DSGi has inked a fat pan-European deal with Dell to punt the firm's notebooks and desktops in stores across 12 countries including the UK.

Under the agreement UK customers will be able to buy Dell goods in Dixons, Currys, PC World and online from January next year.

Elsewhere in Europe the products will be sold through DSGi subsidiaries such as Electro World and PC City.

DSGi's IT support service, TechGuys, also forms part of the deal.

The announcement comes hot on the heels of similar deals across the world with the likes of Walmart and Best Buy in the US, Carrefour in Europe and Gome stores in China all selling Dell computers, as the firm bids to push up its flagging market share by climbing into bed with the channel.

Dell vice president and EMEA general manager Mark Ormerod reckoned the agreement would strengthen the firm's selling power throughout Europe.

It could do with the push. Over the past few years Dell has been forced into a corner as it slowly accepted that there was little opportunity for growth unless it turned to channel partners to help prop up business for the troubled computer maker.

Last week it suffered the indignity of seeing Acer take second place in the worldwide notebook market. ®