Our Story: Tracing Dell’s Solutions Heritage with Precision

About a year ago we launched a heritage blog series inside Dell called “Our Story.” It’s proven to be a great way to connect, engage and inspire our 109,000 team members around the world. It’s also been fun for me personally to reminisce about our 28-year heritage and connect the dots from my 1984 dorm room to Dell 2012 and beyond.

The original Dell Precision workstation and the 2012 Dell Precision mobile workstation

But our heritage is not just about those of us who wear a Dell badge. Our customers, partners, shareholders and former employees all own an important piece of Dell’s story too. So today we’re launching the first in a series of “Our Story” posts on Direct2Dell and invite you to listen in and join the conversation about Dell’s rich heritage.

The topic of the first post is our mid-90s entry into workstations, a timely subject matter given the new family of Precision mobile workstations we introduced today.  These machines are workhorses engineered specifically for some of our most compute-intensive customers—engineers, software developers, video editors, animators and architects, to name a few.

Since launching our first workstation in 1997, we’ve been instrumental in moving the technology industry forward. We were the first to introduce mobile workstations, systems with dual-core processors and rack workstations. We’ve consistently pushed the envelope for better performance, more power and customer-inspired design, and this new lineup is no exception.

Did you know that workstations really marked the beginning of Dell’s solutions-focused journey?  It was the first product line we designed for a specific customer segment, with their unique requirements, obstacles and goals in mind. We even partnered with independent software vendors (ISVs) to ensure our workstations were not only compatible but optimized for the critical applications these customers require.

Jeff Clarke, vice chairman and president of Dell Global Operations and End User Computing Solutions, and I talked about this important company milestone recently, and we thought it might be an interesting story to share.

The Dell Workstation 400, as we called it in 1997, was a huge success. In very little time, we went from zero to nearly 50 percent share and led the industry as the No. 1 workstation provider for 10 consecutive years.

It was a homerun for Dell but, even more important, it underscored this notion that the real purpose and benefit of technology is to solve problems and enable our customers to achieve their goals. That’s what our solutions strategy is all about, and it’s the right one—for Dell and for our customers.

About the Author: Michael Dell

Michael Dell is chairman and chief executive officer of Dell Technologies, an innovator and technology leader providing the essential infrastructure for organizations to build their digital future, transform IT and protect their most important information. With revenues of $91B and 157,000 team members, Dell Technologies is one of the world’s largest IT companies serving the needs of global corporations and governments to small businesses and consumers. The company's unique structure allows innovative, fast-moving startups to co-exist with, and leverage, the global reach and trusted reputation of the large enterprise. Michael’s story started when he founded Dell Technologies with $1000 in 1984 at the age of 19. Notably quoted as saying that “technology is about enabling human potential,” Michael’s vision of how technology should be designed, manufactured and sold forever changed the IT industry. In 1992, Michael became the youngest CEO ever to earn a ranking on the Fortune 500. Known and admired for his astute business vision and bold moves, Michael took Dell Technologies private in 2013, setting the stage to architect the largest technology deal in history with the combination of Dell, EMC and VMware in 2016 and the subsequent relisting of Dell Technologies on the public markets in 2018. In 1998, Michael formed MSD Capital, a private investment firm that exclusively manages the capital for the Dell family. And in 1999, he and his wife, Susan Dell, established the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation to accelerate opportunity for children growing up in urban poverty in the U.S., India and South Africa. Michael is an honorary member of the Foundation Board of the World Economic Forum and is an executive committee member of the International Business Council. He is also a member of the Technology CEO Council, the U.S. Business Council and the Business Roundtable. He serves on the advisory board of Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management in Beijing, China and on the governing board of the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, India. He is a board member of Catalyst and also served as the United Nations Foundation's first Global Advocate for Entrepreneurship.