Published on the 06/09/2013 | Written by Newsdesk
Dell Software has assembled a team of 200 software engineers under the leadership of an Australian to develop big data solutions for smaller enterprises…
When Dell paid $US2.4 billion for Quest Software last year it also picked up a team of software engineers based in Melbourne led by Guy Harrison, executive director of R&D , which is now working on a big data solution targeted at smaller enterprises.
According to Harrison, who now leads a team of 200 developers, 30 of whom are based in Australia, while big data and machine learning are being embraced by large enterprises they are “very threatening for smaller businesses” which may not have the deep pockets and skills bases to exploit data.
According to Harrison, “your upmarket competitor has more PhD skills and more data”. To level the playing field he said that Dell Software was working on technology to “democratise machine learning”. He said that this would make Dell one of the few companies with “floor to ceiling” big data solutions to serve the needs of all sizes of enterprise.
“The ambition is to bring out a platform that you can use without having a PhD in math.” He said that the fully-fledged platform was probably still two years distant.
Meanwhile the protracted efforts of Michael Dell to privatise the company he founded should not deter customers according to senior executives, with the growing Dell Software business now the glue for the broader enterprise.
According to Dell Software’s Australian managing director, Ian Hodge, the investment in the Dell Software brand was, “part of Dell’s transformation from an infrastructure provider…to become an end-to-end solutions company”.
Joanne Moretti, vice president and global head of software marketing, said that Dell Software, which has grown rapidly largely through acquisition was now a $US1.5 billion business making it a top 20 software business in its own right.
She said that the focus for Dell now was on four key areas – transforming enterprise architecture with modern systems; information management and application; connecting technologies; and systems access, privacy and security systems. She said that Michael Dell had communicated – even “over communicated” she said – with shareholders and customers regarding his intent and long-term strategy for the business.
“The strategy will withstand any change,” she said adding this was important as “the PC business is not going anywhere”.
