Dell Thins Up with Acquisition of Wyse Technology

In a move aimed at furthermore beefing up its offerings to business clients, computer maker Dell announced Monday that it has agreed to acquire Wyse Innovation, a manufacturer of thin customers and computer terminals.

Terms of the deal, which is expected to close in the second quarter of the year, were not disclosed. PC World estimated the value of the deal at between $400 and $600 million. Bloomberg Businessweek, citing a "person with knowledge of the matter," pegged the purchase price at $1 billion.

The company

The company, the Journal notes, has furthermore seized on the cloud computing trend by developing desktop virtualization innovation that "allows computers to remotely access applications and documents stored on a server without storing the information on the device." More than 200 million people use the company's products each day, according to a Dell release announcing the deal. Wyse as well holds more than 180 issued or pending patents.

The world's third-largest maker of personal computers, Dell has in recent years begun to target business clients more aggressively. As the Journal notes, the Round Rock, Texas-based company has acquired about a dozen companies since 2009 as part of that strategy.

In one such deal, announced last month, Dell agreed to acquire SonicWall, a provider of data protection and network security services, for $1.25 billion from an investor group led by private equity firm Thoma Bravo. In another, Dell acquired Force10 Networks, a maker of high-speed ethernet networking equipment, last summer. Dewey as well advised Dell on both transactions.