(wallstreetjournal)

Clark Bogan | Contributing Writer

Everyone remembers Dell being the computing giant that set the industry standard almost a decade ago.  Businesses, K-12 schools, and most publicly funded universities used Dell hardware over the likes of Apple.

 Since that time, Dell slowly but surely sank into an era of irrelevancy, as Windows and Hewlett-Packard consistently released superior hardware at a competitive price–effectively replacing Dell’s niche product line, and taking the No. 1 spot of PC market share.  

Dell has had a tough time dealing with the industry shifts within consumer computing. The company has failed miserably with selling mobile devices, and have made a slow, cumbersome effort to compete with the likes of Apple and Google in terms of cloud storage.

However, Dell seeks to change its outlook on approaching the average consumer, purchasing EMC corporation for a hefty $67 billion price tag–the largest technology acquisition deal in history.  EMC, being a corporation that specializes in data storage, information security, and cloud computing, will provide the expertise in the regions that Dell suffers in most.

 According to the Wall Street Journal, “…the deal would allow Dell to exploit an arrangement pioneered by EMC, known as converged infrastructure, to sell computing, storage and networking equipment as an easy-to-install bundle.”

An acquisition of this magnitude will undoubtedly take time to come to fruition, and it will be years before Dell will pocket sizable revenue from this acquisition. However,  according to Mr. Dell and Joe Tucci, EMC’s CEO, the benefits far outweigh the challenges.  

It is much too early to forecast which new products Dell will release with the help of EMC, but with this high-profile buyout, Dell is making headway to again become relevant to the average consumer in the near future.