Dell swaps enterprises bosses as PC sales flatline
PC sales slump 14 per cent as former HP Networking boss Marius Haas joins vendor
Dell has announced a change in leadership at its strategically important Enterprise Solutions arm as its PC sales continue to struggle.
Former HP bigwig Marius Haas has been ushered in as president of the unit following the departure of Brad Anderson.
The executive shuffle came as Dell announced an eight per cent slump in fiscal second-quarter sales to $14.5bn (£9.2bn). PC revenue plunged 14 per cent as the Texan vendor battled against a tough economy and competitive environment, and continued to focus on higher-value machines.
Net profit for the quarter fell 18 per cent to $732m, and Dell disappointed investors by forecasting that Q3 sales would be between two and five per cent behind last year.
During his seven-year stint helming Dell's Enterprise Solutions business, Anderson oversaw the vendor's expansion into the server, storage and networking arena via acquisitions including EqualLogic, Compellent and Force10.
Haas has been brought in to "accelerate" that transformation, which has already seen enterprise solutions and services sales grow to more than a third of Dell's total revenue. His 20 years in the industry includes a recent stint running HP's networking business.
Chief financial officer Brian Gladden added: "Our performance in the second quarter provided another proof point that our long-term strategy is right.
"We continued our progress in shifting the mix of our business to higher-margin enterprise solutions, led by solid growth in our server, networking, services and Dell IP storage businesses."
According to Dell, Anderson made a "personal decision to seek new opportunities" and Dell founder Michael Dell said the firm "wishes him the best in his future endeavours".
Anderson said: "I am leaving the business in a stronger position in servers, networking and storage, and with a solid foundation in key solution areas such as converged infrastructure and cloud computing."