Dell and Kentucky ink $100m computer deal

The state of Kentucky hopes to leverage the buying power of its agencies through a new statewide product and service deal signed with Dell Inc.

The Round Rock, Texas, company has signed a two-year contract with the Bluegrass State worth $10 million to supply desktops and notebooks and support services.

Four two-year options could raise the contract value to $100 million, the company said.

Under the contract, Dell will supply state agencies with its Optiplex desktops and Latitude notebooks. The systems are preloaded with common software to facilitate a standards-based computing model, the company said.

For the computer hardware, Dell will handle asset tagging, data migration and imaging technologies to all state agencies. Asset tags are identification plates put on computers for inventory and theft protection purposes.

Dell has more than 65,000 employees and had annual sales totaling $56.7 billion for the past four quarters. The company ranks No. 10 on Washington Technology's 2006 Top 100 list of the largest federal IT contractors.