Dell rejigs US units

Focus on growth and service

By John Oates • Get more from this author

Posted in PC Builder, 29th June 2006 09:49 GMT

Dell has reorganised its US consumer and business units to focus on growth.

Ro Parra has been put in charge of Dell's consumer and small business unit. Joe Marengi is now running its US corporate business. The changes were made several weeks ago but have only just been made public.

Dell CEO Kevin Rollins told the FT the company was seeing competitors, "on fairly shaky profitability ground flying a bit closer to the ground". He believes the market will see a new round of consolidation.

He said consumers increasingly want more media-rich machines but denied this was a problem for a direct seller. He said Dell's retail business, which accounts for some eight per cent of consumer sales, would not be a focus for future growth but remains very useful as a way to find out what consumers want. He compared Dell's kiosks to 160 focus groups which make a profit.

Asked about rumours that Dell was preparing to offer AMD PCs as well as servers, Rollins said: "I think it's correct that there is a rumour. I confirm that I have heard a rumour as well."

Dell is also offering a new level of support for servers and storage products called Platinum Plus. More here.