Dell Limerick operation gains from global US$1bn investment

7 Apr 2011

Dell’s Irish operations have gained a Global Solutions Centre as part of a global US$1bn investment Dell is making in data centres and virtualisation.

It is understood the new Global Solutions Centre in Limerick is already operational at the site that once held a major manufacturing presence. No job numbers have yet been confirmed.

Dell is building new data centres and will be developing sets of products in areas such as virtualisation and cloud computing.

The company aims to expand its business outside of its traditional computer hardware base and into more disruptive technologies.

In particular, Dell has been growing its expertise in the IT services business, with its Dell Services division capturing marketshare in areas like healthcare and finance.

Dell Services CTO Kris Fitzgerald on Dell’s US$1bn investment in data centre strategy

Dell’s US$1bn investment in data centre strategy – CTO Kris Fitzgerald 

In 2009, Dell acquired Perot Systems for US$3.9bn and in December took over InSite One, a specialist healthcare services company.

The technology giant will invest in building an unspecified number of data centres around the world over the next 24 months.

“Technology advances, delivery methods and the move to disruptive IT models like cloud are changing the fundamental way businesses operate,” Steve Schuckenbrock, president of Dell Services, said in a statement.

“Dell is mobilising to help customers capture these benefits and, with today’s announcement, is making the power of the cloud accessible to more organisations and users,” Schuckenbrock said.

John Kennedy is a journalist who served as editor of Silicon Republic for 17 years

editorial@siliconrepublic.com