Darren Thomas, Dell's storage chief, has left the company after overseeing Dell's transition from a direct vendor selling storage from EMC to a channel-focused vendor of its own branded offerings.

Dell provided no explanation for the departure of Thomas, who joined Dell in 2003 after spending 15 years with Compaq.

In the interim, Dell storage is being managed by two other executives: Alan Atkinson, vice president and general manager of Compellent, and Pete Korce, vice president and general manager, EqualLogic and NAS storage solutions. A Dell spokesperson told CRN that Atkinson and Korce will together lead Dell storage until the company finds a replacement for Thomas, who left to pursue other opportunities.

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The departure of Thomas, which was first reported by the Register, comes at a time when Dell is undergoing a massive transformation that has industry pundits concerned about the future of the company but which has solution providers praising Dell for its strategy.

Dell is currently focused on building its business solutions with help from indirect channel partners, a far cry from its origins as a company focused mainly on the direct sales PCs.

On the storage side, Thomas has presided over a huge transformation in Dell.

Dell in early 2008 acquired storage vendor EqualLogic, a leader in iSCSI technology, and as a result became one of the top storage vendors in the industry.

Dell followed that acquisition with the purchase early last year of Compellent, which gave it an enterprise-class storage line.

In the meantime, Dell late last year kicked EMC storage out of its product lineup after a long and successful reseller relationship with that vendor.

That shift in strategic focus has led to softer revenue. Dell last month reported a significant drop in revenue and earnings for its fiscal third quarter. However, that drop was due mainly to plummeting sales of its low-margin desktop and notebook PCs.

During the quarter, Dell's server and networking business grew 11 percent year-over-year even as the company experienced a 19 percent drop in desktop and mobile client device revenue and a 37 percent drop in third-party software sales related to the mobile devices.

NEXT: Dell VARs Miss Thomas, But Love The Changes In Dell's Storage Business

Dell's storage revenue fell 16 percent over last year. However, most of that fall was attributed to Dell's decision last year to stop reselling EMC storage after building that business for several years.

When the EMC factor was removed, sales of Dell storage based on its own intellectual property fell only 3 percent from last year.

One solution provider, who preferred anonymity, called Thomas a very smart, capable and bright person who will be missed by Dell storage fans.

"He did a great job of trying to build Dell's storage business," the solution provider said. "But in my opinion, he had a different philosophy with others in Dell management. Dell suffered a big loss in its storage business after losing EMC. Compellent, however has grown dramatically in a very short time. To me, Dell loosing the EMC stuff but growing its Compellent and EqualLogic business is a great thing. But, I don't know that that story is playing well in the street."

That kind of transition can be hard on management, the solution provider said. "Darren [Thomas] did a great job of tying together different philosophies," the solution provider said. "Compellent is different from EMC, which is different from EqualLogic. I wouldn't have wanted to run all of that."

The Dell storage management transition could stem from the transition going on in Dell storage, said Patrick Mulvee, vice president of sales and marketing at Sidepath, an Irvine, Calif.-based solution provider and Dell partner.

"I think Dell is continuing to see its storage channel grow while its direct sales revenue falls," Mulvee said.

Both solution providers said their companies are seeing nothing but growing opportunities from working with Dell storage.

"We're not seeing any problems in our Dell storage business," Mulvee said. "We're only seeing it grow. We just hired a new solutions architect last week, and Dell storage is a big part of the reason. As VARs we architect complete solutions. We can put them together in our lab before sending them to customers. And we're collecting happy customers in Southern California."

The solution provider who requested anonymity is seeing a huge bump in its Dell storage business over last year. "Dell's doing all the right things," the solution provider said.

PUBLISHED DEC. 10, 2012