This past Friday Dell executives announced to employees that they would be gaining a whole new perspective--that of Plural, a technology consulting and development firm that will bring a complimentary Microsoft orientation to Dell's professional services group.
New York-based Plural has spent the past 13 years gaining experience and growing its list of clientele--such as Merrill Lynch, Nasdaq, Morgan Stanley and Nabisco--being named one of New York's fastest growing technology companies by Deloitte & Touche in 2001. The company was also ranked No. 295 in the 2001 VARBusiness 500 listing with revenue of $88 million.
Dell's professional services group, based in Round Rock, Texas, has also been on the fast track, enjoying $2.5 billion in revenue last year, bringing them in at No. 20 in the 2001 VARBusiness 500.
While the terms of the acquistion were not disclosed, a Dell spokesperson told VARBusiness that a primary reason for the acquistion was that, "Plural's Microsoft-oriention is complimentary to Dell's professional services group, and the acquistion will help enhance many already developed capabilities at Dell."
Those capabilities include full end-to-end techology services, with a focus on Microsoft application development, integration and deployment.
Microsoft has been a very supportive partner for Plural, giving them an award for the Best Integration of the Office Product Family category at last year's Tech Ed conference for their business development productivity solution. The solution won for its integration of Office XP, SharePoint Portal Server, Content Management Server and .NET--all Microsoft products.
Executives from either company were not available at press time. However Dell's spokesperson says Neil Isford, presently the CEO of Plural, will remain in that capacity, reporting directly to Jeff Lynn, the vice president and general manager of Dell's professional services group. Dell has no intention of immediately changing Plural's name or conducting layoffs, as there is minimal overlap in employee functions.
"In the interim, Plural will maintain its name, offices and employees as part of the overall Dell family," the spokesman says.
