Dell to spend $1bn on new division

Stack of cash for developing products, research and partnerships in select tech field

Dell Technologies has assembled a $1bn (£757m) war chest for a new division focused on the Internet of Things (IoT).

The division will focus on developing products, research and partnerships for a field that connects everything from driverless cars to light bulbs to the internet.

The $1bn investment will be spread over the next three years and it will employ artificial intelligence and machine-learning technology.

"IoT is fundamentally changing how we live, how organisations operate and how the world works," said Michael Dell, CEO of Dell Technologies.

"Dell Technologies is leading the way for our customers with a new distributed computing architecture that brings IoT and artificial intelligence together in one, interdependent ecosystem from the edge to the core to the cloud. The implications for our global society will be nothing short of profound."

The company's new IoT division will be led by VMware CTO Ray O'Farrell, and will orchestrate the development of IoT products and services. The IoT solutions division will combine its internally developed technologies with various Dell Technologies offerings.

"Dell Technologies has long seen the opportunity within the rapidly growing world of IoT, given its rich history in the edge computing market," explained O'Farrell, who is now also general manager for the Dell Technologies IoT division.

"Our new IoT division will leverage the strength across all of Dell Technologies' family of businesses to ensure we deliver the right solution - in combination with our vast partner ecosystem - to meet customer needs and help them deploy integrated IoT systems with greater ease."