EMC’s Irish staff numbers could increase after Dell merger

4 May 2016

There are worries that after Dell and EMC form Dell Technologies in a mammoth $67bn deal, some of the combined 6,000 workers in Ireland will face an uncertain future – however, EMC has said its plans here could see labour numbers rise.

The EMC World Conference is currently underway and, as the merger between Dell and EMC is nearing, all eyes are on the US event for any added details on what the new combined Dell Technologies will mean.

Last March, the European Commission got on board with the idea of the merger, with the resulting Dell Technologies set to be a $2trn enterprise tech giant with interest in servers, storage, virtualisation and PC, as well as software-defined networks, hybrid cloud, converged infrastructure, mobile and security.

But the workers, what of the workers? In Ireland, roughly 6,000 employees (3,000 at EMC, 2,300 at Dell and 700 at VMware) are wondering where their futures lie.

Now, according to Fidelma Russo, SVP and GM of the VMax business unit at EMC, some can rest a little easier.

1,500 of the total EMC staff numbers in Cork operate under Russo, with the Cork native telling The Irish Times that there are no planned layoffs in her department.

“We’ve doubled the VMax Enterprise team over the last couple of years and that trend is only going to continue,” she said.

While she couldn’t comment on the greater operation as a whole, or the remaining 4,500 people employed in Ireland, she did note that the release of VMax All Flash points to a good future in Cork.

“Much of the software for VMax All Flash was designed in Ireland and will be supported there too,” she said. “We see VMax All Flash as a key provider of growth for the company into the future.”

Michael Dell, the CEO of Dell, recently announced that the name of the new entity will be Dell Technologies.

“It has a nice ring to it,” said Dell when he was speaking of the new name. “The brand equity of Dell PC is irreplaceable,” he added, nodding to the family name staying as the masthead.

Server image via Shutterstock

Gordon Hunt was a journalist with Silicon Republic

editorial@siliconrepublic.com