With 3Par Acquisition, Dell Shows They Are Serious About Storage: Page 2 of 2

While the folks at 3Par have been fairly tight lipped, I have it on good word that they are excited about the opportunity that comes along with a Dell acquisition (an instantly expanded global sales and support model, perhaps an R&D dollar infusion, an overall sense of well being, and acceptance into a larger corporation...oh yeah, and perhaps a trip or two, to Austin, Texas).

From an industry consolidation perspective, there's no doubt that the acquisition of 3Par takes another significant player off the "independent storage provider" board. Sales of InServ will naturally increase given the shear market presence of Dell; however, there is validity to the thought that a bit of a vacuum is now created for another growing and maturing startup to fill as 3Par assimilates into Dell. A few names come to mind, but is the time right for more focus on Compellent and its storage offerings? Also, could there be additional storage acquisitions before the end of the year? Not being a betting man with money, I would bet a cold Pepsi on it.

With the acquisition 3Par, Dell continues to demonstrate its seriousness about its storage business, its ability to move forward and leverage available technology and not wait for partners where it doesn't make sense, and provide its customers with innovative storage technology solution choices. Will the road be paved with gold for the 3Par entity? Absolutely not. Storage buyers will still want to fully understand the differentiation between multiple storage product lines, and they will want to clearly understand the 3Par solution as they deploy mission critical apps in the data center and cloud environments. Dell and 3Par have a lot work to do ahead of them. Just how quickly and effectively they execute on sales, systems engineering and customer training and awareness will have a direct effect on how positive the outcome is of this acquisition.