Dell to focus at forum on what it knows best
By John Pletz
American-Statesman Staff
Wednesday, September 20, 2000
DirectConnect 2000 What: DirectConnect 2000, an invitation-only event for Dell Computer Corp.'s major customers.
Where: Austin Convention Center, 500 E. Cesar Chavez
When: Today through Friday
Agenda
Today: Registration and tours of Dell's Parmer Lane manufacturing plants
Thursday:
8:30 a.m. -- Michael Dell, CEO, Dell Computer Corp.
9:30 a.m. -- Jacques Nasser, CEO, Ford Motor Co.
Noon -- Rick Devenuti, chief information officer, Microsoft Corp.
Friday:
8:30 a.m. -- David Pottruck, co-CEO, Charles Schwab Corp.
9:30 a.m. -- Ellen Hancock, CEO, Exodus Communications Corp. Noon: Sean Maloney, senior vice president of marketing and sales, Intel Corp.
When Dell Computer Corp. hosted its private shindig for customers, DirectConnect, in Austin last year, the company pulled out all the stops, bringing in the four horsemen of high tech: Microsoft Corp.'s Bill Gates, Intel Corp.'s Craig Barrett, Cisco Corp.'s John Chambers and its own founder, Michael Dell.
But if last year was a coming-out party, this year's event is more of a mixer for Dell, its most valued customers and some competitors' customers that Dell wants to woo.
The focus of the invitation-only event, which runs through Friday at the Austin Convention Center, is less on star power and more on the nitty gritty of information technology in business.
Dell is focusing on the Internet and e-commerce, and how its customers can integrate the Web into every part of their businesses.
``It's a core thing of any corporation, where people are spending their money from a company standpoint,'' said Joe Marengi, general manager of Dell's large corporate business, who organized the conference.
``About 60 percent of the U.S. (information-technology) dollar is being spent on Internet-related spending: e-commerce, server infrastructure, Web hosting, Intranets, supply-chain management."
Dell is expected to announce its own business-to-business exchange today called the Dell Marketplace, a forum for its U.S. customers to buy and sell one another's products. Dell also will sell its own products over the new marketplace as well as on its own site, Dell.com.
The company also will preview a new redesigned desktop PC for corporate customers today. On Tuesday Dell announced a new server aimed at small and mid-size businesses, as well as a load-balancing appliance server for managing Web-site traffic.
Michael Dell will again take center stage in his multiple roles as host, chief executive, industry superstar and his company's best pitchman.
He'll be joined by:
• Ellen Hancock, chief executive officer of Exodus Communications Inc., which provides off-site Internet hosting. The company is a Dell customer and partner.
• Jacques Nasser, chief executive officer of Ford Motor Co., one of Dell's biggest customers and popular example of how an ``old economy'' company can harness the power of the Internet. Ford and Austin's Trilogy Software Corp. are collaborating to incorporate the Web throughout the automaker's operations.
• David Pottruck, president of Charles Schwab Corp. and an Intel Corp. board member, has overseen a massive shift of the discount investment-brokerage from retail storefronts to the Internet. Schwab is a major Dell customer and last year bought Austin's CyBerCorp.
While the names on the marquee may not have the same universal recognition as Gates, Barrett and Chambers, the subtext is the same: ``You are our biggest and most valued customers. We know you and your computer systems. Stick with us and continue to buy our products and services."
Dell will be crowing about its $50 million-a-day business of selling computer equipment over the Internet, playing up its newfound status as the company that ``knows how E (-commerce) works."
It will be aggressively marketing its servers and storage products, as well as new services, such as Web-site hosting and consulting. The company also expects to preview a new, smaller design for its desktop personal computers in addition to providing sneak peeks at other planned offerings in servers and Internet services.
Company executives will talk at length about the dividends of integrating the Internet into every aspect of Dell's business -- from taking customer orders and providing technical support to building computers on the manufacturing floor and allowing real-time inventory management with suppliers.
Customers also will attend various roundtable sessions with similar companies to talk about common challenges and how they've dealt with them.
``It's a chance for us to impress upon people that Dell is much larger than many companies perceive,'' Marengi said. ``It's a great marketing vehicle for the company."
For the 1,300 to 1,400 expected attendees, it's also a chance to see the latest in high-tech hardware and maybe rub elbows with Michael Dell, Nasser, Hancock and Pottruck. Last year, Dell held court at an after-hours reception at the Copper Tank brew pub for several hours, talking with customers and admirers, in addition to mingling frequently in hallways at the convention center.
This year, the mingling will be at La Zona Rosa, site of a party before a private concert with Lyle Lovett at the Austin Music Hall.
``Michael's going to be floating around for a day-and-a-half,'' Marengi said. ``Getting a chance to visit with Michael and Jac Nasser is a pretty amazing opportunity."
You may contact John Pletz at jpletz@statesman.com or 445-3601.
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