How Dell Has Reinvented Itself in the Last Five Years

The company that originally was called PC's Unlimited and that made its mark by selling personal desktop computers over the phone has come a long way from Michael Dell's dorm room at the University of Texas in 1984 to one of the world's largest suppliers of computers of all types. However it is hardly satisfied with that distinction.

Dell has made no secret of the fact that its strategy for the then few years is to invest in hardware, software and services for new-generation data centers that will contain private cloud computing systems. The company is doing this through a combination of acquisitions and partnerships.

EqualLogic, but, has justified Dell's investment. Its secret sauce in storage networking and virtualization has brought in satisfactory profit margins in the midrange storage market.

On the services side-an area that the company is as well making a large investment-Dell in September 2009 bought Perot Systems, a provider of information innovation services and business solutions for its largest-ever acquisition at $3.9 billion. But, it, too, is paying off big time; Perot Systems is bringing Dell an additional $8 billion per year.