In some ways, computer systems specialist Dell
As Cisco moves from the pure networking market into a seller of top-to-bottom solutions from the data center, Dell make moves in exactly the opposite direction. With today's purchase of storage expert 3PAR
Why would networking be the next logical step for Dell? First, 3PAR's expertise lies in making the most of storage systems for virtual computing and cloud-computing environments. What's missing from Dell's picture would be the network that glues its servers and storage units together.
Second, everybody else is doing it, so why can't Dell? HP bought 3Com last year, we already talked about Cisco's convergence moves, and the entire industry is boiling down to a handful of key competitors at a brisk rate. Doing business across the board seems to be the mating call of the season.
If $1.15 billion isn't too much to pay for a virtualized storage specialist whose enterprise value was $500 million last night, then maybe Dell can cough up the cash to grab Brocade Communications Systems
Is Dell doing the right thing here or should the company forget about ancillary services and just focus on selling computers? Or maybe Cisco should just buy Dell and complete the circle of life. Discuss in the comments below.