Direct2Dell

Dell Solution Center Network Expands in Australia and U.S.

Lee Morgan — Thu, 17 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Dell’s focus on helping our customers “Do More..” was reinforced over the last two weeks as we opened new “Solution Centers” in Sydney and New York City. Interest in these two centers has been huge since we first announced these locations and we already have numerous engagement requests from customers and partners who want to see and test how Dell solutions can meet their unique requirements.

Each center was launched with an event attended by customers, alliance partners, channel partners and media. In New York, we were also delighted to meet with several industry analysts. Our guests were invited to tour the centers and experience a diverse range of industry and technology solutions that were demonstrated by our teams of solution experts. These included banking & securities, education, healthcare, cloud including “big data”, storage, business intelligence and end user computing solutions.

Dell Solution Center Sydney

On Tuesday May 1^st we opened our Sydney Solution Center. Steve Schuckenbrock President Dell Services and Joe Kremer Managing Director Dell Austrailia/New Zealand (ANZ), formally opened the center at an event that kicked off with a reception for customers, press and partners, Feedback on the center has been really fantastic as a valuable tool to help ensure solution implementation success.

Located in our French’s Forest campus outside Sydney, the Solution Center is the first to open in Australia and will support a diverse range of customers from across the ANZ region.

Dell Solution Center New York

Thursday, May 10^th, saw the grand opening of our New York solutions center. We were delighted to be joined by Mary Young, VP Large Enterprise segment, Bob Barris, Vice President, G500 Banking & Securities and Jan Uhrich, Vice President Services and Solutions Group, who officially opened the center in front of 60 guests.

The New York Solution Center is located on the 29th floor of One Penn Plaza, perfectly situated in midtown Manhattan with excellent transportation links for customers along the east coast.

Dell Solution Centers

Dell Solution Centers enable customers to explore and prove solutions unique to their specific requirements leveraging dedicated infrastructure, supported by our team of solution experts. We have opened eleven centers in the past year and have engaged with thousands of customers on proof of concept engagements, architectural design sessions and technical briefings. Our twelfth center will open late summer on our Silicon Valley campus. Our centers are connected via a global network that supports both remote access, as well as providing a fantastic test bed to validate multi-site solution requirements.

You can learn more at www.dell.com/solutioncenters. Talk to your account team today if you feel a solution center engagement could help you to find the right solution to meet your business requirements.

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Photos:

TOP: Sydney (ribbon cutting) :

L-R:: Jan Uhrich, Mary Young, William Collins, Bob Barris, Lee Morgan

BOTTOM: Sydney (5 men standing)

L-R: Evan Williams (Microsoft), Joe Kremer, Steve Schuckenbrock, Lee Man Wei and Lachlan Botticchio

Dell Channel Partner Steve Hipskind Talks About the Impact of Acquisitions

Laura P. Thomas — Wed, 16 May 2012 13:00:00 GMT

It always energizes me when I have a chance to talk to one of our customers, and our resellers, distributors and other channel partners are especially interesting as they are both our customer and our face to other customers.

So, when I first spoke with Steve Hipskind of Hipskind Technology Solutions Group, I knew I wanted to share his story with more people. Hipskind Technology Solutions Group’s goal is to provide a total IT solution for their customers by selecting from the best manufacturers in the industry.

A Dell partner since he started the business in 2006, Steve’s seen us evolve and grow our business, while he grew his own. With last week’s announcement about the close of our acquisition of SonicWALL, the timing was right to share our recent conversation about the impact of acquisitions on Dell and our channel business.

Steve, you’ve been a Dell partner for six years, what’s it been like going through acquisitions with us?

Well, EqualLogic was the first one. When we started the business in 2006, we resold both Dell and EqualLogic but when Dell bought EqualLogic that’s when we saw them really begin to embrace the channel with the PartnerDirect program. At that point, we switched into being a Dell-only partner for servers and storage, but our business continued to evolve around solutions such as VMware, and Dell evolved as well being a strong VMware partner. And throughout that time Dell was doing additional acquisitions like Silverback and MessageOne, and then Ocarina was the beginning of a new acquisition phase.

How did you feel about that “acquisition phase?”

I’ve embraced it and it helps me grow my business. While we were very aware of Compellent prior to Dell’s purchase, we did not resell them because at that time, we focused on EqualLogic. But there were accounts with a scale too large or a different technology need that Compellent was able to meet, so once Dell did buy Compellent we embraced it. It’s been very good for our business. It definitely is a technology that increases our portfolio and who we can speak to about storage and virtualization. We see them as very complimentary – there are things that one does that the other doesn’t, so it’s great to have options to find the right fit for the size of the customer and their applications. Force10 was another great acquisition – almost the EqualLogic of switches. From a technology standpoint, Dell owns the IP now.

You look at all those acquisitions and you begin to see that it’s really a differentiating factor as opposed to partnering with IBM or HP. From a technology standpoint, when you talk about the stack – a collection of hardware housed within a rack – usually at the top or the bottom of the stack you’ve got power coming in and then you conductivity and you need to protect that conductivity and you’ll need internet, so all that is in the stack plus the servers, storage, switch, firewall and router. Dell owning the entire stack – not only manufacturing the hardware, but owning the IP in there that’s a change that’s going to change the valuation of Dell.

What impact do you think today’s SonicWALL acquisition will have?

SonicWALL is a really interesting technology. Because of what’s happening with the ASA’s (Adaptive Security Appliances) everyone thinks of it as a firewall, but it’s really an infrastructure application device that manages your network. It’s really the next generation– I actually try to avoid using the term firewall because it’s evolved so much. And, now smaller companies have an opportunity to get a world-class piece of technology that’s really in the ballpark of a small or medium size business’ budget as well as larger businesses.

Being a leading edge technology that allows you to bring a solution to your customer in this area and give them value – whenever you can do that it’s helpful for your customer, allowing you to offer a solution for their IT challenge. We resold SonicWALL before the Dell acquisition because of that. Reselling it as Dell will be even better because now you have the Dell name behind it. Now you have one of the largest IT solutions companies behind it. And it will add to the breadth of the product as they’ve proven through other acquisitions. Dell is embracing the channel more and more through it, as well.

There’s going to be challenges partnering with anyone, but we’ve had a lot of successes with Dell. To my SonicWALL channel peers who are not yet partnering with them, I say meet with your channel rep to understand where Dell is today – give it a try and make your decision on whether to stay a year from now. Don’t make it today because you don’t know what you’re leaving on the table.

So you see Dell’s acquisitions as a positive for the channel?

Dell’s expanding portfolio has helped us deliver a lot of world-class solutions to our customers that let them concentrate less on IT and more on their business. Beginning with EqualLogic, and continuing to SonicWALL, several of these companies Dell has acquired also brought a channel culture with them. Plus, I think that Greg Davis [Dell’s vice president and general manager of Global Commercial Channel] has a great understanding of the channel and the challenges that it has within Dell and I think Steve Felice [Dell’s Chief Commercial Officer] has a great understanding of it, too. They’re both pretty smart guys that want to move their business forward not only directly, but also through channel partners to, ultimately, the end Dell customer. The culture of several of these acquired companies is channel-focused and is good to bring to Dell. That influence will ultimately strengthen our partnership going forward.

And you see yourself continuing to partner with Dell?

As we’re talking about all these acquisitions it’s obvious that Dell is leading the market in technology to provide world-class solutions for their customers. We’ve been working in partnership with them for a long time to make sure that those solutions add value for our customers and that we add value for our customers. Without a doubt, I see it continuing for many years.

Michael Dell is leading the transition of this company which is going to take some time, but the reality is this company has been in transition since it started and will continue to be so because this market moves so fast and he [Michael Dell] is without a doubt steering the ship down a path that is going to greener pastures. He gets it. He’s not following HP or IBM’s path, he’s making Dell’s own path. And a very cool path it is. I’m almost hesitant to talk about it because I’d rather keep that secret as long as possible.

I see it and watch it evolve on a daily and quarterly basis bringing Dell-branded solutions to the market place. No one else is doing that. Project this out five years from now, you can envision calling Dell to have the entire stack delivered. Plug it in and it will run for five years, probably flawlessly, at the most competitive price out there.

We’ve seen Dell invest heavily into the R&D of products it’s acquired over the years, and believe they will continue to enhance with each acquisition and be technology market leaders. Dell buys leading-edge technologies and stays on top of what’s happening in the market. And the cool thing about IT is that it will always be here. It’s a market that’s not going away anytime soon.

Innovations that deliver results faster: Extending the benefits of 12th generation servers

Forrest Norrod, VP/GM—Next Gen Computing — Mon, 14 May 2012 15:00:00 GMT

In February we announced the next generation of our PowerEdge servers to an eager audience. We’ve had a tremendous response from customers, who appreciate our focus on developing meaningful innovations that help them achieve more.

Dell customer Harvey Newman, Professor of Physics at the California Institute of Technology told us, “For nearly two decades, the Caltech High-Energy Physics group and Center for Advanced Computing Research have been working to increase data throughput over long distances to facilitate the transfer and sharing of large scientific data sets among researchers. With these new server, processor, and networking technologies, we will be able to help researchers spend less time transporting data and more time testing scientific ideas.”

Expanding our portfolio to meet broader needs

To prepare for the next generation, we had more than 7,700 conversations with customers, specifically about design requirements. We wanted to understand their working environment, their current needs, and how those needs might evolve. One thing we heard loud and clear: one solution does not fit all. Some IT users require high compute density, others need maximum performance and memory, while others want a complete system that is small enough to fit under a desk and quiet enough to operate in an office. To meet those needs we are now introducing nine more PowerEdge 12^th generation servers.

Maximize efficiency

To improve the efficient use of IT resources we embed automation and intelligence in our servers and infrastructure that enable customers of all sizes to focus on adding value to their business, not rudimentary day-to-day tasks.

For our customers that need to manage multiple servers in the data center, we have a solution. With the one-to-many management capabilities in our blade Chassis Management Controller you can manage up to 288 of our new M420 blade nodes through a single IP address. That cuts out a bunch of administrative steps and headaches.

Small and medium business customers that want a straightforward, easy-to-use systems management console that provides basic Dell hardware management can utilize Dell OpenManage Essentials which is included in all of our new tower, rack and blade servers. Lots of customers see the benefits of our agent-free management:

Achieve more

Organizations today are looking at infrastructures to support improved applications and IT service delivery. One way Dell meets that need is by providing an integrated portfolio of infrastructure solutions across compute, storage and networking. We’re taking that integration to the next level with our newest PowerEdge 12th generation blade servers along with the new MXL 10/40G switch for our M1000e blade chassis system. Powered by Force10 technology, we bring the signature high performance to blade systems with the industry’s first 40G enabled blade switch. Packing more compute and high performance networking into the same shared physical space helps customers achieve more with a smaller footprint.

With the introduction of the PowerEdge M420, the world’s only quarter height 2-socket blade server, we are cutting blade infrastructure costs in half. This svelte blade server has double the processing density without any enterprise feature compromise, and packs a walloping performance punch with 175% rack-level improvement over half-height blades. The M420 is the densest 2-socket server in the world with the reliability, efficiency and enterprise class features that customers demand.

Ensure business continuity

No matter the size of your business or organization, secure, continual access to IT services is essential. We are extending reliability, availability and serviceability features across the full portfolio of Dell PowerEdge servers. Unlike some blade servers in the industry, the new PowerEdge M420, M520 and M820 blade servers have data protection with hardware RAID and serviceability with hot-swappable hard drives. We don’t short-change our small business customers with stripped down systems. We offer the world’s first full generation with enterprise-class RAS features for redundancy and fault-tolerance, memory mirroring, memory sparing, hot plug hard drives and redundant power supplies for large data centers and single tower servers alike.

Even more of our highest performing, most manageable, most innovative servers ever

We’re excited that the first wave of PowerEdge 12th generation servers is experiencing exceptional demand from customers around the globe. The new wave of PowerEdge servers brings Dell’s latest innovations to a broader audience. These new servers are well-suited to meet the needs of organizations that require all the enterprise-class features including embedded systems management they have come to expect from Dell, but at an impressive price for performance.

You can learn more about our new Dell PowerEdge servers here, or through any of Dell’s Global PartnerDirect Channel Partners.

Dell’s Customers Speak, Dell Listens: Green Packaging Program with Mushrooms Grows

Susan Beebe, Global Communications / PR — Fri, 11 May 2012 18:35:00 GMT

Recently, Dell’s Oliver Campbell was interviewed by Mashable (“Your Next Gadget Might Be Packaged in … Mushrooms?”) to share news about the Dell mushroom packaging program, which is one of the most progressive sustainable packing programs of its kind on the planet.

“Dell and mushrooms might not seem to go hand-in-hand, but the theory behind the partnership is core to Dell’s environmental philosophy, and very much customer-inspired. Oliver Campbell, Dell’s director of procurement for packaging, explains that he found consumers’ dislike for styrofoam packaging five years ago. For consumers, Campbell says, the main desires were clear:

‘They came back with three major things. They wanted the packaging to be smaller, they wanted us to use more sustainable content and they wanted to have a way to responsibly dispose of the packaging in an eco-friendly manner,’ he says.”

We’re very proud of Dell’s innovative and sustainable packaging program that furthers our ongoing commitment to the environment and enables our customers the power to be green too!

Related posts:

Mashable: Your Next Gadget Might Be Packaged in … Mushrooms?
Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/08/ecovative-design-new-york_n_1330090.html
Inbound Logistics: http://www.inboundlogistics.com/cms/article/packaging-grows-green/

More on the Ivy Bridge upgrade for new Alienware notebooks

Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger — Wed, 09 May 2012 01:15:00 GMT

Last week, John Blain mentioned that we’d be upgrading orders of the new Alienware M14x, M17x and M18x laptops we recently introduced. Since then, sites like Engadget, The Verge and Ubergizmo took notice, and since then some customers have had some questions. I wanted to take a few minutes to clarify some details on the subject.

If you ordered one of the new Alienware M14, M17 or 18x laptops after we introduced them on April 19, we’ve upgraded your order from the 2nd generation Intel quad core processor to the equivalent 3rd generation aka “Ivy Bridge” processor. There is one dual-core configuration of the Alienware M14x configuration that does not have an Ivy Bridge equivalent—because only quad core 3rd generation Intel processors are available at this time. Outside of that, all customers globally who have ordered one of the new systems should receive 3rd generation Ivy Bridge processors when your order ships (if it hasn’t already).

For those of you who have already received your new system, the easiest way to confirm the processor is via the System Properties in Windows 7. Here’s how to get there:

Click on the Start Button
Right Click on Computer (or whatever you renamed your machine to)
Click Properties

This should bring you to the System Properties information window which will look like this:

The screenshot above reflects an i7 Quad Core Ivy Bridge processor. If you ordered an i7 configuration, you should see something like “Intel ® Core ™ i7 3xxx QM CPU” in the Processor field. The key is the 3xxx part—it’s three as in third-generation Intel Core processor.

If you still have questions, or if you ordered one of these new systems and find out you do not have an Ivy Bridge (third-generation Intel Core) processor, let me know in the comments or send an e-mail message with your order number or service tag to Direct2Dell@Dell.com.

Dell and SAP Announce Cloud Migration and Joint Solution Offerings

Stephen Spector — Tue, 08 May 2012 16:00:00 GMT

Dell today announced a 60 day promotional offer available by the end of May for customers looking to move their SAP solutions into a secure, enterprise class hybrid and public cloud. Leveraging the Dell vCloud with VMware vCloud Datacenter Service, customers running SAP solutions are offered the state of the art in secure, enterprise proven cloud technology managed by Dell with experience in providing quality cloud services.

Introduced are two new offers:

Dell Cloud Starter Kit for SAP Solutions – Helps organizations get started on their cloud journey quickly by providing customers with 60 day access to Dell’s enterprise-class, secure cloud environment. This offer includes compute power equivalent to 8,000 SAP Application Performance Standard (SAPS) unit of measure, is powered by Dell Cloud with VMware vCloud Datacenter Services and is coupled with Dell’s established consulting, application and infrastructure services in support of SAP solutions.
Dell Cloud Development Kit for SAP Solutions – By offering a rich development for running SAP applications, the Dell Cloud Development Kit for SAP Solutions provides Dell’s proven consulting services with an annual access to a robust 32,000 SAPS of capacity. In addition to superior application integration capabilities, Dell’s industry leading cloud platform, Dell Boomi, is also included.

In addition to moving SAP applications to the cloud, this offer also includes Dell modernization services to help organizations fully unlock the potential of emerging technologies. Dell Services not only provides expert guidance from project to completion, but we also also includes end-to-end consulting services to help organizations assess, define and implement the most appropriate solutions, tailored to meet a variety of needs and investment levels. The Dell services portfolio includes the following:

Dell Modernization Assessment for SAP Solutions – develop a roadmap to migrate, upgrade and enhance your SAP landscape.
Dell Cloud for SAP Solutions – agile, flexible infrastructure offered in pay per use model.
Dell Mobility for SAP Solutions - mobile SAP application blueprint & development services.
Dell Migration Services for SAP Solutions - “Safely” migrate SAP from UNIX or existing x86 to Dell Cloud platforms
Dell Application Upgrade Services for SAP Solutions – upgrade your SAP landscape with latest patches and code sets

For more information on this exclusive offering for SAP customers, please look for Dell at the SAP SAPPHIRE NOW and ASUG Annual Conference from May 14-16, 2012 in Orlando, FL..

10 social media tips when commenting and responding to customers online [Infographic]

Kerry Bridge — Tue, 08 May 2012 14:00:00 GMT

Take a look at almost any survey about social media and how businesses use it, there’s one clear constant – not only is business use increasing, but also the need for helping business employees understand how to use social media is increasing. Rewards for doing this well and risks if mistakes are made, are very real.

While there’s a huge focus on the big-picture aspect of understanding how businesses can best develop a social media plan and guidelines, let’s not overlook some basic and practical fundamentals that people will encounter day to day, like writing blog posts and making comments on posts.

No one wants to go through a baptism of fire as one well known company experienced on Facebook in 2010, where conversation rapidly became confrontational due, largely, to its approach to moderating and making comments.

You’d think it was pretty straightforward, right? Actually it is – your common sense will guide you best – but there are some key aspects to consider when posting online on a professional basis.

With that in mind, we’ve developed a handy infographic for small to medium-size businesses to help their employees assess how to comment and respond effectively on behalf of their company, whether this is on a blog post, a tweet, a Facebook wall post, or anywhere else.

Feel free to use/share our infographic – grab the embed code below to add it to your website or blog.

<a href="http://en.community.dell.com/dell-groups/small-business/p/socialmediatoolkit.aspx">socialmedia<img src="http://en.community.dell.com/resized-image.ashx/__size/550x0/__key/communityserver-blogs-components-weblogfiles/00-00-00-00-07/0045.DELITP_5F00_Infographic_5F00_v10_5F00_Feb2_5F00_2012.png" alt="Infographic: Commenting and Responding to Comments online" width="***" height="****" /> </a>

The message here is simple – providing your small and medium business employees with useful tips will help them confidently embrace social media for the significant business benefits that it represents, whilst mitigating risks as far as possible.

Is this picture worth a thousand words? Is there anything you’d add (or subtract) in the infographic to make it even more useful? *Like* and share with your peers if you find this useful and find the flow logical when evaluating or making comments.

This post is one in a series of posts related to Dell’s social media resource centre and the Social media toolkit - A guide to how small and medium businesses can make the most of social media

View more documents from Dell for Business

It’s Teacher Appreciation Week: How has a teacher given you the power to do more?

Mark Horan — Mon, 07 May 2012 18:00:00 GMT

My favorite teacher growing up was my middle school science teacher, Mr. Strack. He taught through experiments, interactive lab assignments and compelling lectures making science both fun and interesting. Mr. Strack’s class was so exciting his students were learning without even realizing it. I know first-hand that teachers have a lasting impact on our lives and help shape who we are.

Today during Teacher Appreciation Week – and every day - I find it a sincere privilege to shine a huge spotlight on teachers across the nation and around the world. A favorite part of my job is seeing a teacher in action and witnessing the special connection between them and their students. It’s that moment when a student discovers how to do something for the first time, that moment when a teacher figures out how to address a student’s individual learning style and that moment when a teacher is moving about their classroom with a set of thirty or more eyes full engrossed in what they are explaining.

Over the years with Dell Education, I have met thousands of teachers around the world and have been so fortunate for each of these opportunities. Know that your work, your dedication, mentorship and leadership – not just in your classroom but as the school day extends past the four walls of the classroom – is appreciated and it is noticed. The innovation and knowledge you bring to our children will have a lasting impact on their lives.

Today and this week, we’re honoring each and every teacher out there – in classrooms and in the community. Please follow along throughout the week using #topteach on Twitter as team members across Dell share the importance of teachers in their lives. I also invite you to share how a teacher has given you the power to do more using #topteach and by following the conversation from our Twitter handle @DellEdu.

Tonight, we’re excited to have our student guests Zak Malamed (@zakmal) and Allison Wu (@allisonswu) plus others join us on Twitter at 8:30 pm EST for their first #studentvoice chat. Please join us as we hear straight from students about their favorite teachers and what they think makes a great teacher.

As a leader of Dell’s work in schools around the world – and as a parent and grandparent – THANK YOU to each and every teacher out there! We appreciate you.

Supporting youth through the FIRST World Robotics Championships

John Pflueger — Fri, 04 May 2012 19:00:00 GMT

Last week, tens of thousands of students, mentors, parents and volunteers representing more than 600 teams in four robotics competitions gathered in St. Louis for the 2012 FIRST World Robotics Championships. These events closed out FIRST’s 2011-2012 season in a festival of enthusiasm for science and technology.

Dell was proud to be a part of this year’s program, as FIRST is a recipient of a Powering the Possible grant focused on youth learning.

For 21 years, FIRST (“For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology”) has provided opportunities for grade school students from all walks of life to learn about technology and how to leverage that technology to solve complex problems. These programs have been steadily growing; close to 300,000 students participated in FIRST programs this year on more than 20,000 Junior FIRST Lego League, FIRST Lego League, FIRST Tech Challenge and FIRST Robotics Competition teams worldwide.

FIRST’s mission is to inspire the leaders of tomorrow through mentor-based programs that teach students about science, engineering and technology within a competitive, engaging and challenging atmosphere. This mission is at the heart of why we selected FIRST as a youth learning grant recipient, as it aligns with Dell’s focus on empowering youth with important information and communications technology skills. At the same time, participation in FIRST instills in each student a sense of “Gracious Professionalism.” The extent of FIRST’s success can be seen everywhere during the competition — from the pits where teams help their competitors address issues, to matches where ‘coopertition’ can be as important as a winning score, to the stands where the audience roots for accomplishments as much as individual machines.

Dell provided key assistance to three FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) teams, including The Tough Techs (FRC Team 151 in Nashua, NH). We also supported 11 FIRST Tech Challenge teams in Austin, Nashua and Peoria, and assisted the group managing FIRST’s Oklahoma regional tournament. As important as the financial support is, however, even more valuable is the time and support of mentors and volunteers. During the 2011-12 season, Dell team members volunteered more than 1,000 hours to help these students design, build, program and compete with their machines; we also helped at local and regional events.

As a parent of a FIRST student, a mentor to three different FIRST teams and a Dell employee, I feel privileged to have participated in last week’s event. While pictures can convey some sense of the scale of the festival, they can’t completely communicate the atmosphere of enthusiasm, energy and optimism generated by tens of thousands of students cheering on their peers.

The end of the season is at hand. FIRST has crowned its champions and recognized their key accomplishments. For many of these students, however, this is only the beginning. Many are graduating and are headed to colleges and universities where they will develop the additional skills they need for careers in science, engineering and technology. Dell is honored by the opportunity to play a role in this process and looks forward to seeing the ideas, innovation and solutions developed by our next generation of leaders.

Dell Vostro 470 desktop is your powerful new business partner

Forrest Bloede — Tue, 01 May 2012 17:00:00 GMT

We're bringing Ivy Bridge technology to our newest Vostro desktop. To put a new spin on the oft-used Goldilocks analogy—the new Dell Vostro 470 desktop is juuuust right, but has the ability to microwave your porridge when your business needs change.

The new Vostro 470 is the powerhouse desktop computer system in the Vostro portfolio and really represents an amazing sweet spot for business users. It's available in the United States starting at $599 and will be available in many countries around the world later this week. Businesses get a powerful PC at a price associated with entry-level computing, but it has the power and capabilities that move well beyond computing basics.

Right out-of the box, the Vostro 470 contains a number of features that bring real value and convenience. The 470 has moved to integrate a number of features like Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 4.0 and USB 3.0 ports. With four USB 3.0 and six USB 2.0 ports, the 470 is set for fast transfers, peripheral connections and serves as a power source for digital devices.

But as I noted about moving well beyond the basics, the Vostro 470 contains 4 DIMM slots that carry the foundation to grow with your business and evolve with your needs. With Intel’s third Generation Core i5 and i7 Quad Core processors, up to 32GB of memory and up to 3TB of storage, it can perform stressful business functions like financial modeling, data mining, video editing and web development with ease. With the use of the 32GB mSATA option, Intel’s Smart Response Technology provides SSD-like read/write performance for the files you use most, while providing lower storage cost with the traditional hard drive. Bottom line- you’re booting and loading those applications much faster and gaining a 33% performance advantage over a traditional 500GB 7200RPM hard drive.

So the Vostro 470 can definitely evolve with your business over time, but critical security and support services start right out of the gate with Dell ProSupport and DataSafe Online Backup, which gives your business (with little or no IT support) the peace of mind you need so you can concentrate on your business, not IT.

The Vostro 470’s formula for crushing today’s tasks and conquering tomorrow’s to do list:

A mini tower packed with power and leading-edge technology to handle your biggest workload,
Ample technology to stay on task and expand your business,
A suite of desktop-accessible service and support solutions designed with your business in mind,
3nd Generation Intel Quad Core i5 and i7 Processors for maximum productivity,
Built-in performance for business graphics, or upgrade to the blazing-fast NVIDIA or AMD HD discrete graphics for an even more powerful experience,
A tool-less chassis to expand your memory and graphics capabilities quickly and easily,
Four USB 3.0 and six USB 2.0 ports to connect all your digital devices and peripherals,
Optional 24/7 Dell ProSupport and optional Dell DataSafe Online Backup and
Built-in security services from Trend Micro.

Vostro 470 desktop (front ports view) – click image to see a larger version

The Vostro 470 is your powerful new business partner... go check out the Vostro 470out for yourself!

You can check out more images of Dell's newest machine by clicking on the Vostro 470 desktop album on Dell's Google+ page. Would love to hear your questions and feedback!

Here's a short video that walks you through the features of the Vostro 470 desktop:

(Please visit the site to view this video)
Disclaimer: Accessories and monitors are not included.

Dell’s XPS 8500 Desktop: Power, Flexibility and Ivy Bridge Technology

Nafisa Muzaffar — Tue, 01 May 2012 12:00:00 GMT

Are you ready for another Ivy Bridge-based system? Today, we're launching a new high-performance desktop—the XPS 8500. We made this machine for you, the desktop enthusiasts out there. Our goal was to bring you the latest technology and give you plenty of room to upgrade. We used a lot of your feedback on the XPS 8300 to make the XPS 8500 an even better machine. It's available in the United States starting at $749 and will be available in many countries around the world later this week.

From a technology perspective, the XPS 8500 desktop is powered by Intel 3rd generation i5 and i7 quad core processors—otherwise known as Ivy Bridge. As you’d expect, we paired the processing power with great GPU options as well. And we also wanted to provide lots of storage flexibility, so we support up to 3TB of internal storage. That means you can store all those pictures from your digital SLR or true HD videos you encoded without any worry of running out of disk space.

XPS 8500 desktop – click image to see a larger version

The high-end configurations feature the powerful AMD HD 7870 discrete graphics card with 2GB memory and gives you the power to breeze through intense video and photo editing applications. To ensure the system doesn’t get slowed down elsewhere, the XPS 8500 currently provides the option of 16GB DDR3 memory, and will support up to 32GB support in future.

While those speed improvements are a welcome addition, we wanted to do more. To make the XPS 8500 a more powerful machine, we added a couple of solid-state disk (SSD) options:

A 32GB SSD - The 32GB SSD which utilizes Intel Smart Response Technology (SRT). It’s a caching technology which makes the boot process faster and helps load applications quicker. On the XPS 8500 we saw a boot time improvement of 2.5X, over a traditional HDD only system! That’s right, you will have access to your data faster than ever before.
A 256GB SSD – Beyond the fast boot times, this option increases the system performance. For the XPS 8500, the OS image resides on your SSD drive while your traditional HDD is used to store all your personal files (music, images, documents videos) etc. We saw a 60% performance increase from traditional HDD in our benchmark analysis.

Try it out and let us know what you think.

Here's a quick video that highlights some of the cool features that make the XPS 8500 a great option for customers that want high end performance:

(Please visit the site to view this video)

We added 2 front USB 3.0 ports on the front of the system and 2 more on the back to give you more access to the devices. Additionally, the system has 5 USB 2.0 ports that allow you to make the XPS 8500 a multimedia hub. One port I use most often is the one that utilizes USB PowerShare functionality so I can charge my cell phone without turning on the machine or resuming it from sleep/ hibernate mode. Just so convenient!

From a software perspective, we focused on removing bloatware to streamline the software load on the XPS 8500. That way, you can focus more on the experience of using the power a machine like the XPS 8500 provides.

We’ve also worked to provide some compelling peripheral options. One example: the XPS 8500 has a chic wireless keyboard that’s simple to configure and use. It doesn’t get in your way and I love that! We do offer a 24” monitor and several other larger options if you need to go bigger. Other options like the external Bose speaker are a great complement to the Waves MAXX Audio functionality that comes standard with all these machines. With that setup, your XPS 8500 can fill up just about any room with quality sound!

I know there are some of you out there who have an affinity for desktops and the flexibility they provide. You tend to be drawn to power and performance and need machines that can stand up to all kinds of strenuous computing demands. We designed the XPS 8500 with you in mind.

You can check out more images of Dell's newest machine by clicking on the XPS 8500 desktop album on Dell's Google+ page. Would love to hear your questions and feedback!

Intel Ivy Bridge Technology Lands in Updated Alienware Notebooks

John Blain — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 12:50:00 GMT

I told you something was coming.

It’s that time of year again, folks! North of the Tropic of Cancer the birds are building their nests, the flowers are blooming, and everywhere signs are appearing that nature is freshening up for summer. In keeping with the season, Alienware is “freshening up” its line of gaming laptops just in time for summer!

Some of you may have noticed recently some changes to our gaming notebooks recently on Dell.com. We know our friends at The Verge did, so I’m here to tell you exactly what’s coming with the new Alienware M14x, Alienware M17x, and Alienware M18x laptops.

M14x

At a glance, the M14x is the same attractive dimensions, weight, and design as before, but when you lift the hood you’ll find little that hasn’t been spruced up. At its core lies the new Intel HM77 Chipset - this not only includes the blazing fast USB 3.0, but is also fully forward compatible with future “Ivy Bridge” processors and up to 16GB of 1600MHz RAM. This chipset also enables PCI 3.0 for enhanced NVIDIA GeForce 6-series graphics, meaning your games benefit from amped up GRRD5 graphics in a 14-inch form factor. Another new graphics option included in the new M14x is WirelessHD – allowing you to untether your graphics performance for even more freedom.

Alienware M14x – Click on image to see a larger version

The first series of M14x laptops allowed dual hard drives, but at the expense of an optical drive. With this refresh, I’m happy to report this is no longer the case: not only can you configure your new Alienware M14x with dual solid-state drives in RAID 0 or RAID 1, but you can do it without sacrificing your optical drive option. Also with the refresh comes the highly-anticipated Blu-Ray drive option for the M14x!

Even the sound system in the M14x got a boost! The new line of Alienware laptops all include the Creative Sound Blaster Recon3Di High-Definition 5.1 Audio as the standard option, and included in the mix is THX TruStudio Pro Software, 2.1 surround with a subwoofer, 7.1 Digital Audio out using HDMI or S/PDIF optical port, in-line mic support, and of course audio powered by Klipsch. Never have any Alienware laptops sounded like this!

M17x/M18x

Not to be outdone by their little brother, both the Alienware M17x and the M18x benefit from the Intel HM77 Chipset upgrade, giving all three Alienware laptops are forward compatibility with “Ivy Bridge” 22nm processor technologies, and all three get a boost to graphics performance. Our M17x system is the first gaming laptop on the market to offer the blistering 2GB GDDR5 AMD Radeon 7970M, and both the M17x and M18 offer up to 32GB of 1600MHz DDR3 RAM, giving you plenty of heft to lift those heavy gaming loads. With the M18x, you even have the option of getting 3 solid state drives in RAID 0, something never before seen in an Alienware laptop.

Alienware M17x notebook in Nebula Red - Click on the image to see a larger version

The larger laptops also include the upgraded audio package, and all three laptops include Alienadrenaline software to configure your games to quick-launch associated programs, giving you the power to completely customize you gaming experience. You may remember AlienAdrenaline from the X51 Launch post earlier this year. The feature is so popular on the X51 that it’s now making its first appearance on our line of gaming laptops.

While there’s a lot to be excited about with these new laptops, I’ve saved the best for last. Those who’ve ordered one of these three updated laptops and whose orders haven’t shipped yet, we’ll be upgrading your processors from second generation Intel Sandy Bridge processors to a comparably-priced third generation Ivy Bridge processor automatically!

Prices start at $1099 for the M14x, $1499 for the M17x, and $1999 for the M18x. These systems are available now on Dell.com and Alienware.com.

Click here to see more images of all three laptops on Dell’s Google+ page. Feel free to let us know what you think. What I really want to know is when will you get yours?

Dell Talks, Analysts Listen—and Tweet

Frank E. Smith — Thu, 26 Apr 2012 14:50:00 GMT

Turns out analysts really like to share. We didn’t know quite how much until we invited them to Dell’s Annual Industry Analyst Conference (#DAAC), held this week in downtown Austin. The attendees went from telling their audiences what our executives were saying to receiving tweets from Michael Dell himself, then tweeting about his tweets.

Soon the Twitter conversations were transforming the conference itself, prompting even more answers from Dell’s leaders, customers and partners about how Dell is empowering IT organizations to achieve their full potential. It was great to see the conversations in the room echoed so strongly outside of the room. We were delighted by the overwhelmingly positive discussion and feedback from analysts online validating our enterprise strategy and recognizing our success in providing end to end solutions scaled to meet the needs of companies of every size.

Rather than summarize, I’ll let you read analysts’ tweets “storified” on the full event recap here.

Do More with your Blades - Announcing the Dell Force10 MXL Switch

Rod Mercado — Tue, 24 Apr 2012 12:00:00 GMT

With more bandwidth and capability for your most demanding environments, Dell announces the Dell Force10 MXL blade interconnect, a 40Gb Ethernet switch for the M1000e Blade chassis. Part of our Virtual Network Architecture, the MXL switch is designed as a high performing, high density switch that can support the most demanding workloads in traditional, virtual, public and private cloud environments. Its features include…

Highest Performance in a Blade Switch – The MXL is Dell’s first 40GbE enabled blade switch. The introduction of this high performance, low latency switch builds on Dell’s leadership of 40Gb Ethernet shipments.
Highest Density in a Single Blade Switch - The MXL is scalable up to six 40GbE ports., providing up to twenty four 10 GbE ports from a single blade switch using breakout cables.
Stackable for Simplified Management – The MXL can be stacked, allowing up to six M1000e switches to be managed using a single IP address. Stacking consolidates ports and provides a cost effective pay-as-you-grow aggregation solution.
Scalability & Modular to Fit Your Business – The MXL can be easily upgraded with FlexIO modules to add 40GbE QSFP+, 10GbE SFP+ or 10GBase-T ports. This port flexibility allows you to add 1, 10 or 40GbE ports as your data center grows.
Converged Networking - With the Dell Force10 MXL switch, you can converge your SAN & LAN networks using FIP Snooping and connect to your existing FCoE forwarding device. The Force10 MXL switch is fully IEEE DCB compliant and supports a number of converged Ethernet and Fibre-Channel based storage applications.
Feature Rich FTOS – The Force10 operating system (FTOS) provides predictable, reliable network performance while reducing operations and management overhead. FTOS uses Industry Standard CLI with Layer 2 and Layer 3 switching and routing support and powers some of the largest and most demanding data center environments in the world.

The MXL Switch will be featured this May at Interop 2012 in Las Vegas (Dell.com/InteropLV2012) where Dario Zamarian, VP & GM of Dell Networking, will give a keynote address on May 8. The MXL will also be on display in June at Dell Storage Forum in Boston (DellStorageForum.com) and at other events throughout the year. We invite you to visit us at these events.

Continue the conversation on twitter by following @DellNetworking and hashtags #DoMoreIT and #DellVNA.

Dell Engaging Channel Partners with New Social Media Training Campaign

Laura P. Thomas — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 15:00:00 GMT

At Dell, we take pride in listening to our channel partners to deliver products and services that best address real market needs that make them and their customers successful. We also can’t help but beam when thought leaders like Jason Falls talk about how we’re “still a great case study” in the use of social media.

Four years ago, Jeremiah Owyang saw the opportunity for social media to improve the relationship between vendor, partners and customers, and we agreed. Through consistent, honest and direct interaction via the @DellChannel Twitter page and our Dell PartnerDirect LinkedIn Group, social media has become one of the most effective ways for us to learn from our partner community, and they have expressed a desire to learn more. We continually strive to help our partners fully leverage social media tools to improve the lines of communication while elevating their own marketing efforts.

That’s why we’re so excited to be rolling out a dedicated social media page (registration required) on the PartnerDirect partner portal. This new resource gives our Certified Channel Partners access to a number of useful social media tools and tips, including links to all of PartnerDirect’s social media platforms, a Q&A forum, registrations for both a live virtual training session and an on-demand refresher course. Preferred and Premier Partners are eligible to register for classes. These in-depth courses will allow our PartnerDirect partners to leverage Dell’s social media best practices and presence to invigorate their own business strategies.

Partners that have questions about eligibility levels, you can contact the Dell Partner Resource Desk at 866-670-4411 or you can email them here.

Topics that will be discussed include:

What is social media and how does it affect the channel
How is PartnerDirect using social media
How can you connect with PartnerDirect through social media

We’re really excited to be connecting with partners through the live virtual training session being offered once a month during a variety of times to accommodate for our global partners via Dell Talk. Our first training session will take place May 8^th, please refer to the Partner Portal Social Media Page for specific times and to register . This real-time online meeting will promote interactive discussion and Q&A among participating partners and the Dell representatives. The on-demand digital training course gives partners a great reference tool whenever they need to brush up on social media strategies. The user-driven experience is engaging and unique, providing partners with creative tips on how to make the most of today’s social media tools.

These training courses and the other tools on the new partner portal social media page will allow our partners to build on their awareness of social media and its benefits from a B2B perspective. We will also educate our partner community on how best to engage with PartnerDirect on social media in ways that can boost their marketing campaigns and overall exposure.

We’re looking forward to working hand-in-hand with our partner community to ensure our collective social media efforts are optimized to best support their business goals. Let me know if you have any questions or thoughts about this program.

Click on the image below to go to the Dell Partner Portal Social Media page (registration required):

Raising the Bar with New Line of Dell Precision Workstations

Efrain Rovira — Mon, 23 Apr 2012 11:55:00 GMT

We are so proud to introduce the new Dell Precision tower workstation line. The new Dell Precision T1650, T3600, T5600 and T7600 not only have a beautiful industrial design but also offer superb power, dependability and manageability so you, our customers, can focus on your mission-critical work. The Dell Precision T1650, T3600, T5600 and T7600 workstations will be available for purchase worldwide starting in May.

Click on the image above to see a larger version

Customers played a significant role in helping us develop new designs for this tower series. We solicited input from top engineering, finance, software development, scientific, and media & entertainment companies on what they were looking for in a professional workstation. That data helped to drive new design innovations including:

Award winning, best-in-class chassis for superior serviceability
Split chassis design to separate the power supply and hard drives from the motherboard and graphics (Dell Precision T7600)
Easy rack mounting to remove the workstation from the user’s desk to secure data

Update: To see more images of these new machines, take a look at the Dell Precision Workstation Towers album on Dell's Google+ page.

Here's a YouTube video that highlights some of the key features of the Dell Precision T7600:

(Please visit the site to view this video)

In addition to the new design, users will be blown away by the increased power of the systems, enabling more productivity to bring their innovative ideas to life faster. Some of the new technology advancements include:

Intel microarchitecture and 8-core CPUs
Generation 3 PCIe that provides double the throughput of gen 2 slots
Quad channel memory scalable up to 512GB
Up to 600 watts of graphics, and up to four full x16 graphics slots
Wide array of professional graphics from AMD and NVIDIA

As a business professional, I understand the importance of having dependable workstations and the misfortune a downtime can have on productivity. That is why all of us here at Dell are particularly excited that these new systems offer increased manageability, serviceability and dependability so you can focus on what matters most - your work. Those new features include:

Reliable Memory Technology (RMT), a Dell-patented code programmed at the BIOS level that eliminates virtually all memory errors on high-end workstations
Industry’s only tool-less and lockable externally removable power supply on a mainstream tower workstation
Front accessible quick release hard drives for easy removal of hard drives
Certifications on the top digital content creation, scientific, and engineering software applications

Here's a video that explains how Reliable Memory Technology works:

(Please visit the site to view this video)

Our customers who have seen and tested the new systems have been impressed by both design and function. And having already heard success stories from some of these customers who have implemented the new workstations in their businesses, we are further motivated to continue to deliver high quality and performing machines to the marketplace. We look forward to hearing your success story regarding the new Dell Precision workstations.

Update from Lionel: Click on the links below to see PDF spec sheets of the following Dell Precision workstations:

PDF spec sheet for the Dell Precision T3600
PDF spec sheet for the Dell Precision T5600
PDF spec sheet for the Dell Precision T7600

United States Pricing Details:

The Dell Precision T7600 pricing starts at $2,149
The Dell Precision T5600 pricing starts at $1,879
The Dell Precision T3600 pricing starts at $1,099

Designing With the Environment in Mind — 365 Days a Year

David Lear, Executive Director—Sustainability — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 13:00:00 GMT

Now more than ever, our customers look to Dell to help them meet their environmental goals through technology solutions that can reduce operating cost and create long-term environmental value, without compromising the performance that they expect from Dell. Earth Day 2012, observed on April 22, is a great time to heighten awareness of how we and our customers can improve the effect we have on our planet.

But environmental responsibility is about more than one day. At Dell, it’s about incorporating sustainability into every aspect of what we do, 365 days a year. This means a life cycle approach, with programs and initiatives that reduce environmental impact and creates value at every stage of a product or service’s development.

The new video below explains our approach. Here are just a few of the highlights:

DESIGNING: In a single year, we shipped more than 7 million pounds of post-consumer recycled plastic incorporated in the bodies of select monitors and systems — the equivalent of more than 260 million recycled water bottles — part of our effort to design our products in a more environmentally friendly manner on the front end.
BUILDING: We purchase approximately 21 percent of our global energy needs through renewables such as wind and solar — and 100 percent of our global headquarters is fueled by renewable energy. This is part of our effort to minimize our own operational footprint.
SHIPPING: We’ve institutionalized the use of sustainable bamboo in our product shipments and are piloting new eco-innovative mushroom packaging as a green alternative for cushioning heavy products.
OPERATING: In everything from laptops to servers, we incorporate energy efficiency and cloud technology to help our customers use less power. For instance, we helped one customer consolidate from 135 data centers down to just four.
RECYCLING: We offer global recycling in more than 35 countries, and our customers have helped to recycle more than 600 million pounds of used computer equipment.

(Please visit the site to view this video)

To learn more, visit Dell.com/environment.

Dell Introduces Enhanced Solutions for System Center 2012

Paul Rennie — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 17:00:00 GMT

I am excited to present Dell’s newest generation of systems and Microsoft’s systems management tools. Over the last 25 years, Dell and Microsoft have worked together to develop innovative complete solutions that combine the best of our hardware, software and services. Together, we are doing great things.

We recently announced Dell’s PowerEdge 12th Generation servers that deliver groundbreaking performance and manageability. Aligned with System Center 2012, these servers provide a customer-inspired, intelligent infrastructure engineered to run business faster and more efficiently. Together, our solutions simplify management of your cloud environment, accelerate cloud migration and lower migration risks.

Designed for efficiency - powered by innovation

Dell is a leader in systems management innovation. We worked closely with Microsoft to pinpoint the technology factors that can hamper the implementation of virtual era solutions – flexibility, scalability, storage, I/O, systems management – and have designed our servers and systems management tools to mitigate them. We leveraged our experiences across thousands of customers to build powerful virtualization, cloud, networking and storage solutions that are quick to install and easy to manage.

Our systems management solutions include:

Embedded server management. Dell first delivered embedded server management in our PowerEdge 11th generation servers in 2009. Our 2nd generation embedded management feature, Integrated Dell Remote Access Controller (iDRAC) 7 with Lifecycle Controller, automates deployment, updates, monitoring and maintenance of Dell PowerEdge 12th generation servers.
Agent-free systems management. iDRAC7 with Lifecycle Controller enables comprehensive management of Dell PowerEdge 12th generation servers without requiring installation of a systems management software agent, and servers can be managed even if the operating system is down. Agent-free systems management allows you to manage your servers uniformly regardless of the operating system or hypervisor.
Tight integration with third party management frameworks. Our systems management tools support the management consoles and methods you are already using. We work with Microsoft and other leading systems management vendors to ensure that Dell hardware is easily managed in multivendor environments.
Client management tools. Dell provides useful tools to configure, deploy, monitor and update the full range of Dell Precision, OptiPlex and Latitude systems regardless of your chosen management infrastructure.

vPro Extensions for clients. Dell and Intel have created unique vPro functionality for Dell vPro-enabled Dell Precision, OptiPlex and Latitude systems that allow batch management of BIOS settings and battery parameters even when systems are turned off.

Dell KACE Enterprise Ready Solutions. These appliance-based solutions easily enhance an organization’s existing investment in System Center Configuration Manager. They are ideal for organizations that are supporting Windows, Mac and Linux, have multiple remote locations under management, have completed acquisitions and need immediate hardware and software inventory or want to augment tasks such as patching 3^rd party applications.

Dell offers high performance, flexible and efficient IT management. We support you from purchase to implementation and beyond. Dell has a portfolio of full lifecycle services and provides world class technical support.

Dell and Microsoft systems management - enhanced solutions for 2012

Through our longstanding alliance with Microsoft and years of collaboration, we have developed an exceptional suite of system management tools designed to streamline, automate and simplify management of Dell hardware. We will be updating our solutions to offer enhanced hardware management functionality integrated with System Center 2012.

vStart – System Center 2012 Fast Track - Dell will deliver larger, highly scalable and enterprise-class vStart solutions that will be Microsoft System Center 2012 Fast Track validated in the near future. Dell vStart with System Center 2012 will provide customers a rapid path to deploying and managing private clouds. The Dell vStart 200m is currently Microsoft Private Cloud Fast Track validated.
Dell OpenManage - Only Dell OpenManage provides automated, agent-free, hardware management with Microsoft System Center in a multi-vendor OS and hypervisor environments. These tools facilitate end-to-end management of Dell servers, increase IT productivity and reduce the number of consoles required to manage hardware, operating systems, applications and IT services. OpenManage Essentials is a free server monitoring tool that now links with Dell KACE System Management Appliances to enable management and monitoring of servers. In addition, the entire portfolio of Dell OpenManage Integration Suite Tools will be updated to offer enhanced hardware management functionality using System Center 2012.
Dell Compellent Enterprise Manager 5.5.5 - Dell Compellent Enterprise Manager simplifies network storage management by providing a single, centralized console for the administration of multiple local and remote Storage Center SANs. Users can configure and verify remote replication processes, monitor storage capacity and disk utilization in real time, and generate comprehensive enterprise storage usage and performance reports. Enterprise Manager 5.5.5 launched in April 2012 and includes SMI-S provider for System Center 2012 Virtual Machine Manager.
AIM and System Center 2012 Orchestrator - Dell is also delivering an updated version of the Dell AIM integration pack to support System Center 2012 and the new features of the AIM 3.5 release such as multi-tenancy. This integration leverages AIM Web services APIs to extend AIM’s functionality by working with System Center 2012, and it combines the workflow automation capabilities offered by System Center with the data center management capabilities of AIM. This new adaptor enables systems administrators to build complex System Center 2012 workflows that include tasks to be executed by Dell AIM and System Center components.
Client integrations (Dell Precision, OptiPlex and Latitude support SC 2012) - In addition to the OpenManage client packs noted above, all management tools provided by Dell have been qualified for use with System Center 2012 to configure, deploy, monitor and update all current Dell Precision, OptiPlex and Latitude systems.

Dell @ MMS 2012

We are thrilled to be a Platinum Sponsor at the Microsoft Management Summit (MMS) 2012, April 16-20th, in Las Vegas, NV. We are excited to share the latest features and capabilities of Dell’s Microsoft solution portfolio!

At MMS 2012, we will give customers streamlined insights into Dell’s Microsoft Management Solutions and Services Portfolio. MMS 2012 attendees will meet our leading Dell MMS experts and learn about our products and services that optimize IT management.

Our booth highlights the following areas:

Infrastructure Consulting Services —Dell’s best of breed services offerings speed time to value
Client End Point Management —Dell lowers total cost of ownership by simplifying and automating lifecycle management
Data Center Infrastructure Management —Dell system management tools integrate with Microsoft System Center to provide greater flexibility, better resource utilization and process automation.
Virtualization Management —Dell’s virtualization and Private Cloud Fast Track solutions help build a platform for cloud and ITaaS while leveraging existing knowledge and investments.

MMS attendees can schedule time to visit 1X1 with Dell and can learn more from our technical experts during booth presentations. Dell is leading six breakout sessions at the event to share insights on our system management tools, System Center 2012 Configuration Manager and accelerating the journey to the private cloud.

To learn more, please contact your Dell sales representative or visit us online at:

Multi-finger gestures on the XPS 13 Ultrabook trackpad #xps13

Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger — Mon, 09 Apr 2012 17:15:00 GMT

Since we announced it, there's been lots of interest in several of our XPS 13-related posts. Like Sam Burd mentioned in his recent post, we're commited to making the experience on the XPS 13 second to none. If you didn't read his post, we recently released updated trackpad drivers based on customers feedback. While that has gone well, I thought some customers may appreciate more details regarding the XPS 13 trackpad, and how multi-finger gestures work on it. Even if you're not an XPS 13 customer, it's worth noting that certain Dell notebooks in the future will offer multi-finger gestures.

I think it makes sense to start with the trackpad settings. There you can control things like overall sensitivity, Palm Rejection settings and you can also enable/ disable 2-finger or multi-finger gestures. The trackpad settings are part of the Mouse functionality in the Windows 7 Control Panel (look for the Cypress TrackPad tab in the first picture below). The quickest way to access the trackpad controls are via the trackpad icon in the taskbar on the lower right side of your desktop.

I’d recommend spending some time tweaking the sensitivity settings in the Trackpad or the Palm Rejection tabs (or both) if you have issues with the sensitivity level. I welcome comments or questions that you have after doing so.

Main view of the XPS 13 Ultrabook Trackpad Controls

XPS 13 Ultrabook Trackpad settings

Here’s how it works:

The trackpad is divided into two sections by a small notch in the center of the trackpad. See my close-up picture of it below. The trackpad is hinged so that if you click on the right side of the notch, you will do a right-click. Clicking on the left side of the notch will do a left-click (you can also click on most of the area of the trackpad overall for a left-click).

Two-finger gestures:

Scrolling: place both fingers on the trackpad, scroll up or down on web pages or documents
Pinch and zoom: to zoom in, start with two fingers close together, and move them apart. To zoom out, start with two fingers far apart and move them closer together.

Speaking of two-finger gestures, kudos to NotebookReview member alphadogg00 (you need to register on the site to see that previous link) for creating this video:

(Please visit the site to view this video)

Three-finger gestures:

Flick: you can use a left or right three-finger gesture to easily flip through pictures in a slideshow.
Page Up and Page Down: you can also use the the three-finger flick motion up or down (or left and right) to flip through a document one page at a time.
Switching browser tabs: when in a web browser, you can use the three-finger flick motion up or down to move between tabs in a browser.

Four-finger gestures:

Minimize all windows: place all four fingers on the trackpad and move them down to minimize all windows, similar to the Windows+D keyboard command in Windows 7.
Alt-tab Windows Switcher: place four fingers on the trackpad and moving up will pull up the Alt-tab Windows switcher. From there, you can easily use one finger to choose an application to access.

Dell announces its Intent to acquire Make Technologies

Suresh Vaswani, Chairman--Dell India — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 12:43:00 GMT

The Applications and BPO organization is at the core of Dell’s solutions transformation. Within Applications Services, we have established application modernization as our flagship proposition. The potential addition of Make Technologies, combined with the Clerity Solutions acquisition announced on Tuesday, positions Dell as the highest-quality provider for modernizing applications.

Together, the intellectual property, talent and capabilities from Clerity Solutions and Make Technologies will significantly augment the applications expertise offered by Dell Services to customers. We will now be able to better help customers with all their modernization needs—from re-hosting to application re-engineering.

The four key areas for our application modernization portfolio that I mentioned in my blog post on Tuesday are clearly visible in these two acquisitions. Our capability to re-host applications through their migration from legacy systems to standard architectures was expanded with the acquisition of Clerity Solutions. Now, our application re-engineering solutions and automated application and code migration are enhanced by the intended acquisition of Make Technologies.

There are many reasons why Make Technologies will benefit our organization and our customers. Specifically, Make Technologies:

Provides customers with end-to-end application portfolio transformation solutions that modernizes entire portfolios of legacy applications in the least amount of time and with the lowest risk
Reduces cost of maintaining and managing legacy applications
Makes business processes more efficient and cost-effective by bringing legacy applications onto a modern, re-architected platform
Drastically reduces the amount of custom code in legacy portfolios, while protecting the legacy information of the business functions it supports

These two terrific organizations blending with our current team members in the Application Modernization business will provide a unique customer experience that will set Dell Services apart.