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Rollins Directs Dell's Manifest Destiny

Dell is expected to report on Feb. 10 record revenue for its fiscal year 2005, which ends Monday. The past year has seen the company make strides in expanding out of its traditional role as a provider of PCs to become a true provider of enterprise-level hardware and services.

That move officially began when the company changed its name from Dell Computer Corp. to Dell Inc. in July 2003. Last July, Kevin Rollins succeeded founder Michael Dell as chief executive. He also serves as president. Rollins recently met with InformationWeek editors at Dell's headquarters in Round Rock, Texas, to discuss the future of the company. Following are excerpts from our interview.

InformationWeek: Dell has never been involved in a mega HP-Compaq type merger or a mega IBM-Lenovo type of divestiture. Do you look for those kinds of opportunities?

Rollins: I don't think we will be one of the consolidators from the standpoint of acquisitions. We have been consolidating from the standpoint of our share gains. I think that will continue, and we believe we have enough organic growth that acquisition is probably not the best way for us to utilize our energy and resources. Within the hardware space, we really have not seen any major acquisitions that were successful. So, the chances of us doing a major acquisition are small.

InformationWeek: Two years ago you established a goal of increasing revenue from $30 billion to $60 million in five years, and right now, you appear to be about a year ahead of that pace. How does Dell have to change as it becomes a $60 billion or $80 billion company?

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