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IBM and Dell Announce $16 billion Technology Pact
Jason Spangler writes
"IBM and Dell announced a technology pact in which Dell will buy storage, microelectronics, networking, and display technology from IBM. The deal also includes patent cross-licensing and collaboration in future product development."
:)
maybe IBM want only money, heh.
16 billion dollars over 7 years.
How bout they stop putting WINmodems in Dell computers.....
No IBM has patents and Dell wants em!
I had a look at Dell's web site and you can, indeed, order servers without an operating system. They even seem to have a lot of Linux specific information on their web site.
Patents, Yes. Several hundred of them are posted on the wall just outside my office.
IBM used to be the big bad monopolist but now they put out some great products like RS/6000, good mainframes, ppc chips, use linux, hard drives, and Generaly good UNIX. Del on the otherhand designs cheap pc's which are no good. If you want a good custom pc try idot.com they will even put linux on your system and they tell you the exact componets in the system. Through the use of only web based sales they offer free lifetime tech support and are about 300-400 dollars less on computer systems. They do not use factory refurbished parts like dell has been known to do.
Ehhmmm.......
They are actually rebranded OEM notebooks made by www.spectre.com for Dell, HP and many others.
Patents and Dell don't go together
You have no idea what you are talking about. Dell has hundreds of patents. Some are design, some are process, but hundreds. Go down to the factory in Austin at Metric & Rutland, and you can walk in and see them on the wall.
Where the heck are you getting this information? Dell doesn't used refurbished parts in its new PC's. Granted, they sell refurbished PC's through the Dell Factory Outlet that are clearly marketed as such, but there are no refurbished parts in new PC's...
They have at least that many for every single line. I should know -- I work there.
No, actually there was an article a while back about how they "accidentally" took internal parts which were totally unrelated to failures and nearly mint, and used them as new.
Man those things are evil. I have a friend who I was trying to convert to Linux. I installed it on his computer, an aptiva I think, and it worked OK except for the modem and sound card. Of course, the modem and sound card were one and the same. An evil, evil Mwave card.
Of course my friend, not being particularly open minded, now believes that Linux stinks because it doesn't support all the hardware that Win 95 does. My counter argument that it's really his hardware that stinks and the only thing MS has going for them in the hardware arena is that companies throw drivers at them. That didn't really go down all that well. So, anyway, he uses Win 95 exclusively at present. He had to reinstall it after his failed attempt to install Win 98. One of the specific things that didn't work in Win 98 was the Mwave card, of course (more generally, almost nothing worked).
Actually, considering the large number of cheap Winmodems out there these days, it might benefit Linux a lot if some drivers were to be written for them. Most people, when they buy a computer, see 56K and don't really look into any further, thinking that a modem is a modem. Unfortunately, a Winmodem isn't a modem, so lots of people are stuck with junk. I guess it's a tossup between leaving all those people unable to use Linux, or actually supporting a great evil.
When I took shipment of my new Gateway 2000 PC back in 93 my monitor did not work. When I sent it back for a replacement, they sent me a refurbished part to replace it, claiming that "it is only fair since I am sending them a used monitor". COnsidering I spent $2000 at the time for a good 17" monitor, I was extremely mad.
Their excuse was complete BS, and as a result I will *never* purchase another system from Gateway again, and wholeheartedly recommend all others avoid them at all costs.
Careful, MWave is NOT a Winmodem. MWave modems work under both DOS and NT, and could probably also work under Linux.... given the programming docs. Who knows, with IBM opening up a little maybe they will produce a MWave driver, after all aren't thay selling ThinkPad's with Linux?
> Sure, dell gets all the goodies from IBM, but > what does big blue get out of it?
IBM stock was +4 today as a result. This is just the latest in an extended campaign to re-make the company's image from corporate behemoth to cool technology camp. Linux is a HUGE part of that strategy, btw.
MC
Maybe IBM will buy Dell. I may be wrong, but right now, I don't think IBM sells PCs directly from their web site-- I looked into it about a month ago. It's "online store" actually does little more than refer customers out to vendors. Maybe buying Dell will enable IBM to get out of the PC hardware market altogether and focus on delivering "solutions" (a big IBM buzzword these days) on boxes bought from an outside vendor -- in this case a subsidiary, at a nice low price, I'm sure.
Geez, IBM is getting dangerous these days...
Just thinking out loud,
MC
Can I say BULLSHIT to you..Dell designs all the Optiplex, Poweredge Servers and Lattitude mother boards and make them too..The rebranded ones you are talking are infact dell designed boards that are sold by Taiwan vendors..Show me a Lattitude that has a similar product from Spectre..
Just search a little bit more..Dell might not have ALU and FPU patents on CPU's..But they have a slew of real neat electronic patents..and it R&D is growing for sure!!. Just give that company its due share..
Increase your search size..You will see the rest of it
Increase your search size..You will see the rest of it..Dell has patents on OS stuff too..Kind of funny..when everyone here slams Dell for not having patents
Yeah right!..So who wrote the article and where was it published..You know if that really happened there would be a class action suit..What crap! Dell clearly marks the refurbished computers and they are sold only through the DFO in austin.
So u work for idot?..Are you really?
According to my sources, IBM bought 40% stock in Dell. This isn't an agreement, it's the beginning of a buyout.
"I'd like to make a promise and I'd like to make a vow, that when I've got something to say, sir, I'm gonna say it now
Doubtful, but it would be awesome. They would have to be CHRP machines so they can run all the OSs available for the PPC. It would also force Apple to allow cloning again. Dell would be too big for Apple to stop and they would end up being more like IBM; a technology company.
Remember in the early 80's when IBM was the king of hardware? Well PC clones sure took care of that.
Well, back to reality; like I said, doubtful.
Now we're nothing.
It's far easier to forgive your enemy after you get even with him.
The deal is for Dell to buy IBM products. So IBM gets $16B of Dell's money.
--
Timur Tabi
Remove "nospam_" from email address
Went and interviewed with their portables line (didn't work out- HR jinxed the deal) they had plaques with all the patent covers etched into them on their walls, something like a 50-100 of them- all for the notebook line. They do a hell of a lot of R&D for the portables line.
I am not merely a "consumer" or a "taxpayer". I am a Citizen of the State of Texas
Sure, dell gets all the goodies from IBM, but what does big blue get out of it?
Blocklevel: Practical Information Architecture
A search on the IBM patent server found about 12 patents assigned to "Dell Computer", most of which, from the title, look mechanical or electrical.
If by "search size" you mean "Hits per page", that didn't help - I tried it with Netscape-on-NT, Netscape-on-Solaris, IE-on-NT, and IE-on-Solaris, and all of them gave me a screen that said "12 of 2421813 matched" (I assume that means it searched through 2,421,813 patents, not that Dell has that many) and faint "First", "Prev", "Next", and "Last" arrows around the "1-12" on the bottom, none of which were active.
This was an "Advanced Text Search", of "U.S. Front Pages and Claims", from "earliest" to "present", with "Dell Computer" in the "Assignee" field, and all other fields left unchanged. Perhaps only 12 patents have that particular value in that particular field, and other Dell patents have something else.
Considering that Dell has always boasted that they don't do R&D and by following "industry standards" (i.e. Wintel) they keep the costs down, this announcement doesn't make sense...
:-(
I agree with CNNfn that Dell's service for servers isn't up to specs. When we asked about servers with a couple of special requirements (no OS installed, Linux compatible etc.) they didn't even respond. The only thing they did was to put me on their mailinglist and now I get my monthly share of snailmail spam...
I don't see what IBM has to gain out of this. Except for the money perhaps.
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Warning: Slashdot may contain traces of nuts.
Dell is getting a chip manufacturing technology, while it still works with Intel. Dell definitely don't want to became second AMD and loose all partnership with Intel unless...
Is there any hidden joker here? Maybe Transmeta?
Andrew
I got an explanation on this from a dell representative last night. It seems that Dell bought a bunch of ISA V.90 modems, and won't put them in PIII systems 'cause they're trying to make their systems 100% PCI. You can't even ask them to put 'em in... the MBs don't have ISA slots. Well, they have a shared ISA/PCI slot...
-- Minds are like parachutes... they work best when open.
Now if only Dell would starting making PPC machines, that'd be a nice result of this alliance... :-)
(Did I get first post? )
Amateurs argue tactics, generals strategies, professionals logistics ....
....
It really combines the strengths of the two, Dell in their distribution channel, and IBM in the raw technology and high-end corporate integration and services. So R&D trickles down and Dell moves large volumes meaning costs remain low.
If the already low margins keep on getting squeezed, I would expect to see more strategic alliances. Highly speculative, but technically feasible (but I won't comment on corporate culture clash) alliances that could be forced upon the vendors in the future might be
Apple - Beos? (multimedia, education, consumer)
Samsung/Mitsuibitsi? Compaq - Alpha/PC line
SGI - Sony/NEC? (graphics, MIPS, though the US government might have a fit about this)
Fujitsu - Sun (Fujitsu already uses Sparc chips for their MPPs)
Intel and Microsoft can survive on their own but what about companies such as HP? Packard-Bell?, not to mention all those not so well known Asian ones. The above is just a guess but based on past history, sooner or later the growth will slow through natural business cycle downturns and the companies will have to expand to global scale. The real fun will start when the telcos (who are the only true long-term money spinners) start getting into the fray.
LL
It drove the stock market today pretty well, for a
rally in a dow. It's a perfect example of a novice (Dell) taking advice from an old pro (IBM)