EMC, Lexmark Going in Opposite Directions With Dell

Dell resells CLARiiON storage systems in a partnership that dates back to 2001. In the past year, Dell has been responsible for about a third of EMC's revenue and has been growing in double digits. Dell is at least holding its own for EMC, if not picking up momentum. David Goulden, EMC's chief financial officer, told analysts during this week's earnings conference call:

Lexmark hasn't been as lucky as EMC in its Dell partnership. While executives of the printer company have traditionally refused to talk about Dell, in previous SEC filings they have described their Round Rock, Texas-based partner as among its biggest OEM customers. Lexmark CEO Paul Curlander again refused to talk about Dell specifically this week when asked by analysts to explain in more depth why Lexmark's OEM business is under pressure, but Curlander said:

It doesn't appear as if Dell and Lexmark are in alignment. Lexmark executives said its inkjet business has been declining, will continue to decline, and its OEM inkjet business is leading the way down.