Dell stands up software unit, hires group president

Dell Inc. has named John Swainson president of the computer giant’s newly created Software Group.

Swainson will report to Chairman and CEO Michael Dell when he takes over the group on March 5.

“The addition of software, both within the Software Group and across all of Dell, will help catalyze our transformation,” Dell said in a Feb. 2 company announcement.

“As software will be a part of all of our products and services, the group’s success will be largely be measured by the success of Dell overall,” the company founder added.

“The organization will add to Dell’s enterprise solutions capability, accelerate profitable growth and further differentiate the company from competitors by increasing its solutions portfolio with Dell-owned intellectual property,” the announcement explained.

It also will bolster Dell’s ability to execute in several strategic areas critical to its customers. The combination of strong internal development capabilities in hardware, software and services gives Dell the ability to serve the largest possible group of customers within the $3 trillion technology industry.

Swainson most recently was senior adviser to Silver Lake, a global private equity firm.

From 2005 through 2009 he was CEO and director of CA Inc., having come from IBM Corp., where he worked for more than 26 years in various management positions in the U.S. and Canada.

Swainson holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from the University of British Columbia, Canada.