Dell Jumps on SilverBack

Dell, always interested to jump at new business opportunities, this time choose SilverBack Technologies, in order to boost its enterprise portfolio. SilverBack Technologies was a privately held company that had a nice niche in the service delivery market for remote monitoring and management of information technologies such as servers, storage, networks, desktops and notebooks. Dell plans to use Silverback into its operations concerning the current ongoing strategy of IT simplification and to extends its basic services.

Jeff Kaplan, managing director at consulting firm Think Strategies, who was cited by vnunet.com, wrote in a company blog: "Dell is in a unique position to capitalise on SilverBack's capabilities because it has a strong relationship with customers as a result of its direct sales heritage. This relationship permits Dell to deliver managed services that can demonstrate a greater commitment to ensure the reliability, security and business value of its products."

He warned however, that Dell's intentions to open a retail channel as opposed to the direct sales strategy and to extend IT managing services could complicate all current offerings. Dell is not the first big name in the software or the hardware industry to extend its reach both in the direct and into the indirect channel business strategies. Other companies like Cisco and Sun are already doing this, even if for Sun is a tad easier as they have had managing services and remote consulting for a long time.

"This effort will require Dell to segment its managed service offerings to fit its direct and indirect channel strategies," Jeff Kaplan wrote. "As Cisco, Sun and other vendors have learned, this is not an easy balancing act." All in all, this move to acquire SilverBack Technologies, a company with its own customers and good reputation, is designed to increase Dell's offerings and the IT market share.