“Michael Dell has it in his eye; he wants to build the future,” said theCUBE’s John Furrier. “He’s got a swagger, and he’s super excited.”

John Furrier and Dave Vellante, cohosts of theCUBE, from the SiliconANGLE Media team, discussed the implications of Dell’s EMC acquisition in the kick-off for day one of Dell World 2015 at the Austin Convention Center in Dell’s hometown of Austin, Texas.

Can the EMC deal work?

“I love this deal,” Furrier stated. “I’m very positive.”

Furrier is optimistic about the success of the acquisition, saying that Michael Dell has “bought the best company he could buy.”

Vellante was more cautious, pointing out that it is essential that Michael Dell accentuate the benefits so that employees see a positive momentum.

Dell betting the ranch on IoT

Furrier predicted that Dell is going to “bet the ranch” on the Internet of Things (IoT) and talked about a recent conversation he had with Michael Dell, where he asked: “Why are you doing this deal?”

Big questions he wants answered during theCUBE’s coverage of Dell World 2015 include: “Is it OK to have a horizontal strategy?” and if Dell having a “hodgepodge of product overlap” is beneficial.

Vellante believes the conventional wisdom that “gaps are worse than overlap” and sees the big question as whether Michael Dell can fill the leadership void at EMC and provide a strong vision for the company. He said that Dell must partner with CIOs, and he predicted that a strong on-prem strategy could become Dell and EMC’s “ace in the hole” to allow them to beat Amazon.

Watch the full interview below, and be sure to check out more of SiliconANGLE and theCUBE’s coverage of Dell World 2015. And join in on the conversation by CrowdChatting with theCUBE hosts during Dell World 2015.

Photo by SiliconANGLE