Can Michel Dell, SecureWorks Energize Dell Managed Services?

Michael Dell

Dell acquired SecureWorks in February 2011. Michael Dell spent considerable time describing the SecureWorks opportunity during a keynote last week at Oracle OpenWorld in San Francisco. Dell, the company, now monitors 15 billion security events every day. Plus, Michael Dell said the company protects $14 trillion in assets in the financial services market. And if you check the SecureWorks website, you’ll notice that Dell promotes the security service to MSP partners.

Impressive figures. But where do managed services providers and SMB customers fit into the Dell conversation? Yes, the Dell PartnerDirect channel partner program still offers Dell Managed Services like basic remote monitoring and management (RMM) services for VARs and MSPs. And Dell has been kicking around managed print services for partners since around 2009.

Generally speaking, MSPmentor hasn’t heard much about Dell’s RMM strategy since around 2009. Around that time the company began testing direct managed services sales to small and midsize customers in multiple U.S. cities. To Dell’s credit, the company’s hardware-centric partner program continues to grow. Newly acquired offerings like EqualLogic and Compellent seem to be catching on with more VARs and MSPs.

But how are Dell Managed Services performing — both for Dell and the company’s partners and customers? That’s difficult to say — though we hope to hear more at Dell World.