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BRACKNELL, UK –BUSINESS WIRE– Dec 21, `07 — Dell has signed an agreement to acquire privately held The Networked Storage Company (TNWSC), a leading IT consultancy, that specializes in transitioning customers to proven, simplified and cost-efficient IT data storage solutions.

Terms were not disclosed and the purchase will not be final until all closing conditions are met. TNWSC is based in Epsom, United Kingdom.

TNWSC’s unique Point of Proof methodology provides an auditable end-to-end process to evaluate, select and implement proven solutions that deliver robust, simplified and cost-effective IT infrastructures.

The approach, primarily implemented with storage networks, can be extended across the entire IT environment, helping to reduce overall costs and complexity of IT infrastructure maintenance and management. TNWSC has a blue chip customer base including several of Europe’s leading

More at BusinessWire, Dell.com/ics.

Round Rock, Texas — Dec 21, `07 — Dell and Tesco today announced the availability of Dell notebook and desktop computers in Tesco, a premier international retailer with operations in Europe and Asia.

Beginning next month, customers will be able to purchase Dell XPS and Inspiron products in Tesco stores, primarily in the UK, with sales also in Ireland, Poland, Czech Republic, and Slovakia.

Dell products will soon be available in more than 10,000 stores and on-line around the globe.

In the past several months Dell has announced relationships with Best Buy in the US, DSG International and Carrefour in Europe, Staples in the US, Courts stores in Singapore, Gome stores in China, Bic Camera Inc. in Japan, Carphone Warehouse in the UK and Wal-Mart in the U.S., Canada, Brazil and Mexico. More at Dell.

ROUND ROCK, Texas –BUSINESS WIRE– Dec 13, ‘07 — Dell and DSG international plc (DSGi), one of Europe’s leading consumer electronics retailers, announced the availability of Dell notebook and desktop computers in DSGi stores.

Beginning in January 2008, DSGi and Dell customers will be able to buy a range of Dell notebooks and desktops through PC World, Currys and Currys.digital stores in the UK, as well as Dixons.co.uk online.

Customers will also be able to buy Dell products through the European network of DSGi store brands such as Electro World, PC City, and Elkjop. Customers can buy products in stores from Norway to Greece, and from Spain to Finland.

Dell also plans to sell systems through DSGi stores in the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland.

DSGi’s unique TechGuys services in the UK will be extended across the new Dell products, providing full IT customer service availability including telephone support, installation and set-up. DSG operates similar support services across its European operations.

With this agreement, Dell products will soon be available in more than 10,000 stores and on-line around the globe.

In the past several months Dell has announced relationships with Best Buy in the US, Carrefour in Europe, Staples in the US, Courts stores in Singapore, Gome stores in China, Bic Camera Inc. in Japan, Carphone Warehouse in the UK and Wal-Mart in the US, Canada, Brazil and Mexico.

The DSGi and Dell agreement will cover stores in UK, Ireland, Spain, Italy, Greece, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland.

Finally Dell has released details of its first Tablet PC, Dell Latitude XT, which will have multi touch capabilities at a later date.

Dell Latitude XT Specs:

- Intel Core 2 Duo 1.2GHz ULV processor U7600 or Core 2 Solo 1.06GHz ULV processor U2100
- Vista Business (32-bit or 64-bit); Vista Ultimate (32-bit) or Windows XP Tablet Edition 2005
- 12.1″ 1280 x 800 WXGA  Display; Optional LED-backlit Display
- Multi Touch - Capacitive Touch Screen
- Integrated ATI Radeon X1250 UMA Adapter
- Memory up to 3GB
- 40 or 80GB 1.8″ 4200 RPM / 120GB 1.8″ 5400 RPM Hard Drive OR 32 or 64GB Solid State Disk (SSD) Drive options
- 802.11a/b/g/n; HSDPA or EV-DO rev A; Bluetooth 2.0 and Gigabit Ethernet
- ExpressCard54 and SD slots, 1394, VGA and USB 2.0
- Scroll Wheel, Biometric Reader, TPM 1.2, Super Low Profile Power Adapter
- Up to 5 Hrs Battery life with standard 43WH pack or up to 9 Hrs with extended 45WH pack
- Weighs 3.57 lbs, 1-inch thick
- Starts at $2500

More at Direct2Dell here and details and video about Multi-Touch Capacitive Touch Screen here.

SEATTLE –BUSINESS WIRE– Dec 06, ‘07 — Typhoon Touch Technologies announced today that it has commenced an action against Dell and Motion Computing for patent infringement. The Complaint seeks damages and a permanent injunction enjoining Dell and Motion Computing from continued infringing activity.

The Complaint was filed on Wednesday in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division, Case No. 6:07-cv-546. Typhoon commenced the action as co-plaintiff with its licensee, Nova Mobility Systems.

Typhoon’s complaint alleges that Motion Computing and Dell have infringed and continue to infringe its U.S. Patent No. 5,379,057 issued January 3, 1995 and entitled “Portable Computer with Touch Screen and Computer System Employing Same,” and U.S. Patent No. 5,675,362 issued October 7, 1997 and entitled “Portable Computer with Touch Screen and Computing System Employing Same,” through various actions including the manufacturing, selling, offering for sale, and/or importing a variety of portable computer products, including but not limited to tablet PCs, slate PCs, handheld PCs, personal digital assistants (PDAs), ultra mobile PCs (UMPCs), smart phones, and/or other products covered by the patents-in-suit. More at BusinessWire.

Round Rock, Texas — December 06, ‘07 — Dell today announced that it will sell a variety of award-winning XPS and Inspiron notebook and desktop computers, including the new XPS One through more than 900 Best Buy locations in the U.S. in the next few weeks.

Offering XPS and Inspiron notebooks and desktops to Best Buy customers illustrates how Dell is applying advantages of its direct business model in retail. Buying systems direct from Dell or in retail stores mean that customers can purchase what they need when and where they want.

“Dell is clearly one of the most popular and successful PC companies and their addition to our retail and online selection gives Best Buy customers unprecedented choice when buying a computer,” said Dave Morrish, senior vice president for Best Buy’s mobility business unit.

Product Availability
Best Buy will stock a variety of notebooks, including the award-winning Dell XPS M1330 in white, the Inspiron 1521 in blue and black, and the Inspiron 1420 in black. Additionally, the award-winning Dell XPS OneTM desktop will be available. Other desktops to be sold in Best Buy include the Dell Inspiron 530, 531, and 531s. Additional models and colors will be available in coming month. More at Dell.

Microsoft delivers next milestone for highly anticipated Windows Server 2008, makes RC1 (release candidate one) ready for testing; industry readies for worldwide launch wave with “Heroes Happen Here” launch theme.

REDMOND, Wash — Dec 5, 2007 — Reaching a major milestone in development, Microsoft today made available the Windows Server 2008 release candidate one (RC1) for customers to download and evaluate.

In addition, Microsoft committed more than $150 million (U.S.) worldwide for outreach and demand generation to IT professionals and developers, and disclosed additional details and partner programs in preparation for the “Heroes Happen Here” launch events, beginning on Feb. 27, 2008, in Los Angeles.

Windows Server 2008 RC1
Windows Server 2008, which is scheduled to release to manufacturing (RTM) by the Feb. 27 launch event, reached the RC1 milestone today and is available to customers for download at Microsoft.com/ws08eval.

With RC1, Microsoft is enhancing Group Policy with Group Policy Preferences, formerly known as PolicyMaker Standard Edition and Policy Share Manager. As the code approaches final signoff, RC1 is one of the last opportunities for customers and partners to evaluate it and provide feedback. So far, more than 1.8 million customers have obtained Windows Server 2008 evaluation code.

Industry Partners Kick Off Windows Server 2008 Launch Wave
As the industry gears up for the new enterprise and developer platform, thousands of industry partners have been working with Microsoft on product testing and evaluation, and are currently developing new applications, device drivers, services and solutions.

Ten partners in particular — Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), Citrix Systems, Dell, Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, Intel, Quest Software, SAP AG and Unisys — have already invested significant time and resources to be platinum sponsors of the upcoming launch, demonstrating their strong support for and excitement about Microsoft’s next-generation products.

To date more than 140,000 IT professionals and developers have been trained on Windows Server 2008 and Visual Studio 2008, and 3,100 certifications have been granted on Windows Server 2008. More at Microsoft.

Dec 04, ‘07 — Dell has teamed up with the folks at Blizzard Entertainment to create a product that allows fans of World of Warcraft (WoW) to immerse themselves in the game and today unveiled XPS M1730 World of Warcraft Edition.

Every system comes pre-loaded with the games themselves: World of Warcraft and The Burning Crusade expansion pack. Dell will also install all the major client patches for both games as well and will continue to test and ship future patches pre-installed as they are released by Blizzard.

Everyone who orders this system will get three things: a Quest Envelope, a WoW backpack full of stuff and the system itself.

XPS M1730 World of Warcraft Edition

* 17″ HD widescreen notebook complete with World of Warcraft backpack
* Illuminated speaker grills and faction specific Honor Badges
* Back-lit keyboard stays awake as long as you can
* Track your stats with the world’s first built-in notebook Logitech GamePanel LCD
* Pre-loaded with World of Warcraft, World of Warcraft: Burning Crusade and all major game patches
* Golden Ticket for a custom FigurePrint of your actual in-game World of Warcraft character with your actual armor and weapons
* World of Warcraft Beta Club Key Card with a key to future World of Warcraft beta tests
* World of Warcraft and The Burning Crusade Collector’s Edition Account Upgrade Certificates
* Intel Core 2 Duo Processor T7500 (2.2GHz/800Mhz FSB, 4MB Cache)
* Genuine Windows Vista® Ultimate Edition
* 2GB Shared Dual Channel DDR2 SDRAM at 667MHz
* Speed: 160GB SATA Hard Drive (7200RPM)
* CD / DVD Burner (DVD+/-RW Drive)
* 1Yr LoJack for Laptops Theft Protection (CD Shipped Separately)
* 17inch UltraSharp TrueLife Wide-screen WUXGA
* 512MB Dual NVIDIA GeForce 8700M GT with NVIDIA SLI
* AGEIA PhysX Physics Accelerator
It starts at $4500 and still comes with just one year warrenty. You can get one here.

Dell announces new agency agreement with WPP valued at $4.5 billion in agency billings over three years.

Dec 03, ‘07 — On Sunday, Dec 02, Dell announced that it will partner with WPP, who will join Dell to create a new global integrated marketing and communications agency.

Together with the WPP agency, Dell is creating a new marketing model designed to further propel Dell’s growth. We’ve been calling this “Project DaVinci” because we’ve been looking for the combination of artist and scientist – an agency that has both the creative horsepower and ability to measure the business impact of their work.

The process started with Vice President of Global Marketing, Casey Jones, joining Dell eight months ago and discovering that the company was working with more than 800 agencies worldwide. Project Da Vinci was soon started and, as Casey has often said, “Instead of dating 800 agencies, we are creating a partnership with one firm. We want our partner to spend 100% of their time thinking about our customers, rather than how they will get the next assignment.”

WPP, one of the world’s largest advertising and marketing services firm, edged out peers like Interpublic Group and Omnicom Group to win the account, a spokesman for Dell said. More at Dell.

Round Rock, Texas — November 29, 2007 — Dell today reported results for its third quarter of fiscal year 2008, with revenue up nine percent year-over-year to a record $15.6 billion, operating income up 13 percent to $829 million and earnings per share of $0.34, a 26 percent increase over the prior year.

Cash from operations totaled $1 billion, while cash and marketable securities at the end of the quarter were $14.6 billion. The company plans to resume its share repurchase program in early December.

“We embarked this year on a long-term strategy to re-ignite growth and our Q3 results indicate we’re making solid progress through investments in five key business priorities – consumer, emerging countries, notebooks, enterprise and small/medium business,” said Michael Dell, chairman and CEO.

“Initiatives to simplify IT will drive innovation across all industries, creating new value for customers and shareholders. For consumers we will continue to launch products that set the bar for design, personalization, and price performance – and we will make them available in more places than ever before.”

Key Business Priorities

Round Rock, Texas — Nov 27, ‘07 — Dell today will help simplify enterprise search for U.S. customers by selling the Google Search Appliance and the Google Mini , through Dell’s direct corporate and public sales organizations ( see dell.com/googlesearch).

The Google Search Appliance starts at $30,000 and the Google Mini starts at $1,995. Both search appliances are covered by Google warranty and support services.

“Google’s turnkey search appliances align well with Dell’s priority to simplify information technology in the data center”, said Terry Klein, Dell vice president, Americas Advanced Solutions Group

The Google Search Appliance, with its distinctive bezel and yellow chassis, is designed for larger enterprises, while the blue Google Mini is targeted for the small and medium business market.

These appliances deliver relevant search results from information sources within a company’s firewall. Companies can also design their own interface that users recognize from their familiarity with Google.com, without compromising existing corporate security requirements.

Since 2006, Dell’s OEM Industry Solutions Group has coordinated with Google on the customization of Dell PowerEdgeTM 2950 servers to form the foundation for the yellow Google Search Appliance (GSA). More at Dell, Dell.com/GoogleSearch.

Round Rock, Texas — November 27, ‘07 — Dell today announced the XPS M1530, a sleek and stylish 15.4-inch notebook featuring the same award-winning design and features introduced by the highly acclaimed XPS M1330 earlier this year.

With starting price of $999, the XPS M1530 is loaded with premium features, like built in webcam and fingerprint reader, and design accents like touch-sensitive multi-media buttons, brushed aluminum accents and a choice of sophisticated colors. More information on the XPS M1530 is available at www.dell.com/XPS.

With a starting weight of just under six pounds and featuring a trim 1-inch profile, the elegant XPS M1530 delivers a rich mobile experience. Standard features include a high definition widescreen 15.4-inch display, slot-load optical drive, DirectX 10 capable graphics, sophisticated touch sensitive media buttons, and HDMI support. Customers can also personalize their systems with a choice of three colors: standard Tuxedo Black, and optional Crimson Red and Alpine White

Multi-media enthusiasts will appreciate the optional Blu-ray disc drive and included noise cancelation earbuds and travel remote that stores away in the ExpressCard card slot. Dell’s MediaDirect and Instant Office technology offers fast one-button access to music, movies, and pictures, as well as calendar items and contacts, without booting the system up.

For those who need to stay connected and in touch no matter where they may be, the XPS M1530 includes standard Wi-Fi wireless networking, and optional Bluetooth wireless and mobile broadband with a choice of wireless carriers. More at Dell.

:Very Poor Resolution: Ok, even after configuring XPS M1530 with all the best options, including Blu-ray drive, bringing the pre-tax total to $3652, what resolution you get to watch your Blu-ray movies? 1280×800. Click the thumbnail picture to see there’s no other option than 1280×800. Very poor, Dell

Nov 27, ‘07 — Dell today introduced two new models of its Dell Precision^M  workstations, the world’s top-selling line of professional workstations for the past eight years. Available today with prices starting at approximately $1,600 and $1,850 respectively, the Dell Precision T5400 and the Dell Precision T7400 provide the highest levels of performance and expandability available in a Dell workstation.

Dell will be the first tier-one vendor to ship workstations with the latest Quad-Core and Dual-Core Intel  Xeon  processors 5400 and 5200 series, using Intel’s latest 45-nm manufacturing process.

“These systems have some of the fastest Intel processors, high-end OpenGL graphics and massive scalability and memory capacities. In fact, we’ve designed configurations with an industry-leading 1600MHz front-side bus to help provide screaming performance,” said Antonio Julio, director worldwide marketing, Dell Precision workstations.

Key Features

• A dual-socket design supports up to two next-generation multi-core Intel Xeon processors. Dell offers some of the fastest Intel Xeon processors available, up to 3.2GHz. Multiple processor cores can increase application performance dramatically in multi-threaded and multi-tasking environments.

• Dual, full-performance PCI Express Gen2 x16 graphics slots providing up to double the maximum bandwidth of PCI Express x16. This enables customers to include up to two high-performance OpenGL®  graphics cards and support up to four 30-inch DellTM  UltraSharpTM  flat panel monitors at full resolution.

• The T5400/7400 uses a dual independent front-side bus design – up to 1333MHz on the T5400 and up to 1600MHz on the T7400 – to provide a fast data path between processors, memory and chipset, benefiting memory bandwidth-intensive applications.

• Both models use a fully buffered DIMM architecture with up to 800MHz front-side bus on the T7400, which will also support up to 128GB of system memory when 8GB DIMMs become available.

• Dell-engineered acoustic improvements make these systems up to 33 percent quieter than their predecessors.

• Designed with the environment in mind to meet or exceed the worldwide mutually recognized Environmental Protection Agency’s Energy Star Standard 4.0. Both models also use 80-plus percent efficient power supplies to reduce power consumption.

More at Dell.

Paris, France — November 27, 2007 –Dell today announced that Carrefour Group will become the first mass merchandiser in Europe to sell Dell notebook and desktop computers.

Dell and Carrefour intend for consumers to be able to purchase Dell products in 365 Carrefour Group stores in France, Belgium and Spain beginning in January. Plans also call for additional stores in more countries later in the year. Carrefour is one of the largest retailers worldwide.

Dell’s relationship with Carrefour is the latest in a series of retail agreements aimed at reaching more consumers globally.

With this agreement, Dell products will be available in nearly 10,000 stores around the globe.

Dell recently announced relationships with Staples in the US, Courts stores in Singapore, Gome stores in China, Bic Camera Inc. in Japan, Carphone Warehouse in the U.K. and Wal-Mart in the U.S., Canada, Brazil and Mexico. More at Dell.

Taipei, Taiwan — Nov 19, ‘07 – Dell will soon launch a 12.1-inch notebook featuring touch panel technology with the panel being sourced from AU Optronics (AUO) with Chi Ling Technology, an affiliate of the Chi Mei Group, being in charge of assembling LCD panels with touch screen panels, Digitimes is reporting citing chinese daily, Economic Daily News.

Digitimes further writes, “The new 12.1-inch notebook uses a touch panel solution from Israel-based N-trig, according to the paper. Instead of adopting capacitive or resistive touch panel technology, the Dell notebook uses a battery-free electrostatic pen, the paper added.” Digitimes.

Nov 19, ‘07 — Long Zheng of istartedsomething.com has gotten his hands on leaked specs and a pic of Dell’s first ever multi-touch tablet PC, Dell Latitude XT. According to Zheng, the Latitude XT was supposed to be released on Nov 16 in most regions and on Dec 03 in the US but got delayed because of recent LCD shortages. There’s no word on when it’d available.

Dell Latitude XT Specs
- Intel 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo, ULV
- Windows XP Tablet PC Edition
- Windows Vista Business / Ultimate 32/64 Bit Options
- ATI RS600ME/SB600 Chipset
- 1GB DDR2 667MHz RAM, Max up to 3GB
- 12.1″ 1280×800 WXGA LED Back-Lit / Dual-Bulb CCFL
- ATI Radeon Xpress 1250
- 256MB Graphics Memory
- 8X DVD +/-RW
- Dell Wireless a/b/g, Bluetooth 2.0
- Broadcom BCM5756 Gigabit Ethernet
- Express Card / SD Card Slots
- 3xUSB 2.0, 1394a Connectors
- Weight: LED Back-Lit 1.6Kg(with 4 cell battery) / Dual-Bulb CCFL LCD 1.8Kg(with 6 cell battery)

More at iStartedSomething.com

Nov 16, ‘07 — Shortly after Michael Dell’s keynote address at Oracle OpenWorld on Nov 14, Dell has finally start selling brand new addition to its desktop lineup, 20-inch Widescreen Display All-In-One PC XPS One.

Dell is offering XPS One in four flavors, configurable with Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 processor, 2GB of DDR2 RAM, Bluetooth 2.0, 8-in-1 multicard reader, 802.11a/b/g/n Wi-Fi, 256MB ATI Radeon HD 2400 PRO Graphics Card, and a 500GB 7,200 RPM SATA hard drive. Additionally, you can add on a built-in Blu-ray DVD-Burner and a hybrid Analog / Digital TV tuner, starting from $1499, all the way up to $2399. More at Dell.