the U.S., for example, are bombarded by around 3,000 marketing messages every day – how does a company break through the clutter? On the other hand, it’s easier than ever to talk directly...

The healthcare industry is currently experiencing its fair share of challenges including high-cost coverage, a nursing shortage, and a society full of non-compliant patients. Kent Dicks, president and CEO of MedApps, Inc. , sees solutions to problems like these in the technology available today. MedApps utilizes advancements in cellular and wireless technology to produce a mobile wireless health monitoring system capable of examining and keeping tabs on patients’ health from a distance...

When we launched Vostro last year, we wanted to help simplify IT for businesses without extensive IT staffs. While simplifying the ownership and use of technology is a big part of our daily jobs on the Vostro team, part of simplifying IT is also about simplifying the purchase of Vostro systems. As we’ve gotten to know more about what our Vostro customers want, we’ve found out that the people buying Vostro are some of our busiest customers and one thing they want is more time. We know...

silly donky 12 Nov 2008 08:39 PM I had no problem a month ago...And, once, i had the message: DELL URGENCE:Bios So,I installed the new bios and now i have the same problem like you.I don't understand why you change the keybord because DELL can simply create another BIOS. So,I ASK DELL TO GIVE ME AN OLDER VERSION OF THE BIOS, INSTEAD TO REPLACE THE KEYBORD. Please I really need it. Thanks The silly donkey [Remove this Comment] [Reply to this comment] Tsvetan Iliev 28 Oct...

Anyone who follows Direct2Dell knows that we've been rolling out new blogs in the last several weeks. I see a key part of my job as Chief Blogger is to connect people with information that they're looking for (more on that topic from me soon). Things have been moving so fast, I haven't done a very good job of connecting the dots so far. To try to improve on that, I wanted to try something new with this post. A while back, the IdeaStorm team started a Weekly Recap that has been pretty...

A little over 5 years ago, Ryan Rugroden recognized the need to better leverage information technology to assist in the designing and redesigning of customers’ dream homes. Taking it upon himself to keep up with the latest in home design software, Ryan knew he could serve customers in a way that truly differentiated him from his competition. With this realization, Ryan founded Rugroden Drafting & Design . “We don’t live in a 2D world, so why settle for a 2D house plan...

Over the past week, the IdeaStorm team has been discussing and researching innovation and idea management a little more than usual. This fervor was due in part to the suggestions of pmdigangi on Making IdeaStorm Even Better but also by a surge of innovation conversations in the blogosphere. Dawn provided the community with some thoughts on innovating the idea management process for IdeaStorm. Creating a sustainable idea and innovation management process is one of our priorities at Dell, especially...

“I just finished comparing our 2007 Clinic and Retail numbers to our 2006 numbers. The results are amazing!” Susie Carder, founder of the online salon and spa business support service Your Beauty Network (YBN) , has grown accustomed to this kind of client praise and attributes such success to the growth and implementation of technology. “In our industry, salon owners and operators are primarily stylists, not necessarily savvy business people,” says Bert Carder, YBN’s...