Dell Drives Advanced Storage Technologies Downstream; Enhanced Dell/EMC AX Storage Systems Further Strengthen Company's Position as Fastest-Growing Storage Vendor

Business Wire, April 3, 2006

ROUND ROCK, Texas -- Dell (NASDAQ:DELL) today launched an enhanced Dell/EMC AX disk storage system, the next-generation of its affordable, easy-to-install storage area networking (SAN) offering.

The move is designed to give customers more advanced storage technology benefits and solidify Dell's position as one of the industry's fastest-growing top-10 disk storage systems vendors.

The enhanced Dell/EMC AX storage systems feature software and hardware advances designed to simplify storage consolidation while providing increased system availability and ease of configuration. Available worldwide, customers can choose the AX150 for Fibre Channel, or the AX150i for iSCSI. Both are designed to support up to 10 servers and six terabytes(a) of storage.

Defined and delivered through the collaborative partnership of Dell and EMC, the new Dell/EMC AX systems are the next generation of the industry's first affordable, easy-to-install SAN. Now in its fifth year, the alliance between Dell and EMC is focused on bringing customers cost-effective, scalable and reliable storage products that reduce the complexity of storing and managing information created by the explosive growth of business data.

"Dell is focused on driving advanced storage technology downstream, making it easier for customers to address the typical pain points occurring in their IT environments," said Darren Thomas, general manager, enterprise storage and services, Dell Product Group. "Our strategic alliance with EMC continues to deliver numerous benefits for customers representing businesses of all sizes. We've worked closely with EMC and the Dell/EMC AX series exemplifies our commitment to deliver what customers are demanding when it comes to affordable, high-quality, easy-to-use storage technology."

Dell/EMC AX series key features and benefits:

--New availability enhancements: increased power redundancy, additional iSCSI ports, enhanced snapshot software

--Disk drive technology: 3.5-inch SATA II disk drives in 250GB(a) and 500GB models ranging from 750GB (three 250GB drives) to 6,000GB (12 500GB of raw disk capacity)

--Bundled software: EMC Navisphere Express Management Suite, EMC Power Path, EMC SnapView Express; Configuration Wizards (four easy steps to configure product)

--Dell services: installation, training and custom support services

--Complementary Dell Enterprise products: Dell PowerVault tape and Dell PowerEdge servers

"Managing increases in e-mail volume and other data growth without adding IT resources was a significant issue for us," said Dudley Barnwell, information systems manager for BadgerMeter Inc., based in Milwaukee. "Implementing storage consolidation using the Dell/EMC AX storage array allowed us to tackle this challenge effectively. The Dell/EMC AX storage array is easy to use, quick to set up and addresses all of our storage requirements."

Pricing and Availability

Beginning this month, customers can purchase the Dell/EMC AX150 with Fibre Channel connectivity or the AX150i with iSCSI connectivity for about $5,600.

Storage Market Leadership

According to industry analyst firm IDC, the compound annual growth rate for external disk storage systems priced less than $15,000 is expected to be 24 percent through 2009(b). As the world's fastest-growing top-10 disk storage systems vendor, Dell is well positioned to capitalize on these opportunities. In Q4 2005, Dell's overall external disk storage systems revenues were up 54.2 percent year-over-year, making it the only top-10 disk systems vendor to post 13 consecutive quarters of double-digit year-over-year growth(c).

About Dell

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ:DELL) listens to customers and delivers innovative technology and services they trust and value. Uniquely enabled by its direct business model, Dell sells more systems globally than any computer company, placing it No. 28 on the Fortune 500. Company revenue for the last four quarters was $56 billion. For more information, visit www.dell.com. To get Dell news direct, visit www.dell.com/RSS.> Pricing, specifications, availability, and terms of offers may change without notice. Taxes, fees, shipping, handling and any applicable restocking charges are extra, and vary.

Dell is a trademark of Dell Inc.

Dell disclaims any proprietary interest in the marks and names of others.

EMC, Navisphere, PowerPath and Snap View are registered trademarks of EMC Corporation.

(a) For hard drives, GB means 1 billion bytes and TB equals 1 trillion bytes; actual capacity varies with preloaded material and operating environment and will be less.

(b) IDC Worldwide Disk Storage Systems 2005-2009 Forecast Update, November 2005 (IDC #34357)

(c) IDC Worldwide Quarterly Disk Storage Systems Tracker, Q405, March 1, 2006

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