Dell Completes MessageOne Acquisition

Dell today announced the completion of its $155 million acquisition of MessageOne, Inc., an industry leader in Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) enabled enterprise-class e-mail business continuity, compliance, archiving and disaster recovery services. The acquisition is a part of the company’s strategy to use SaaS applications and remote management tools to deliver configure-to-order IT infrastructure services to commercial customers over the Internet.

With its acquisition of SilverBack Technologies, Inc., Everdream Corp., ASAP Software Express, Inc. and now MessageOne, Dell is architecting an integrated service delivery platform of SaaS applications that will enable it to remotely monitor, maintain, troubleshoot and address the majority of routine IT infrastructure issues that challenge businesses of all sizes. The company anticipates that services such as patch management, anti-virus, online backup and recovery, asset tracking, software license management and e-mail continuity delivered and managed over the Internet will reduce the cost of infrastructure management and free budget for the IT driven innovation that grows business.

“Companies currently spend 70 percent of their IT budgets maintaining their current infrastructures and dealing with routine issues,” said Steve Schuckenbrock, president, Dell Global Services. “We are building a services supply chain that integrates the world’s leading SaaS-based technologies to simplify the purchase, delivery and management of IT infrastructure services for companies and improve its price/performance.”

In a departure from traditional industry approaches that lock customers into long-term, expensive contracts, Dell’s model will give companies choice and flexibility in the services they purchase.

MessageOne is an important addition to Dell’s services portfolio. The company’s services eliminate the downtime and complexity associated with managing, archiving, e-discovery and the long-term storage of e-mail. MessageOne estimates that 75 percent of all companies experience a major e-mail outage each year and with 75 percent of most companies’ intellectual property (IP) contained in messages and attachments transmitted via e-mail, it is now considered a “killer” application with importance to every aspect of business operations and customer relationships.

Dell’s MessageOne solutions include E-mail Management Services (EMS), which ensure seamless continuity by keeping Outlook and wireless messaging systems running even when Exchange and Active Directory are down and AlertFind, which provides emergency notification and crisis communication services for businesses. MessageOne’s e-mail archiving services help companies comply with regulations, streamline electronic discovery and maximize storage. MessageOne’s services are available today to companies with more than 1,000 seats through Dell’s sales force and will be available to medium businesses and through Dell channel partners in the future.