Dell sets sights on cloud client-computing provider

Dell Inc. has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Wyse Technology, a San Jose, Calif.-based provider of cloud-client computing, to significantly extend its desktop virtualization offerings.

Financial terms of the deal were not reported in the April 2 announcement.

The addition of Wyse will expand Dell’s enterprise solutions portfolio and desktop virtualization capabilities and provide new solutions and services opportunities for Dell’s enterprise offerings, the computer giant explained.

Wyse, ranked No.1 in thin-client unit shipment volume in the fourth quarter 2011, has shipped more than 20 million units worldwide and has over 200 million people interacting with its products each day, the announcement said.

The company has more than 180 patents, both issued and pending, covering its solutions, software and differentiated intellectual property.

Wyse has more than 3,000 resellers and shipped more than 1 million units in 2011.

“The total market for desktop virtualization solutions should continue to see strong growth globally, with the larger revenue and margin opportunities coming from the data center infrastructure, cloud and services offerings that are tied to thin client and desktop virtualization technology sales,” Matthew Eastwood, group vice president of enterprise platform research at IDC, said in the Dell announcement.

“The end-to-end data center infrastructure stack for these solutions is expected to exceed $15 billion by 2015,” he added.

Dell’s decision to acquire Wyse Technology is an “aggressive step to bring its solutions strategy closer to an area of historical strength it has with PCs: end-users' work spaces,” TBR analysts Krista Macomber and Jack Narcotta said in a separate statement.

“As PC’s contribution to Dell’s revenue and margins steadily declines, the company needs a solution that securely and efficiently links end points with core data center components such as servers, storage and networking,” they added.

“An end-to-end virtualization solution is critical as Dell makes its transition from high-volume hardware manufacturer to trusted provider of comprehensive services and solutions,” they said.

Dell Inc., of Round Rock, Texas, ranks No. 15 on Washington Technology’s 2011 Top 100 list of the largest federal government contractors.