* DELL has confirmed it will take over EMC for $67 billion. VM Ware will continue as a publicly traded company.
It now looks almost certain that Dell will announce it is taking over EMC today – a move that will cause ripples right throughout their respective channels.
The deal, said to be worth over $50 billion, is expected to be concluded either today or tomorrow, although EMC, being a listed company, will have to be offered to other prospective suitors.
A prospective suitor this time last year was HP, but HP Inc and HP Enterprise aren’t that interested any more.
For Dell, there are clear advantages to the acquisition. It has been building up its channel portfolio for several years now and at last week’s Canalys Channels Forum, senior executives said that at least 70 percent of its business was now going through two tier distribution. The acquisition will also put Dell into the top league, along with IBM and HP one and two.
Dell has also had a pretty smooth path when it’s taken over other countries, managing to successfully integrate them in a comparatively short period.
Obviously, there will be some consolidation involved and doubtless some people will be made redundant as part of the proposed takeover. But sorting out the channel implications will require some deft and delicate moves on Dell’s behalf. Reports suggest that EMC’s VM Ware division may itself be subject to either a sale or some equity investment.
