What Dell Sees in Security Services Acquisition (DELL)

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) has been making its acquisitions to diversify away from just the world of PCs and hardware.  Its focus has been into IT rather than just hardware, and now the company is targeting a private information security services provider called SecureWorks Inc.

While most are familiar wit SaaS being software as a service, SecureWorks is a ‘security-as-a-Service’ solutions provider.  It offers managed-security services, security and risk consulting services, and threat intelligence.  Dell noted that the new acquisition will give it a broader footprint in its IT-as-a-Service portfolio as well as information security expertise.

SecureWorks serves Global 500 companies, mid-sized businesses, financial services, utilities, healthcare, retail and manufacturing clients.  Its offerings aim to lower risks, improve regulatory compliance and lower costs of managing IT security.  More importantly, it has a proprietary threat management platform that is said to be scalable and also which integrates easily with client environments.

The company was founded in 1999, is based in Atlanta, Georgia, and now employs about 700 employees.  Its figures include over 1,500 banks and credit unions as managed security services clients, claiming to protect trillions of dollars in financial assets.  The large figure shows thousands of clients located in 70 countries and it projected 2010 revenues being more than $120 million.

Maybe Dell will also get more future hardware orders from these new customers.  If not, it is going to take many $120 million revenue acquisitions to move the meter for Dell.  Thomson Reuters expects its fiscal year January-2011 to be $61.52 billion.

JON C. OGG