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

To: Sam Bose who wrote (154163)	2/22/2000 9:35:00 AM
From: kemble s. matter	Respond to of 176387

Sam, Hi!! Thanks so much...You know I'm lovin' this! Someday the investment world will see why Michael said: "THE INTERNET IS VIRTUALLY AT THE CENTER OF EVERYTHING WE ARE DOING".... Best, Kemble RE: Dell Launches Program to Host Web Sites for Small Business By GARY MCWILLIAMS Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL February 22, 2000 Dell Computer Corp., in a move to expand the services it offers online and reignite revenue growth, is launching a Web-site-hosting operation for small businesses. The personal-computer maker's Dellhost.com site is expected to be announced Tuesday. Information on the service appeared on the company's Web site late Friday as part of a test of customer use, a Dell spokesman confirmed. Dell's move into the fiercely competitive, low-margin business comes as some small businesses turn to providers of Web site hosting and of electronic-commerce Internet service, instead of buying their own computers for these jobs. Company Profile: Dell Computer In an interview, Chief Executive Michael S. Dell called the new business "a natural extension" of its PC sales to small and medium-size businesses. He said Dell recognizes the rapid embrace of Web hosting by customers who might otherwise have purchased Dell gear "is a shift we must play a role in." Dell's move, however, puts it on a collision course with some of the very dot-coms it recently began courting. Two weeks ago, it formed a unit to sell its servers and disk-storage equipment to companies that host Web computers and provide Internet service. "That's the big gotcha," said Summit Strategies Inc. analyst Laurie McCabe. While Internet-service companies that now compete with Dell may shun its computers, there are a number of computer makers offering or exploring Web-hosting services, including International Business Machines Corp., Hewlett-Packard Co. and Gateway Inc., she said. Mr. Dell said conflict between product sales and Web-hosting services is part of the business today. "There's lots of cooperation and competition here," he said. Dell hopes to lessen the conflict by reselling the Web-hosting services of companies such as Interliant Inc. that buy its computer servers. Mr. Dell said the overall Web-hosting market is expected to grow to $17 billion in annual revenue by 2003 from $2 billion last year. He estimated that only 26% of small and medium-size businesses now have a Web site, and that only 15% have an online store. Still, revenue from Web hosting could be small, unless Dell can persuade customers to buy a server, or until it offers related services, such as software applications and messaging. Mr. Dell declined to comment on whether reselling Web-hosting services would lower its corporate profit margin, now dominated by equipment sales. "It's not clear to us this is a lower-margin business," he said. Dell's hosting service is being provided through Interliant, a Purchase, N.Y., company in which Dell holds a minority stake. Interliant's Web-hosting customers pay an average of $22 a month to share a computer that serves up Web pages. According to information posted on its Dellhost.com site, the company is offering Web-site hosting for $18 to $300 a month depending on equipment and usage. The company also charges one-time setup fees starting at $50. The hosting initiative is part of a broader online-services push, called Dell E-Works, that will see the company sell procurement, job-recruiting and direct-mail services. In addition to the hosting service, Dell also launched an online office-supplies store called OfficebyDell.com, a business-oriented version of its consumer-oriented Gigabuys.com retail Web site. The hosting service also uses software provided by Trellix Corp., a Waltham, Mass., maker of Web-site-design software, and Mercantec Inc., a Naperville, Ill., a developer of e-commerce software. Other services on the site include Dun & Bradstreet Corp.'s business-credit reports and GetThere.com Inc.'s travel bookings.