Dell's (Nasdaq: DELL) move to acquire Force10 Networks illustrates that the computer company is serious about making a real impact in the growing data center and cloud services market.
Being bought out by Dell is an interesting end for Force10, which had struggled in recent years to become profitable. Earlier this year, the vendor announced plans to revamp its IPO strategy.
Although neither company would reveal the terms of the deal, Dell said the acquisition will provide it with a broader set of products to offer to its enterprise customer base. The acquisition will complement its ever-growing portfolio of server, storage, networking and services it provides for businesses.
In addition to gaining a new set of equipment to sell to businesses, Dell will gain Force10's global service and support capabilities through its direct sales force and a network of channel partners and systems integrators. When the acquisition is complete, Dell plans to maintain Force10's channel program and its Chennai, India operations.
However, it appears that Force10 wasn't the only company Dell was looking at in terms of bolstering its data center strategy. A report in Bloomberg pointed out that Dell was looking at rival Brocade, which leverages fibre channel technology, but decided to go with Force10 because its products were Ethernet-based.
For more:
- CRN has this article
- Bloomberg has this article
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