Dell unveils managed IT services for Europe

Dell can provide IT as a service

Dell will announce on Monday a range of services for European customers that will allow them to outsource some IT functions to Dell or a reseller partner for a monthly, quarterly or annual fee.

Available from 29 June, the new offerings are similar to the managed IT services already operating in the US, but will known here as Dell Modular Services. They will be available in English first, with other major European languages set to follow by October.

Dolph Westerbos, Dell's vice president of solutions and services, said Dell had gained valuable experience from its earlier services rollout in the US, and now has the experience to operate software-as-a-service, with local engineers and sales staff trained and ready for the switch on.

"It's the first time we have deployed services in the cloud for European customers. These will allow customers to have some of their IT estate managed remotely by Dell or a partner," said Westerbos.

"It's also our first offering designed with partners in mind, white-labelled so that partners can resell it under their own brand."

The six initial groups of services are: Distributed Device Management, Software Inventory and Usage, Back-up and Restore, Laptop Data Encryption, Email Management Services, and Crisis Management & Alerting.

Each category breaks down into individual tools and services that customers can pick and choose on an à la carte basis, Westerbos said. For example, Distributed Device Management includes asset management and software patching.

While pricing for each service will ultimately be tied to the number of units, seats or licences, Dell claimed that its pricing structure is designed to be flexible. Customers can choose monthly, quarterly or annual billing, and p urchase bundles or have the freedom to scale units up and down as required.

"Obviously, the longer the purchasing horizon and the more units bought, the better price we will offer customers, but this gives less flexibility," said Westerbos.

Access to the services is through an agent, which is pre-installed on all new Dell systems. But customers using older Dell hardware or third-party equipment can easily download and install this, according to Westerbos.

The Email Management Services additionally require a server on the customer's network, which Dell or a reseller will install.

Westerbos said that Dell originally targeted its managed services at small-to-medium customers, but that over half of customers in the US are now firms with 2,000 or more seats.

The company already has one major customer in the UK. Utility firm Centrica has equipped its army of field engineers with Dell ruggedised tablets and has opted to outsource asset management and software distribution for the devices.