Paul Bell, president of Dell's Public and Large Enterprise Division: Mainstream High-Cost Performance Motherboard Recommendations for DIY Users
Tech Sina News (translated): In an exclusive interview with Sina on April 14th, Paul Bell, President of Dell's Public and Large Enterprise Division at the Dell Technology Forum, stated that Dell's $1 billion investment in building solution development centers and data centers was driven by customer demand. He also revealed that Dell purchased materials worth approximately $25 billion in China last year.
Video: Exclusive Interview with Paul Bell, President of Dell's Public Division (Media Source: Tech Sina)
When discussing future acquisition plans, Paul Bell mentioned that Dell had acquired 9 companies in the past 15 months. Over the next few years, Dell is likely to continue acquisitions at a similar pace, focusing on areas where previous acquisitions have occurred. The purpose of these acquisitions is to enhance service capabilities across major markets.
Paul Bell disclosed that Dell’s core service team in China currently comes from the BearingPoint China consulting business after its acquisition.
Regarding the Chinese market, Paul Bell emphasized that the importance of China to Dell is undeniable. For the supply chain, China is a primary source of technical components. Bell revealed that Dell purchased materials worth approximately $25 billion in China last year.
Paul Bell noted that the plan to establish a global data center in China is still in the planning stage, with no related details available yet.
Below is the full interview transcript:
Sina Tech: Hello Paul, it's great to see you at the 2011 Dell Technology Forum. Today, Dell showcased many solutions and announced relevant investment plans. Does this mean Dell continues to transition towards becoming a solution service provider?
Paul Bell: First of all, it's great to see you, and thank you for inviting me to this exchange. Dell has never stopped transforming, at least since I joined Dell 15 years ago. Dell's core philosophy is to embrace open technology, promote high-cost performance business models, and bring more benefits to our customers.
Over time, we have unwaveringly added more services and advanced technologies to the core enterprise data center. In the past few years, to become a true solution provider, we have significantly increased our investment levels. This includes today's newly announced investment plan, which is Dell's $1 billion investment in building solution development centers and data centers to provide computing and storage services to our global customers.
Sina Tech: What are the reasons behind Dell's transformation? Is it due to changes in the competitive environment or low profit margins in the PC industry?
Paul Bell: The main reason we continue to develop more integrated solutions is due to customer demand. In the past, customers viewed us as their primary technology partner, collaborating multiple times with Dell to build their overall infrastructure architecture.
Dell provides servers, storage, client systems, and many core services to customers. Therefore, later they said: We now hope (Dell) can provide more complete integrated services.
For example, Dell developed storage equipment for a customer. A healthcare industry customer said: You know, we really need a complete medical imaging archiving solution. Thus, we developed a specialized solution around DX6000. Later, we acquired a cloud-based medical data company. Therefore, to meet customer demands, we strive to provide more comprehensive solutions, which has always been our investment focus.
Sina Tech: In the past year, Dell made some acquisitions while transitioning into a solution provider. In which areas will Dell make similar acquisitions moving forward?
Paul Bell: When we find technologies and capabilities that we believe are very important to customers, we will continue to acquire them. Dell has acquired 9 companies in the past 15 months. In the coming years, we are likely to continue acquisitions at a similar pace, focusing on areas where previous acquisitions have occurred.
Firstly, it is the service capabilities we support in each major market. Dell's current core service team in China comes from the BearingPoint China consulting business after its acquisition.
Another major area is technology components. We introduced infrastructure software to manage virtualized resource pools consisting of servers, storage devices, and networks.
We call this software Virtual Integrated Systems, which we obtained through acquisition. Of course, we also acquired complete storage platforms like Compellent. We firmly believe this is the best storage solution for the future. These are the areas we will continue to focus on for future acquisitions.
Sina Tech: Both Dell globally and Dell China achieved excellent results in the last fiscal year, with Dell China growing by 21%. Much of this growth came from the public division and large enterprise division. How do you evaluate Dell China's performance last year?
Paul Bell: Dell China's performance has always been outstanding. We are proud of our China team. Whether it is the public utility and large enterprise division I am responsible for or the consumer and small and medium-sized enterprise division, both performed excellently. The company is very willing to continue increasing investments in the Chinese market.
Recently, we just announced the establishment of a new business center in Chengdu, which is currently developing. Not only do we have a large and rapidly growing customer base in China every year, but the importance of the Chinese market to Dell is undeniable because China is the main source of technical components for our supply chain. Last year, we purchased materials worth approximately $25 billion in China.
Sina Tech: I heard you mention in your speech that Dell plans to establish a global data center in China. Can you reveal some related details?
Paul Bell: I apologize, but we cannot yet disclose any details because we are still in the planning stage and do not know the specific details yet.
However, we have made a commitment. As I mentioned earlier, we will invest $1 billion in solution development, including many data centers and solution centers, and China will be an outstanding representative in this regard.
Sina Tech: You are the chairman of the Dell Giving Committee. What kind of organization is this? What projects are currently being implemented in China?
Paul Bell: This is the organization responsible for managing Dell's charitable donations. Last year, Dell fulfilled our commitment to return 1% of the company's profits to the communities we serve.
We focus on two main projects: one is the Dell Youth Connect Program. This program provides free technology to teenagers in underdeveloped areas and frequently arranges Dell employees to volunteer in these regions, communicating and interacting with children, helping them learn and utilize these technologies.
Another flagship project is the Dell Social Innovation Competition. We invite students from China and around the world, especially college students, to submit entrepreneurial plans that can help their communities. This is a competition, and Dell will select outstanding proposals from it. Winners will receive funding for entrepreneurship or funds to implement their ideas through charitable organizations.