Dell

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(NASDAQ: DELL SEHK: 4331), an American technology-company based in Round Rock, Texas, develops, manufactures, sells and supports personal computers, servers, data-storage devices, network-switches, personal digital assistants (PDAs), software, televisions, computer-peripherals and other technology-related products. As of 2006, Dell employed more than 78,700 people worldwide.

Dell grew through the 1980s and 1990s to become at one stage the largest seller of PCs and servers. It currently holds the second spot in the hardware computer-industry behind Hewlett-Packard after the latter's merger with Compaq in 2002.

In 2006, Fortune magazine ranked Dell as the 25th-largest company in the Fortune 500 list, 8th on its annual Top 20 list of the most-admired companies in the United States. In 2007 Dell ranked 34th and 8th respectively on the equivalent lists for the year. A 2006 publication identified Dell as one of 38 high-performance companies in the S&P 500 which had consistently out-performed the market over the previous 15 years.

History

Origins and evolution

While a student at the University of Texas at Austin in 1984, Michael Dell founded the company as PC's Limited with capital of $1000. Operating from Michael Dell's off-campus dorm room at Dobie Center , the startup aimed to sell IBM PC-compatible computers built from stock components. Michael Dell started trading in the belief that by selling personal computer-systems directly to customers, PC's Limited could better understand customers' needs and provide the most effective computing solutions to meet those needs. Michael Dell dropped out of school in order to focus full-time on his fledgling business, after getting about $300,000 in expansion-capital from his family.

In 1985, the company produced the first computer of its own design — the "Turbo PC" — which contained an Intel 8088-compatible processor running at a speed of 8 MHz. PC's Limited advertised the systems in national computer-magazines for sale directly to consumers, and custom-assembled each ordered unit according to a selection of options. This offered buyers prices lower than those of retail brands, but with greater convenience than assembling the components themselves. Although not the first company to use this model, PC's Limited became one of the first to succeed with it. The company grossed more than $73 million in its first year.

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