Dell retains name in biggest tech merger

Las Vegas : Michael Dell announced at the casino capital of the world that the biggest merger in tech history will be called Dell Technologies. "It has a nice sound to it," the Chairman and CEO of Dell, which last year announced the $70-billion merger with EMC, said at the Venetian Convention Center where he was giving the keynote address on Monday at the annual EMC World Conference.

The brand equity of Dell PC is irreplaceable, he said, adding that he was partial to the family name. Dell Technologies will comprise Dell, EMC - the leading global computing storage provider VMware, Pivotal, Secureworks, RSA and Virtustream. The combined enterprise business, though, would go by the name of Dell-EMC, he announced. The merger is awaiting regulatory approval from the US and Chinese authorities as well as a green light from shareholders.

Several countries have already given an assent to the marriage, with the actual merger likely to happen in the next few months. Taking a dig at rival HP, Dell said that his competitor was trying to grow by downsizing. "You cannot do that. But HP is trying to grow by investing less in R&D and less in software, all the while losing shares to Dell," he said, adding that his company was doing just the opposite.

"We are investing in speed, agility and innovation, and creating the essential infrastructure for the next industrial revolution," the tech celebrity said, pointing out that he was making the announcement just one day short of the 32nd birthday of his company. Little later, Dell told the media that although information technology did disrupt existing businesses and structures, they also created more possibilities.

Answering a question about many people being left behind by the changes in the IT world, Dell said that it was a challenge to cope with the coming changes, right from the time the wheel was invented. "It was up to the people and countries to anticipate and work towards it. The future doesn't pay attention to which people are ready for it or not," he said late at night India time.

He said when he started out, he believed that IT was going to be a force for change. Over the years, he said, it had democratised information, helped cut poverty by half globally and created a huge global middle class in most countries. I am more energised and optimistic today about IT, he added.

He said the combined company, Dell and EMC, would stand at the centre of innovation and the next big growth in IT. Joe Tucci, 69, Chairman and CEO of EMC, who tried out his balancing act on a hover board because he was dissuaded from doing so because of his age, also announced that this would be his last annual conference with EMC. He got a prolonged standing ovation from hundreds of EMC and Dell employees who came to witness announcements of their merger.

Tucci said that something great and something truly special would emerge out of the two giants coming together. Saying that everyone had to be prepared for the coming digital revolution, he said that it would dwarf the industrial revolution in terms of innovation and change.