By Brian White
Dell Computer Corp has decided to ripple its muscles in the networking market by reselling a range of products aimed at small companies with up to 100 users. The move, which follows logically from its highly successful expansion into servers, will offer a one-stop-shop for hardware, software, installation and technical support. Dell Networks follows a pilot project that has been running is the US since October 1998 and Dell will lean heavily on its international partnership with Wang Global, which will install and maintain the networks. Dell is guarded on its long-term ambitions in networking, though clearly it will not be content to remain forever at the low end of the market. For the moment, it will act as a reseller, offering Cisco routers, 3Com and Cisco switches and Intel and 3Com network interface cards. Dell claims it is looking at a virgin market and points to research by International Data Corporation that shows that only 20% of businesses with fewer than 100 employees are networked. Dell expects to benefit from the ID prediction that a growing proportion of small enterprises will look to set up networks.
