Dell’s commitment to an end-to-end services strategy is evident in the news last week that it has launched its free storage and synchronization service on a select set of desktops and tablets. The service is similar to Apple iCloud and touches on the capabilities in Google+.

The service is called Dell Stage.  It comes installed on the Dell Streak and Inspirion tablet and desktop with the Android operating system. The software is not available on Windows devices due to the inability to make changes to the OS that would be needed for the full capabilities of the software.

The Dell Stage secret sauce is in the synchronization. This allows for a few things:

• You can transfer pictures from your smartphone to a PC without the need for USB cables to move the media from device to device.
• It means the capability to stream media from a PC to a smartphone.
• You can store as much as two gigabytes of media in the cloud. That can be music, photos – whatever you want. Additonal storage is available for a fee: five gigabytes for $19.99 per year; 25 gigabytes for $49.99 per year and 100 gigabytes for $149.99 per year.

A Mid-Market Play

Dell Stage tells a story about how a hardware company like Dell is becoming a services and solutions provider. It took that approach to the mid-market, where it did very well selling PCs to the business community and wrapping a host of services around it. It will take a similar approach with tablets and smartphones.

Mark Hachman of PCMag.com sums up well how Dell is adapting its strategy in this new, tablet oriented world:

Dell began life as a hyper-efficient box builder, known for its “just in time” strategy of managing inventory efficiently than anything else. If buyers wanted the latest Intel microprocessor, they bought it from Dell. Years later, however, leadership in the PC space has evolved into a competition whose products are differentiated using design, services, and price as metrics.

It’s not as much about the specs anymore. It’s about creating technologies that makes it easy to create and do things.

Hachman quotes Dell executive Paul Henri-Ferrand who says Dell is aspiring to be like the Audi of PCs.  The style and finish of the product is complemented by its belief that it will always provide superior engineering.

Ferrand:

“With Stage, we’re building to the experiences of people, rather than building to specs,” Ferrand said.

The software sits on the device. The media can be kept as backup and synchronized with the cloud storage service. That’s similar to Apple iCloud, which will synchronize a user’s content across devices.  Dell Stage also has likenesses to Google+.  Google+ also has automatic photo upload through the Android OS.  So far, the service has been immensely popular. You can automatically upload media to the Dell cloud as well.

How Dell’s Services Approach Compares to Cisco and HP

Dell differs to the other tablet providers in a few ways.  Dell has a clear focus on the mid-market and the end user while Cisco has a focus on communications and security in the large enterprise. HP is building solutions around its printing base. Blackberry

Cisco’s Cius tablet is designed to integrate deeply into the Cisco communications infrastructure. It will be released at the end of August. It will sell for about $750, primarily through Cisco business partners. It is designed primarily for Cisco’s videoconferencing and telepresence systems. In other words, Cisco is going straight to the enterprise with no mention that we can see of connecting a network of connected devices – anytime, anywhere. This is a locked down, enterprise device, meant for large-scale integrations through third party business partners as a primary channel. This seems far off the mark but perhaps not. Tata, for example, is investing in telepresence systems based upon the Cisco technology. It is building telepresence systems throughout the world. It will rent these telepresence environments and

Wikibon’s David Floyer writes that HP’s printer base is what could define HP’s webOS strategy. He argues that the webOS will have its value as a control panel, which can be integrated into a variety of form factors. He writes that these control panels  are required to connect to sensors and signals from the devices they support.

Floyer:

Printers, fridges, freezers, climate controllers, x-ray machines, MRI machines, manufacturing machines – the list from the home, the workplace, warehouses, factories, farms, and the battlefield is endless. The number of control panel tablets will eventually exceed the number of consumer traditional tablets.

That’s a market in which  Dell does not seem focused on pursuing.  It’s more of an “Internet of Things,” strategy with each deployment having its own particular solution, depending on the market and other factors.

Crackberry did a Blackberry for business webcast. A RIM executive gave an overall summary of Playbook and its play in the enterprise. The company will work closely with Microsoft as it has in developing solutions for its smartphones. Later this year, RIM will offer enterprise management options for the Playbook. This means solutions for provisioning, configuring, setting policies application management and audits.

From the Smartphone to the Data Center

Dell is banking that the services it offers with Dell Stage will appeal to the “prosumer.” It’s that business user who will appreciate the Audi like style of the device and the availability of services such as storage, data management and security.

As eWeek points out, tablets and PC sales provide an opportunity to sell into the data center with server and storage technology. This then allows Dell to sell data management solutions that the enterprise requires to manage the thousands of devices connected to its network.

CEO Michael Dell echoed this sentiment at an analyst event last month:

eWeek:

“We are very much focused on that business and offering a total solution to customers not just devices,” said Michael Dell. “We’re looking to offer systems management, application development, security and other types of integration.”

At the core of this strategy is an emphasis on storage.  In the past few years,  Dell has made a number of acquisitions. It acquired Equalogic in 2008 for $1.4 billion. Earlier this year, Dell acquired Compellent Technologies. Dell’s storage revenue is expected to grow 15 to 20% through 2015.

Services Angle

The Dell tablets look great, provide syncing capabilities, storage and the ability to be that device that can be used any time, anyplace, anywhere.  It can easily be taken from the home office and connected to the speakers while dinner is cooking.

That’s the new reality. Our entire way of living is increasingly connected to these smart devices. Dell is entering the smartphone and tablet market with this in mind.

This fits with what we heard from Sukumar Narayanan, who is managing director and general manager, global business:

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Mobile is a core aspect of Dell’s transformation. Dell Stage gives the company a services angle that carries over into higher end services and solution. With that strategy in place, Dell can provide a luxury experience from the tablet all the way into the data center.