Dell Inc.

Dell traces its origins to 1984, when Michael Dell created PCs Limited while a student at
the University of Texas at Austin. The dorm-room headquartered company sold IBM PC-
compatible computers built from stock components. Michael Dell started trading in the
belief that by selling personal computer systems directly to customers, PCs Limited could
better understand customers' needs and provide the most effective computing solutions to
meet those needs.[4] Michael Dell dropped out of school in order to focus full-time on his
fledgling business, after getting about $300,000 in expansion-capital from his family.

In 1985, the company produced the first computer of its own design—the "Turbo PC",
sold for US$795.[5] PCs Limited advertised its systems in national computer magazines
for sale directly to consumers and custom assembled each ordered unit according to a
selection of options. The company grossed more than $73 million in its first year of
trading.

The company changed its name to "Dell Computer Corporation" in 1988 and began
expanding globally—first in Ireland. In June 1988, Dell's market capitalization grew by
$30 million to $80 million from its June 22 initial public offering of 3.5 million shares at
$8.50 a share.[6] In 1992, Fortune magazine included Dell Computer Corporation in its
list of the world's 500 largest companies, making Michael Dell the youngest CEO of a
Fortune 500 company ever.[citation needed]

In 1996, Dell began selling computers via its web site, and in 2002, Dell expanded its
product line to include televisions, handhelds, digital audio players, and printers. Dell's
first acquisition occurred in 1999 with the purchase of ConvergeNet Technologies. In
2003, the company was rebranded as simply "Dell Inc." to recognize the company's
expansion beyond computers. From 2004 to 2007, Michael Dell stepped aside as CEO,
while long-time Dell employee Kevin Rollins took the helm. During that time, Dell
acquired Alienware, which introduced several new items to Dell products, including
AMD microprocessors. To prevent cross-market products, Dell continues to run
Alienware as a separate entity but still a wholly owned subsidiary.[7]

Lackluster performance, however, in its lower-end computer business prompted Michael

Dell to take on the role of CEO again. The founder announced a change campaign called
"Dell 2.0," reducing headcount and diversifying the company's product offerings. The
company acquired EqualLogic on January 28, 2008 to gain a foothold in the iSCSI
storage market. Because Dell already had an efficient manufacturing process, integrating
EqualLogic's products into the company drove manufacturing prices down.[8]
In 2009, Dell acquired Perot Systems, a technology services and outsourcing company
founded by H. Ross Perot.

On September 21, 2009, Dell announced its intent to acquire Perot Systems (based in
Plano, Texas) in a reported $3.9 billion deal.[9] Perot Systems brought applications
development, systems integration, and strategic consulting services through its operations
in the U.S. and 10 other countries. In addition, it provided a variety of business process
outsourcing services, including claims processing and call center operations.[10]

On August 16, 2010, Dell announced its intent to acquire the data storage company
3PAR.[11] On September 2, 2010 Hewlett-Packard offered $33 a share, which Dell
declined to match.[12]

On November 2, 2010, Dell acquired Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) integration leader

Boomi. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.[13]

[edit] Dell Facilities

Dell is headquartered in Round Rock, Texas

Dell's headquarters are located in Round Rock, Texas.[14] As of 2010 the company
employs about 16,000 people in the facility,[15] which has 2,100,000 square feet (195,000
m2) of space.[16] As of 1999 almost half of the general fund of the City of Round Rock
originates from sales taxes generated from the Dell headquarters.[17]

The company previously had its headquarters in the Arboretum complex in northern
Austin, Texas.[18][19] In 1989 Dell occupied 127,000 square feet (11,800 m2) in the
Arboretum complex.[20] In 1990 Dell had 1,200 employees in its headquarters.[18] In 1993
Dell submitted a document to Round Rock officials, titled "Dell Computer Corporate
Headquarters, Round Rock, Texas, May 1993 Schematic Design." Despite the filing,
during that year the company said that it was not going to move its headquarters.[21] In
1994 Dell announced that it was moving most of its employees out of the Arboretum, but
that it was going to continue to occupy the top floor of the Arboretum and that the
company's official headquarters address would continue to be the Arboretum. The top
floor continued to hold Dell's board room, demonstration center, and visitor meeting
room. Less than one month prior to August 29, 1994, Dell moved 1,100 customer support
and telephone sales employees to Round Rock.[22] Dell's lease in the Arboretum had been
scheduled to expire in 1994.[23]

The company sponsors Dell Diamond, the home stadium of the Round Rock Express, the
AAA minor league baseball affiliate of the Texas Rangers major league baseball team.

By 1996 Dell was moving its headquarters to Round Rock.[24] As of January 1996 3,500
people still worked at the then-current Dell headquarters. One building of the Round
Rock headquarters, Round Rock 3, had space for 6,400 employees and was scheduled to
be completed in November 1996.[25] In 1998 Dell announced that it was going to add two
buildings to its Round Rock complex, adding 1,600,000 square feet (149,000 m2) of
office space to the complex.[26]

In 2000 Dell announced that it would lease 80,000 square feet (7,400 m2) of space in the
Las Cimas office complex in unincorporated Travis County, Texas, between Austin and
West Lake Hills, to house the company's executive offices and corporate headquarters.
100 senior executives were scheduled to work in the building by the end of 2000.[27] In
January 2001 the company leased the space in Las Cimas 2, located along Loop 360. Las
Cimas 2 housed Dell's executives, the investment operations, and some corporate
functions. Dell also had an option for 138,000 square feet (12,800 m2) of space in Las
Cimas 3.[28] After a slowdown in business required reducing employees and production
capacity, Dell decided to sublease its offices in two buildings in the Las Cimas office
complex.[29] In 2002 Dell announced that it planned to sublease its space to another
tenant; the company planned to move its headquarters back to Round Rock once a tenant
was secured.[28] By 2003 Dell moved its headquarters back to Round Rock. It leased all of
Las Cimas I and II, with a total of 312,000 square feet (29,000 m2), for about a seven year
period after 2003. By that year roughly 100,000 square feet (9,300 m2) of that space was
absorbed by new subtenants.[30]

In 2008 Dell switched the power sources of the Round Rock headquarters to more
environmentally friendly ones, with 60% of the total power coming from TXU Energy
wind farms and 40% coming from the Austin Community Landfill gas-to-energy plant
operated by Waste Management, Inc.[16]

Dell facilities in the United States are located in Austin, Texas; Nashville, Tennessee;
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma; Peoria, Illinois; Winston-Salem, North Carolina; and Miami,
Florida. Facilities located abroad include Penang, Malaysia; Xiamen, China; Chennai,
India; Bracknell, UK; Manila, Philippines[31] Chennai, India;[32] Hortolandia, Brazil; Łódź,
Poland[33] and Limerick, Ireland.[34]
The US and India are the only countries which have all of Dell's business functions and
provide support globally: Research and Development, manufacturing, finance, analysis,
customer care.[35]

[edit] Products
[edit] Scope and brands

Dell's tagline 'Yours is Here', as seen at their Mall of Asia branch Pasay City, Philippines

The corporation markets specific brand names to different market segments.

Its Business/Corporate class represent brands where the company advertises emphasizes
long life-cycles, reliability, and serviceability. Such brands include:

• OptiPlex (office desktop computer systems)

• Vostro (office/small business desktop and notebook systems)
• n Series (desktop and notebook computers shipped with Linux or FreeDOS
installed)
• Latitude (business-focused notebooks)
• Precision (workstation systems and high-performance notebooks),[36]
• PowerEdge (business servers)
• PowerVault (direct-attach and network-attached storage)
• PowerConnect (network switches)
• Dell/EMC (storage area networks)
• EqualLogic (enterprise class iSCSI SANs)

Dell's Home Office/Consumer class emphasizes value, performance, and expandability.

These brands include:

• Inspiron (budget desktop and notebook computers)

• Studio (mainstream desktop and laptop computers)
• XPS (high-end desktop and notebook computers)
• Studio XPS (high-end design-focus of XPS systems and extreme multimedia
capability)
 • Alienware (high-performance gaming systems)
• Adamo (high-end luxury laptop)

Dell's Peripherals class includes USB keydrives, LCD televisions, and printers; Dell
monitors includes LCD TVs, plasma TVs and projectors for HDTV and monitors. Dell
UltraSharp is further a high-end brand of monitors.

Dell service and support brands include the Dell Solution Station (extended domestic
support services, previously "Dell on Call"), Dell Support Center (extended support
services abroad), Dell Business Support (a commercial service-contract that provides an
industry-certified technician with a lower call-volume than in normal queues), Dell
Everdream Desktop Management ("Software as a Service" remote-desktop management),
[37]
and Your Tech Team (a support-queue available to home users who purchased their
systems either through Dell's website or through Dell phone-centers).

Discontinued products and brands include Axim (PDA; discontinued April 9, 2007),[38]
Dimension (home and small office desktop computers; discontinued July 2007), Dell
Digital Jukebox (MP3 player; discontinued August 2006), Dell PowerApp (application-
based servers), and Dell Omniplex (desktop and tower computers previously supported to
run server and desktop operating systems).

[edit] Manufacturing

From its early beginnings, Dell operated as a pioneer in the "configure to order" approach
to manufacturing—delivering individual PCs configured to customer specifications. In
contrast, most PC manufacturers in those times delivered large orders to intermediaries
on a quarterly basis.[39]

To minimize the delay between purchase and delivery, Dell has a general policy of
manufacturing its products close to its customers. This also allows for implementing a
just-in-time (JIT) manufacturing approach, which minimizes inventory costs. Low
inventory is another signature of the Dell business model—a critical consideration in an
industry where components depreciate very rapidly.[40]

Dell's manufacturing process covers assembly, software installation, functional testing

(including "burn-in"), and quality control. Throughout most of the company's history,
Dell manufactured desktop machines in-house and contracted out manufacturing of base
notebooks for configuration in-house.[41] However, the company's approach has changed.
The 2006 Annual Report states "we are continuing to expand our use of original design
manufacturing partnerships and manufacturing outsourcing relationships." The Wall
Street Journal reported in September, 2008 that "Dell has approached contract computer
manufacturers with offers to sell" their plants.[42]

Assembly of desktop computers for the North American market formerly took place at
Dell plants in Austin, Texas (original location) and Lebanon, Tennessee (opened in
1999). The plant in Winston-Salem, North Carolina (opened in 2005) is scheduled to
cease operations in November 2010, while the Miami, Florida facility of its Alienware
subsidiary remains in operation. Dell servers come from Austin, Texas.

Dell's desktop plant in Austin, Texas was shut down in 2008. It closed its desktop
manufacturing in Lebanon in early 2009. The last major U.S. plant in North Carolina is
scheduled to close in November 2010.[43] It is expected that most of the work carried out
in North Carolina will be transferred to contract manufacturers in Asia and Mexico,
though Dell said some of the work will move to its own factories overseas.[44]

Dell assembles computers for the EMEA market at Limerick in the Republic of Ireland,
and employs about 4,500 people in that country. Dell began manufacturing in Limerick in
1991 and went on to become Ireland's largest exporter of goods and its second-largest
company and foreign investor. On January 8, 2009, Dell announced that it would move
all Dell manufacturing in Limerick to Dell's new plant in the Polish city of Łódź by
January 2010.[45] European Union officials said they would investigate a €52.7million aid
package the Polish government used to attract Dell away from Ireland.[46] European
Manufacturing Facility 1 (EMF1, opened in 1990) and EMF3 form part of the Raheen
Industrial Estate near Limerick. EMF2 (previously a Wang facility, later occupied by
Flextronics, situated in Castletroy) closed in 2002,[citation needed] and Dell Inc. has
consolidated production into EMF3 (EMF1 now[when?] contains only offices).[47] Subsidies
from the Polish government didn't keep Dell for a long time. Manufacturing Facility in
Lodz was sold to Foxconn as announced in Dec 2009.[48]

Dell's Alienware subsidiary also manufactures PCs in an Athlone, Ireland plant.

Construction of EMF4 in Łódź, Poland has started: Dell started production there in
autumn 2007.[49]

Dell opened plants in Penang, Malaysia in 1995, and in Xiamen, China in 1999. These
facilities serve the Asian market and assemble 95% of Dell notebooks. Dell Inc. has
invested[when?] an estimated $60 million in a new manufacturing unit in Chennai, India, to
support the sales of its products in the Indian subcontinent. Indian-made products will
bear the "Made in India" mark. In 2007 the Chennai facility had the target of producing
400,000 desktop PCs, and plans envisaged it starting to produce notebook PCs and other
products in the second half of 2007.[citation needed]

Dell moved desktop and PowerEdge server manufacturing for the South American
market from the Eldorado do Sul plant opened in 1999, to a new plant in Hortolandia,
Brazil in 2007.[50]

[edit] Technical support

Dell routes technical support queries according to component-type and to the level of
support purchased. Dell Inc. brands its service agreements at five levels for their business
customers: (1) Basic support provides business-hours telephone support and next
business-day on-site support/ Return-to-Base or Collect and Return Services (based on
contracts purchased at point of sale); (2) Silver support provides 24×7 telephone support
and 4-hour on-site support after telephone-based troubleshooting; (3) Gold support
provides additional benefits over and above Silver support; (4) Platinum Plus support
provides additional benefits to Gold Support; and (5) two-hour on-site support, offered in
select cities.[51]

Dell's Consumer division offers 24x7 phone based and online troubleshooting rather than
only during business hours in certain markets such as the United States and Canada. On
February 4, 2008 Dell launched a revamped services-and-support scheme for businesses
named "ProSupport", offering customers more options to tailor services to fit their needs.
Rather than take a one-size-fits-all approach, Dell has put together packages of options
for each category of its customers: small and medium-sized businesses, large businesses,
government, education, and health-care- and life-sciences. Dell now also offers separate
support options for IT staff and for non-IT professionals. For the latter, the company
offers "how-to" support for software applications, such as Microsoft Office. Dell also
offers collaborative support with many third-party software vendors. For Dell-Certified
IT departments, Dell offers "fast-track dispatch" of parts and labor and access to a crisis-
center to handle major outages, virus-attacks, or problems caused by natural disasters.
[citation needed]

Dell has several unique aspects of its support program. For example, computers use
"Service Tags" unique alpha-numeric identifiers and '11 digit Express Service codes'
(punched into the IVR prompts) to get customers to the appropriate support queue.
Agents also utilize DellConnect, (a Citrix/GoToAssist based remote-access tool that
gives technicians within Dell Support the ability to access customer computers from a
remote location for troubleshooting purposes).