Michael Dell kicked off Dell World 2015 in Austin, Texas to talk about the future of Dell in light of the announcement of the EMC deal.
"Dell World is about highlighting the success our customers have with the solutions that we've created," Michael Dell said as he opened the fifth annual Dell World conference.
Before showcasing new products, Mr. Dell took the time to address Dell's vision for the EMC acquisition.
It gives us an incredible position in the IT of tomorrow: digital transformation, hybrid cloud, security. mobile and more, Mr. Dell said. With over $80 billion in revenue, the EMC deal gives Dell incredible scale.
Mr. Dell notes that his approach to the industry is different than rival HP, which is in the process of splitting its devices business from its enterprise business. For Dell, scale and volume are important as part of that strategy.
Customers don't want more suppliers, Mr. Dell said. CIOs want to deal with fewer people to get things done.
"First, you have all the CIOs who are trying to fund the digital transformation by reducing cost in the infrastructure," Mr. Dell explained. "There's also this move to virtualization, hyper-converged systems where the silos are starting to go away. It's important to lead in that next of IT, and the combination of Dell and EMC gives us a leadership in that position. The deal enables these new capabilities."
In response to HP CEO Meg Whitman's comment on the EMC deal, Mr. Dell politely said, "HP is a great VMWare partner, but HP got some of the facts wrong." VMWare is a company that's owned by EMC, and Dell will take over VMWare after the acquisition.
The PC
But the deal doesn't decrease the importance of Dell's end-client computing solutions, including the Internet of Things (IoT) devices, Jeff Clark, Dell's Vice Chairman of Client Solutions, added.
The EMC deal helps Dell solves customer problems. Customers are asking us to help them in this journey, Marius Haas, Chief Commercial Officer at Dell, said.
The PC isn't dead or stagnant, Mr. Clark said, highlighting Dell's recent XPS 13 refresh. There is still innovation in the market, and Microsoft's further push into the hardware space isn't viewed as a threat. Clark said that it's about the ecosystem, and we'll see new form factors and new ways to interact with our computing devices in the future, a message that rival Lenovo also espoused in the unveiling of the Yoga 900.
"China has become our second largest market after the United States," Mr. Dell said in response to a question asking about Dell's commitment to Chinese market. "We have over 12,000 Dell-exclusive stores in China."
The home penetration rate for PCs is about 35% in China and 10% in India, Dell executives said, highlighting that this is where the investment is.
Dell announced it has 11 consecutive quarters of share growth, and that the overall PC market is consolidating.
"Dell will be a consolidator," Mr. Clark said, highlighting Dell's commitment to the PC market.
- Read our picks for the best laptops
