迈克尔·戴尔诠释戴尔科技

上周一，科技大亨迈克尔•戴尔和他的顶尖副手们在拉斯维加斯齐齐亮相，力图证明戴尔电脑和存储设备巨擘EMC的合并绝对物有所值。此项合并价值670亿美元，已在8个月前完成。

在Dell EMC World大会的开幕式上，戴尔先生再次表示，合并而成的戴尔科技“能像初创企业那样创新，同时具备大型公司的规模”。

和往届一样，本次大会上也将发布一系列产品，其中包括面向企业的高速全闪存存储硬件，定于今年晚些时候上市的第14代戴尔PowerEdge服务器也将得到初步展示。大会还计划向消费者提供基于“用多少花多少”定价模式的个人电脑和硬件。

科技行业分析和咨询公司Moor Insights & Strategy创始人、首席执行官兼分析师帕特里克•摩尔海德觉得最后一条消息最有意思。他在电子邮件中写道：“这样的做法让人们像使用云计算服务那样购买设备，从而夺走了云计算的一项优势。”

其中的原因在于云计算消费者只需在使用软硬件时付费，Amazon Web Services就是活生生的例子。只要停止使用，就不再收费。许多大企业都曾为了每三年左右更新一次服务器和存储设备而拿出数十万美元，而且还要为大企业软件授权花更多的钱，上述消息则意味着如果不愿意这样做，这些公司就不再需要进行这样的大规模前端采购。

这种受到普遍欢迎的模式撼动了传统科技公司，比如，嗯，戴尔和EMC，以及IBM、惠普和思科。就连并非硬件大公司的微软也在Amazon Web Services出现后受到重创，并因此赶紧对云计算敞开了怀抱。

如果能在不需要高额前端费用的情况下提供灵活而且可承受的价格，戴尔就有可能止住亏损。但新的戴尔科技能履行戴尔先生像初创公司那样创新的承诺，而且不受戴尔的庞大体量影响吗？

摩尔海德的态度很乐观。他指出，戴尔捆绑销售各种产品的能力比以往任何时候都强，但想把戴尔服务器和其他公司的存储设备放在一起使用的消费者也可以实现自己的目标。

国际数据公司分析师兼高级副总裁马特•伊斯特伍德表示，戴尔科技的非上市公司身份是个重大优势。通过合并，EMC从上市公司变成了一家大型非上市企业的一部分。

伊斯特伍德说：现在，合并后的公司“可以基于市场成熟度对公司/品牌组合进行不同的运作。它们比竞争对手更灵活。作为正面应对措施，惠普企业已经砍掉了几个业务部门。但这也牺牲了知识产权。”

其他人的疑问在于新成立的戴尔科技能否比戴尔电脑和EMC做得更好。安迪•帕尔默创立过几家科技公司，也一直是戴尔和EMC的用户，他认为这方面还没有定论。

帕尔默说：“如果说有人能理顺这件事，那就是迈克尔•戴尔。但跟EMC合作很困难，而且到目前为止EMC已经远离了普通公司的需求，让他们调整方针是个挑战。”

科技行业研究和咨询机构Constellation Research创始人兼首席分析师雷•王未参加本次会议。他说自己甚至不能确定戴尔是否还是一家科技公司。相反，王认为戴尔已经为私募投资者所掌控，将遵循私募公司利益最大化的原则行事。他说：“和大多数私募公司一样，创新被搁置一旁，因为盈利能力高于热情。”（财富中文网）

译者：Charlie

审稿：夏林

Tech mogul Michael Dell and his top lieutenants were out in force in Las Vegas on Monday to show that the $67 billion combination of Dell Computer and storage giant EMC, completed eight months ago, was worth every penny.

In his kickoff at the Dell EMC World conference, Mr. Dell reiterated his argument that the combined Dell Technologies "can innovate like a startup but with the scale of a huge company."

The conference had the usual blizzard of product announcements including fast all-flash storage hardware for businesses and a preview of "14th-generation" Dell PowerEdge servers due later this year. There were also plans to offer customers pay-as-you-go pricing for PC and other hardware.

Analyst Patrick Moorhead, founder and CEO of Moor Insights & Strategy, found the last announcement most interesting. "Programs that let you buy equipment as you would pay for it in the cloud, takes one cloud advantage off the table," Moorhead said via email.

The reason is that cloud computing, a model exemplified by Amazon Web Services, lets customers pay for only the hardware and software they use for the time they use it. If they shut it off, the bill stops. That means many big businesses that once paid hundreds of thousands of dollars every three years or so for new servers and storage, as well as more money for big enterprise software licenses, no longer have to make those big up-front purchases if they don't want to.

The popularity of that model has upended traditional tech companies like, well like Dell and EMC, as well as IBM (ibm, -0.60%), HP (hpq, -0.36%), and Cisco. Even Microsoft (msft, +0.20%), which was not a big hardware player, was hit hard by the advent of Amazon Web Services (amzn, +0.40%) and, in response, rushed to embrace cloud computing.

If Dell can offer flexible and affordable hardware pricing without the big up-front commitment, that could help stop its bleeding. But can the new Dell Technologies fulfill Mr. Dell's promise of startup-style innovation, despite Dell's gargantuan size?

Moorhead is bullish. He noted a stronger tie-in between the various Dell products than ever. But customers who want to use Dell servers with some other company's storage can do so.

Matt Eastwood, analyst and senior vice president with research firm IDC, said Dell Technologies' status as a private company is a big advantage. In the merger, EMC morphed from a publicly traded company to part of a privately held giant.

Now, the combined company "can run the portfolio of companies/brands differently based on the maturity of the market," Eastwood said. "They are more nimble than their peer competitors. HPE (hpe, -0.58%) is directly responding by cutting divisions. But it is also sacrificing intellectual property."

Others have their doubts whether this the new Dell Technologies can do better than its predecessor companies. Andy Palmer, who has founded several tech companies, and has also been a customer of Dell and EMC, is uncertain.

"If anyone can sort this out, it's Michael Dell. But EMC was tough to work with and has gotten so far away from the needs of the average business it's challenging for them to move the needle," Palmer said.

Ray Wang, founder and principal analyst of Constellation Research, who did not attend the conference, said he is not sure that Dell is even a tech company anymore. Instead, he views it as a company owned by a private equity investors that will act in the best interests of that private equity firm. "As with most PE firms, innovation is put aside for profitability over passion," he said.