Dell turns up the heat under Compaq

Computer maker Dell today unveiled a raft of announcements designed to topple rival Compaq from the top of the server market.

The company, which has traditionally been a strong player in the mid-range market, is aiming to plug the gaps at the top and bottom of its range with the launch of two low-end general purpose servers and a strategic deal with Unisys. Brian McBride, general manager of Dell UK and Ireland, believes the company's plans are ambitious but achievable. He said: "This set of announcements underlines our commitment to being one of the major enterprise players. This will position us to take the number one spot in the next 12 months." Research group IDC puts Compaq at the head of its market rankings in standard Intel-based servers with 39 per cent of the market share, followed by Dell on 24 per cent. "We almost halved the gap with Compaq last year," said McBride. "It's very much a two horse race and we're growing much faster than Compaq." Now the company is backing its complete product range - from the high to low end - to provide the boost it needs. The two low-end rack servers, the PowerEdge 1550 and PowerEdge 350, are designed for general purpose internet and intranet use. The worldwide server market has been sluggish over the last 12 months, but Dell is predicting the adoption of Windows 2000 and continuing growth of internet use will revitalise the market in the first half of next year. Today also sees the release of Dell's second generation PowerApp appliance servers and a new server management package, OpenManage. Last month the computer maker reported healthy results for the third quarter with revenue up 22 per cent, but its share price suffered after the company admitted Q4 would not be as successful. The company expects its PowerEdge and PowerApp products to be available in January 2001.