by Luke Bergeron, Technical Writer, Alliance Technologies — February 22, 2011
By now you've probably heard the big news – Dell recently bought Compellent, the storage system company. It's a reasonable match for a number of reasons.
Dell is a well known brand, known more for cost effective technology rather than bleeding edge products – their innovation years ago was in the business model that revolutionized personal computing. They made it cost effective for consumers and business owners to buy inexpensive PC's. They were the first company to make buying a computer affordable, cool, and easy.
But that was years ago, and since then Dell has made major moves into the server and network management side of things, partly by purchasing EqualLogic in 2008 and the KACE network management appliance in 2010. Now Dell is making another important push into the enterprise space with the purchase of Compellent. Since Dell already owned EqualLogic, the acquisition of Compellent helps them round out their storage offerings nicely.
With both EqualLogic and Compellent under one banner, Dell is now positioned to offer mid-level and Enterprise level storage solutions. This makes it easier for resellers and partners because they can present a wider spectrum of products to customers under one umbrella, rather than working with several companies. We've sold both EqualLogic and Compellent solutions before and we'll continue to do so now that they are both owned by Dell.
The purchase makes sense for more than resellers and partners – it makes perfect sense for Dell, too. Both EqualLogic and Compellent cater to different markets, so they won't be stomping on each other's toes. Still, they now have opportunities to share research and resources to grow from the strengths of the other – Compellent can enhance the quality of EqualLogic's products and EqualLogic will bring Compellent some of the efficiency that makes their solution cost effective. Also, Compellent should grow by leaps and bounds in terms of overall identity and brand awareness now that they are backed by Dell. Both companies have things they can learn from each other. Certainly Dell knows this and is poised to leverage the advantages of both companies.
As a partner and reseller, we look forward to passing the benefits on to our clients.