Dell Unveils Enterprise PC Product Portfolio For 2011

Dell showed off a wide array of new products including dozens of updated enterprise-class PCs, a 10-inch Windows 7 tablet device due later this year, and several business-oriented IT services at a press event in San Francisco Tuesday.

Dell is launching a range of Dell Latitude E-series models: the E5420, E5520, E6220, E6420, E6520, and E6420 ATG notebooks and the XT3 convertible tablet. Dell is also bringing several models of its Optiplex desktop line -- the 990, 790, and 390 -- as well as the Optiplex Small Form Factor all-in-one device. Dell has also launched several high-end enterprise systems under its Precision line: the T1600 desktop and the Precision M6600 and M4600 notebooks.

"Dell is launching 39 products this year for its business compute portfolio," said Steven Lalla, vice president and general manager of Dell's Commercial Client Product Group, at the event. "It's the largest commercial client refresh in the history of Dell."

The Latitude product line includes new design adjustments, reflecting the consumerization of the product and the needs of end user customers, according to Lalla. Each of the 26 new Latitude models includes a dock, a battery, and a keyboard footprint. While the E5420 and E5520 notebooks are cheaper systems aimed at professionals looking to use their mobile workstations at their desk as well as on-the-go, the remaining Latitude E-series PCs are high-end, business-rugged E6000 systems designed for durability and withstanding difficult conditions. Lalla said the 6000 series has now passed the military's specifications for use in harsh environments.

Dell's updated mobile Precision series is aimed at running compute-intensive applications and was redesigned based on higher-end Dell systems. As a result, Lalla said the refreshed Precision lineup includes the world's most capable mobile workstations, although Dell did not offer extensive details on the Precision M6600 and M4600 notebooks.

The new Precision T1600 workstation, however, includes a single socket and support for professional 2D and entry-level 3D applications running on Intel's second generation Core and Xeon processors paired with discrete graphics from either AMD or Nvidia. With added graphics processing capabilities, the Precision PCs target high-end graphics users in verticals such as digital imaging and financial modeling.

Lalla said Dell will also update its Vostro brand of desktops and notebooks for SMB customers later this year.

Lalla said Dell's Optiplex 3 series, 7 series, 9 series systems have been completely redesigned to include small footprints and more chassis options, among other features. In addition, the new Optiplex products will feature the upcoming version of Intel's vPro processor technology with integrated graphics and memory, as well as planned compatibility with desktop virtualization tools.

Dell's Optiplex desktops are aimed at this customer segment, for which virtualization solutions are especially important, Lalla said.

NEXT: Dell's Desktop Virtualization

Lalla said virtualization offers a lot of different capabilities based on the ability to take the client product and make multiple products through a hypervisor. Although Dell says it plans to support pre-integrated Citrix and VMware remote desktop clients on its new Latitude systems, and that virtualization is central to its vision of an integrated IT ecosystem, no immediate support for Virtualization software was announced nor did Dell offer a specific timeline for adding support.

Dell said the needs of the mobile workforce are rapidly changing due to global dispersion as well as increased productivity, knowledge, and connectivity. Whereas in the past IT decision makers looked at from speeds and feeds and product specifications, Lalla said many had moved toward focusing on the integration and seamless connectivity of different kinds of devices, in order to meet the needs of different end users and avoid a "one-size-fits-all" approach.

Lalla identified several trends in the market for business-class PCs, including mobility, virtualization and consumerization, which he defined as the ability for the user to do the same things with the product at home as at work. Users are no longer satisfied with choosing between enterprise capabilities and consumer capabilities, he said.

"We don't think business-class products should be compromised," Lalla said. "We think you should have to deliver both."

One of the consumer market segments to have emerged as a result, according to Lalla, is the "power-user" segment, which refers to customers who are part of a new generation that has always lived with connected PC devices.

"They want thigh-performance, high-quality, high-reliability, and high-manageability," Lalla said. "Our Precision products are targeted at those users."

At the other extreme, Lalla said, are "task workers," who have more of a transactional relationship with the product, meaning that they come to work and expect the product to just do what it needs to do.

Finally, Lalla identified the "knowledge workers," those with a particularly high need for mobile PC products, including tablets.

NEXT: Dell's Next Windows 7 Tablet

Lalla revealed a 10-inch Windows 7-based tablet product schedule to launch later this year, which Dell says is designed both for end-users and IT organizations looking to integrate their existing infrastructure into a manageable, secure IT ecosystem.

"Each product has a role in the marketplace, with the Windows 7 product, users can integrate management systems, security tools, and cloud services on to the device," Lalla said. "It's as easy to manage as any of the other Windows systems. For us, it's about bringing different form factor choice for customers."

Lalla briefly showed off the 10-inch tablet, saying Dell tablets will be purpose-built as opposed to general purpose, offering technology in areas such as education and manufacturing.

Despite the emergence of mobile PCs, which Lalla discussed in his presentation, Rick Echevarria vice president of the Intel Architecture Group and general manager of the Business Client Platform division, began his segment of the presentation by de-emphasizing the shift toward mobility in the PC market.

"It's great to be in a room of enlightened people," Echevarria said, "People who are aware that rumors of the death of the PC have been greatly exaggerated."

Intel is the undisputed leader in the traditional PC and server markets, but currently trails ARM by a significant margin in the mobile segment and has undertaken to close the gap by forming a netbook and tablet group and preparing the upcoming Oak Trail platform optimized for tablets.

"The PC will continue to be at the center of computing," Echevarria said. "For 20 years the PC has adapted itself to the environment of its time.

Echevarria said that with desktop virtualization, cloud computing, and the consumerization of IT, the presence of companion devices in the enterprise space is expanding. He said Dell's portfolio, particularly with regard to cloud computing and security technology, allows Dell to address the needs of business users.

Echevarria said Intel's second generation Core vPro processor, which will run inside Dell Optiplex systems, is coming soon. Integrated vPro technology offers new CPU instructions, allowing four times faster data encryption compared to what was available three or four years ago, he said. In addition, vPro offers Dell's clients a great deal of flexibility, which is going to be important for addressing Dell's new models and various form factors, he said.

He said that Dell's virtualization and cloud products include hypervisors and streaming modules offering performance as well as flexibility.

"We're really excited about the cloud," Echevarria said. "We believe that the cloud has a lot more potential than presenting data through a browser, and we're working with Dell on that."

When asked to offer an example, Echevarria said Intel and Dell are working together on cloud solutions with NetSuite and GpRoXY, and said other cloud solutions will be available both through the browser and as a package in and of itself.

NEXT: Dell Services

Dell said its KACE applicances for management and security offer the new business products hardware and software inventory, software distribution, and other comprehensive management for Dell's enterprise-oriented systems. Dell's Data Protection and Encryption services are also available with each of the new systems and offer "flexible" management of data and compliancy with security regulations.

Finally, Dell said it will offer deployment and management services for commercial PCs as well as mobile devices in order to accelerate customization and offer IT support to end users. Each of these services and products belongs to Dell's business product portfolio, and Dell offered a tagline for the event to go with the unveiling of its new systems: Dell Means Business.

"When we say Dell means business, we live it and we breathe it," Lalla said. "We're business professionals designing solutions for business professionals.

The Dell Latitude E5000 series starts at $859, The Dell Optiplex 390 starts at $859, and the Dell Precision T1600 workstation starts at $840.