dell world 2011

… based on a keynote Dell delivered last week at Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco. Chances are, Michael Dell will leverage a few of those key messages again. They include:

1. Hardware and PCs Still Matter: Chances are, Dell will carefully balance this message — pointing out that Dell gains component pricing power by selling both PCs and servers. That’s a dig against Hewlett-Packard, which is exploring a potential PC business spin-out. But Dell will also likely seek to expand his message beyond hardware to include all the items below.

2. Consulting Services: During Oracle OpenWorld, Dell mentioned that his company now has about 45,000 services professionals. Many of those employees joined Dell when the PC giant acquired Perot Systems. Michael Dell must carefully balance the IT services message, promoting Dell’s prowess vs. HP Services and IBM Global Services. But on the other hand, Dell must somehow mention Dell’s growing channel partner community — known as Dell PartnerDirect.

3. Acquisitions: Dell mentioned multiple acquisitions during Oracle OpenWorld. Key names on his list include EqualLogic, Compellent, Force10 Networks, KACE,  Boomi and SecureWorks. Watch EqualLogic and Compellent for storage moves, and Force10 for networking. But, perhaps the bigger recurring revenue opportunities involve Boomi and SecureWorks.

4. Cloud Services and Managed Services: This is where Dell’s Boomi and SecureWorks acquisitions fit into the picture. During Oracle OpenWorld, Dell mentioned that SecureWorks monitors 15 billion security events every day for several thousand customers worldwide. Dell said the company protects $14 trillion in assets in the financial services market. Plus, Dell explained how Boomi allows customers to integrate multiple cloud services into a single solution.

Again, a disclaimer: The VAR Guy hasn’t gotten a preview of the Dell World keynote. But our resident blogger was in the audience when Michael Dell spoke at Oracle OpenWorld. The VAR Guy will be back with more insights following Dell’s keynote on October 13.