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Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: JRI who wrote (151252)	1/13/2000 1:00:00 PM
From: williet	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

What ever happened to CONVERGNET????????? This was suppose to be DELLs answer to EMC, IBM or CPigQ in storage last September??? We have heard little to nothing about any progress in integration of this gem or anchor??????????? williet

To: JRI who wrote (151252)	1/13/2000 7:37:00 PM
From: rudedog	Respond to of 176387

John - there is an axiom which says "you can buy the business but you can't buy the customers". * Gateway could be Dell's low/middle end consumer brand....Dell would be the high-end consumer, corporate brand...making clear dilineation in the consumer's mind (which is, currently, not the case) If DELL invested 10% of what a GTW acquisition would cost into creating a compelling consumer proposition based on their own notion of serving the consumer, along with a few key hires and some R&D, they could surpass GTW's current consumer share. * Perfect up-sell (consumer) sales cycle...Gateway to Dell...life-long customer... The product lines overlap quite a bit, and DELL would end up with a complex roadmap which would have to be pruned. Would customers who bought GTW commercial products for SMB transition to a DELL product? Maybe, but if so DELL could get them more cheaply through focused sales efforts... * Dell could benefit from/expand AOL Time Warner relationship (of Gateway's) Here again, DELL should be able to cut their own, more favorable deals. I am surprised they have not. The business value of that deal has yet to be proven, although it was great press. * Defensive...eliminates one possible direct competitor...who, one day, may eat into corporate biz...certainly a barrier to expanded consumer sales.... I think the established consumer players (CPQ and to a lesser extent HP) would benefit more. * "Out-of-box" ops..Gateway has shown more cunning, quicker-to-the-mark..in understanding this ops..this trend...possibly...one big growth op is leveraging current (consumer) customer relationship to sell a lot of other stuff...financing, too... Yes, but why can't DELL just do equivalent but better programs on their own, a whole lot more cheaply? That's what they did in the commercial space. * Increased leverage in supplier relationships....due to bigger purchases...more cost savings... I think DELL is already at the top of the food chain there - they probably can not wring much more out of the suppliers than they already have. They are already so good at arm-twisting that they can put suppliers in the ditch if the business projections are just a little off... They probably need to guard the health of their supply chain more than they need lower prices, since there might be a point or two at most before they start cutting into the bone with their suppliers. * Potential cost savings due to administrative personnel cuts (higher sales per employee, combined Dell/Gateway, then as separate entities).... Worked for CPQ... NOT!!! In a long series of tech mergers, I have rarely seen any improvements in efficiency, and DELL is already the gold standard in efficient operation. Although I'd like to see Dell consider "bets" in handhelds, storage, and other e-commerce....If Dell would do a bigger purchase, GTW would seem on the screen (again, probably fantasy, but assuming Waitt and Dell would get along).... I guess we will have to disagree on this one.