January 2008 - Posts

• Dell Global Services: We’re Listening

  Thu. Jan. 31, 2008
  by Cary Gumbert, Dell Global Services

  Over the past year, many of our business customers have shared candid feedback through our support specialists and in places like IdeaStorm and Direct2Dell about Dell's technical support solutions.  You tell us what we're doing well, and in many cases, what we need to change.  I'm here to tell you that we're listening, and we're finding ways to act.

  You've given us many ideas, and we're taking time to consider all of them.  Here are three suggestions that you've made loud and clear:

  • Simplify the purchase process.  IdeaStorm user beefman and many others have told us to simplify the purchase process for Dell products and support solutions.  Beefman described the current "multilayered, multitiered pricing structure" as "immensely confusing today" and urged Dell to "simplify!"

  • Skip the scripts and treat IT professionals as the professionals they are.  IdeaStorm user hipowerone and many others have asked Dell to differentiate between IT professionals and end users calling for technical support.  They've asked that Dell "get rid of the scripts" and mandatory troubleshooting for IT pros who call with a clear understanding of their problem - thus, saving time on the phone and helping to resolve the problem faster.
    

  • Make support services consistent globally.  IdeaStorm user xaerts, an IT manager for the European region of a multinational company, expressed the challenges associated with managing the IT needs of 15 different offices.  He suggested that Dell organize a more streamlined, global service and solutions offering. 

  We've heard you, and have made significant progress in giving you what you've asked for.  Next week, Dell Global Services will share more details on upcoming enhancements to our service offerings for business customers of all sizes.
  
  Thanks for your feedback... more to come soon.
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• Dell improves Windows Vista notebook battery life

  Thu. Jan. 31, 2008
  by Daniel Judd, Product Group Strategist

  When I talk to customers, I get lots of questions about overall performance in Windows Vista—especially in the area of laptop battery life. I saw an idea called Make longer lasting batteries for better portability from IdeaStorm user winoffice on the topic. While Vista brings a number of improvements to the table like enhanced security and graphics, it's a new and sophisticated code stack. We've been working with Microsoft to address some of the factors that impact overall notebook battery life.

  Microsoft enabled a new set of power management tools that allow Dell to fine tune the operating system to the hardware. This is a great example of the unsung improvements Microsoft has made to the OS which will become more apparent over time.

  In November, Dell took advantage of these tools to make almost 40 configuration changes and updates. Some enhancements were straightforward, like making more intelligent use of hibernation sleep states, while others were more complex, like optimizing multi-core power management.

  If you are looking for optimal Windows Vista performance on a new system; consider a Dell. A good example is the Inspiron 1525 and you can read more about its strong battery performance in this recent review in Laptop Magazine.

  PS. If you are running Windows Vista on your Dell today and would like to utilize our optimizations, we'll post them to support.dell.com (and we'll update this post) in the coming weeks.
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• Dell (PRODUCT) RED Ad Coming Superbowl Sunday

  Wed. Jan. 30, 2008
  by Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger

  For the first time in Dell's history, we will air an advertisement during Superbowl Sunday that focuses on our (PRODUCT) RED systems.

  If you'd like a sneak peek at what's coming, my good pal and social media tour de force RichardatDELL posted a couple of preview videos on YouTube. This video features some behind the scenes footage, and this one features some insight from Dell's David Clifton and Samuel Bayer, the director of the spot.

  Update, February 1: It appears we were premature in posting those videos, so we were asked to remove them. My apologies for the inconvenience. I still stand by my statement that RichardatDELL is a social media tour de force.

  More to come this weekend.

  
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• Dell Focuses on Selling Products Direct and Through Retail

  Wed. Jan. 30, 2008
  by Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger

  Today, we will close 140 Dell Direct Store kiosks in the United States. We're doing this to focus on phone sales, direct orders on Dell.com, and selling products through retail outlets.

  We started offering Dell systems through retailers about six months ago, and now customers can buy Dell desktops and laptops through more than 10,000 retail outlets worldwide. See the Retail category on Direct2Dell for more blog posts on this topic.

  This change does not impact Dell Direct stores in Canada or in Asia Pacific and Japan.
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• The Grand Opening: Dell Opens Second European Manufacturing Plant in Poland

  Wed. Jan. 30, 2008
  by David Marmonti, Sr. Vice President—EMEA

  Last week I was in Poland taking part in the official opening ceremony of our second European plant in Łódź, Poland.  Michael Dell and I were joined by employees, customers, members of the Polish national and local government, international ambassadors and media for the event. 

  The facility in Łódź represents a significant investment from Dell and its suppliers and signals our commitment to growing our presence in the Central and Eastern European and Scandinavian markets.  Locating our plant here is already significantly improving our service to the region's customers and has strengthened our competitiveness by cutting up to two days off our delivery times.

  In addition to its proximity to our customers and its good transport links, Łódź also gives us access to the great talent and skills of the local workforce in Poland.  We started production in November 2007 with about 400 people. We now have more than 1,200 employees.

  One of the questions I was asked most in the event was how Dell will contribute to the lives of our employees and the wider community.  It is our goal to be a positive contributor.  Consistent with this goal, our Łódź facility has a number of community projects underway.  These include enabling two Łódź schools from the Widzew district to receive Dell products worth US$35,000 and more than 100 Dell employees planting trees in the Lublinek forest park.  This was the first stage of an initiative to plant 130,000 trees in Łódź and its surrounding area last year.  This project and many like it around the world, show how Dell is partnering with customers and members of the ReGeneration - people of all ages who care about the environment.

  I'm proud that our newest factory is also our most advanced worldwide.  It has benefited from the knowledge and best practice of all our facilities around the world, in particular from the skills of our Irish team in Limerick.

  This is another historic step for our commitment to customers and growth in the region. Here are some photos:

   

  Ribbon cutting (from left to right): Michael Dell (Chairman and, CEO), Jacek Murawski (General Manager, Dell Poland), Jerzy Kropiwnicki (Mayor of Łódź), Mike Cannon (President, Global Operations), Łukasz Wysocki (Gold Award Winner, Manufacturing).

  

  Plant Entrance

  Note from Lionel: We posted more photos from the event on Flickr.
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• Planting Trees in East Texas

  Tue. Jan. 29, 2008
  by Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger

  The Dell ReGeneration Team was in Liberty, Texas, today to dedicate 158 acres of forestland that, over time, will sequester more than 63,000 tons of carbon dioxide. The project is part of our Plant a Tree for Me and Plant a Forest for Me programs and resides within the Trinity River National Wildlife Refuge. Dell joined The Conservation Fund, Travelocity, NBC Universal and U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service (USFWS) in what the Southwest Regional Director of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service described as a "historic event."

  My colleague and green guru Sean Donahue was on-hand for the dedication and provides more details in his post at ReGeneration.org. Here's a photo from today's activities... click on it to see a larger version. You can also see more at the ReGeneration Flickr site.

  
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• Dell Adds the NVIDIA 8800M GTX with Dual SLI Technology to the XPS M1730 Gaming Notebook

  Tue. Jan. 29, 2008
  by Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger

  Update: 1/29—My apologies... I published this at 6am, but meant to publish it here on the Direct2Dell home page.

  I imagine many enthusiasts have read articles about NVIDIA's mobile graphics card in places like Anandtech, Crave, HotHardware and others. As of today, we're offering customers in the United States the option to order the mobile SLI version of the 8800M GTX in our XPS M1730 notebook. The same graphics card option will soon be available to customers in EMEA and APJ as well. What this means to a mobile gamer is DirectX 10 (DX10) performance that approaches performance of high-end desktops.

  To put it in perspective, according to benchmark's run by Dell's performance team, the same XPS 1730 notebook earned a score of almost 13,500 in 3Dmark06—which is about 49% performance gain over two 8700M GT cards in the same notebook. In other words, games like Crysis, BioShock, Far Cry 2 and Age of Conan will scream.

  

  Back when we launched the XPS M1730, I mentioned that we would offer an upgrade option for customers who purchased their laptops with the previous-generation graphics solution, the NVIDIA 8700M GT SLI edition. The upgrade option will also be available to customers who bought the XPS M1730 World of Warcraft Edition as well. 

  Pricing and additional details about the graphics card upgrade program will be coming soon.
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• Dell Completes EqualLogic Acquisition

  Mon. Jan. 28, 2008
  by Darren Thomas, VP/GM Dell Storage

  Today we completed the EqualLogic acquisition, a leading provider of high-performance storage area network (SAN) solutions designed for virtualization and ease-of-use. The purchase extends Dell's leadership in simplifying IT for customers. 

  Customers face extreme challenges with data growth. Storage solutions that use existing infrastructure, install in minutes not days, manage themselves, can grow easily as needs increase and plug into the virtualized IT ecosystem will help businesses with their storage needs. EqualLogic provides these storage solutions and that's the incredible value that Dell will now be able to deliver to our customers.  With Dell's PartnerDirect channel, we will unleash the power of iSCSI and virtualization to redefine the economics of storing and processing data.

  Dell plans to preserve and build on EqualLogic's successful channel program in addition to offering products directly from Dell.  Starting today in the U.S. and ultimately around the world, current EqualLogic partners will be enrolled into PartnerDirect and are eligible for Dell's newest certification—Enterprise Architecture.  Certification requirements and benefits are modeled after EqualLogic's widely-regarded channel program and extend the benefits of Dell's full server and storage product lines.

  Here's a vlog where I talk more about this acquisition.

  Format: flv Duration: 1:59

  Downloads WMV  MP4  OGG
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• Dell Joins Microsoft and (PRODUCT) RED in the Fight Against AIDS in Africa

  Thu. Jan. 24, 2008
  by Lionel Menchaca, Chief Blogger

   

  You've probably seen some of the reaction about this in places like Gizmodo, and now I can confirm it. Today, we're making it easy for Dell customers who want to make a difference. Anyone who wants to join us to fight AIDS in Africa can do so by purchasing any of our (PRODUCT) RED-branded PCs. For Dell, this initiative represents an important step in our ongoing commitment to fight the spread of HIV around the globe.

  Dell (PRODUCT) RED products are all distinguished by bright red accents and (PRODUCT) RED branding. Each of these systems will come with a special version of Windows Vista Ultimate. Windows Vista Ultimate (PRODUCT) RED includes six unique desktop wallpapers, a screen saver, and two Windows Sidebar gadgets and a (RED)-themed Windows DreamScene.

  Dell and Microsoft will make a combined contribution of $50 - 80 depending on the PC purchased to the Global Fund. Dell will contribute $5 for every (PRODUCT) RED printer sold. 100% of the contributed finds will go toward Global Fund-financed grants in Africa. To put it in perspective, the $80 contribution generated by the purchase of the (PRODUCT) RED XPS One with Vista Ultimate  is equivalent to more than six months of life-saving antiretroviral treatment for someone living with AIDS in Africa.

  Update 1/24, 10:30am—Here's a cool photo from Davos with Bill Gates, Bono and Michael Dell to celebrate the launch of these products. You can click on it for an enlarged version.

  

  Dell (PRODUCT) RED products are now available for order at www.dell.com/joinred. They will also be available in Best Buy stores throughout the United States by the end of the week. And beginning January 31, these products will be available through Dell in nearly 30 additional countries.

  Now for some details about the (PRODUCT) RED systems. Clicking on the images below will give you a larger picture.

  XPS One (PRODUCT) RED:

  • This is Dell's all-in-one product that I've blogged about before. Starting price is $1,599—every purchase results in an $80 contribution to The Global Fund.

   

  XPS M1330 (PRODUCT) RED:

  • This is our award-winning sub-four pound notebook that regular Direct2Dell readers are pretty familiar with. Starting price of $1,149—purchase results in a $50 contribution to the Global Fund.  

   

  XPS M1530 (PRODUCT) RED:

  • This is the larger 15" version of the XPS M1330. Lots of the same design and feature enhancements with a larger display. Starting price oof $1,149—purchase results in a $50 contribution to the Global Fund.  

   Dell 948 All-in-One Printer:

  • The 948 printer integrates fax, scan, copy, print and photo-printing capability together into an easy-to-use package without requiring a connection to a computer. Starting price of $149—purchase results in a $5 contribution to the Global Fund.

  

   
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• Ubuntu 7.10 on the XPS M1330, Ubuntu Coming to Customers in Spain

  Wed. Jan. 23, 2008
  by Daniel Judd, Product Group Strategist

  Since we've began offering Ubuntu on some consumer systems, two clear areas of feedback from the IdeaStorm community and Direct2Dell readers have been: offer Ubuntu on more hardware, and offer it worldwide.This Ubuntu-related post is still the third most commented post in Direct2Dell's history-many  of the 654 comments are asking for it in more countries.

  Now Ubuntu 7.10 is making it's way to our XPS 1330 laptop and Dell will begin offering Ubuntu in Spain.

  Starting today, customers in Germany, United Kingdom, France and now Spain can purchaseUbuntu Linux 7.10 with built-in DVD playback on the XPS 1330n (in addition to the previously-released Inspiron 530n desktop system.  For U.S. customers, you'll have to hold on a week or so.

  Update, January 30: As of last night, the XPS M1330 with Ubuntu is now available for customers in the United States at www.dell.com/ubuntu.

  Update, February 18: Today we started offering the NVIDIA 8400M GS graphics card as an option for Ubuntu customers.

  

  Ubuntu 7.10 runs great on the XPS M1330. It has more power, more style.  Take a look at the Dell UK Ubuntu website for more details.

  Thank you to the Linux community for the support. Your purchases and your commitment is the driving force behind this expansion, and is the key to more in the future. 
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