Dell will build data center in the country
Valor Econômico
Computer maker Dell will build a data center structure in Brazil. The project, guided directly by the headquarters of the American company, is part of Dell's plans to expand its services division business. Besides a building to house servers - large computers that process the data -, the company plans to install a unit for development of systems in the country. This week, Peter Altabef, world president of Dell's services division, visited the country, with passing by Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Porto Alegre. The executive spoke exclusively to Valor.
Investments in the subsidiary, according to Altabef - who did not reveal values or deadlines for the implementation -, will bring to the local operation a complete offering of services that Dell currently offers in other countries like the United States. Currently, Dell has a factory of equipments in Hortolandia (SP). In any corner of the globe, Dell always has been - and still is - synonymous of computers. Its image has no close relationship with the rendering of service, what reflects in its financial results. In the fiscal year ended in January, the company earned US$ 53 billion. Only 15% of the total is related to the services unit. With Perot Systems, the most expensive acquisition ever undertook by Dell, its muscles increased. To the 18 thousand employees that the manufacturer kept in the area of services Perot's 24 thousand were added. Today, Dell has about 60 thousand employees, including employees kept on the premises to major customers. "In Brazil, we have 1.8 thousand people working in our services division, of which one thousand are Dell´s direct employees", says Altabef.
Although significant, when compared to the major rivals the numbers show that Dell still has much to grow to reach the top in the segment. With a total of 96 thousand employees, Michael Dell´s company is now worth less than a third of which was worth five years ago. In 2005, its market value was US$ 102 billion, today it is US$ 32 billion. The willingness of Dell in providing services - an area that typically offers a much higher profit margin than that one of equipment - follows movements already established by its biggest competitors. Hewlett-Packard (HP), which took the leadership of the worldwide PC market from Dell, played hard two years ago, when paid US$ 13.9 billion for the EDS services company. Today it is a giant with 304 thousand employees and revenues of US$ 114.5 billion. Earlier, in 2005, IBM had already made a radical move, selling its PC area to the Chinese Lenovo, in order to dedicate itself to IT services. With 399 thousand employees, IBM reported revenue of US$ 96 billion in its most recent fiscal year.