Dell ‘Wyses’ Up with Thin Client Acquisition
April 3, 2012 Alex Woodie
|
Dell swooped in yesterday and acquired Wyse Technology, the well-known provider of thin clients and desktop virtualization products to companies around the world. If approved, the deal will give Dell’s desktop virtualization business a shot in the arm and bolster its existing OptiFlex thin client business. It will also give Dell 180 patents. According to Dell, Wyse ranked number one in thin client unit shipment volume during the fourth quarter of 2011, and has more than 20 million thin client units in the field, where they are used by 200 million people around the world every day. The San Jose, California-based company’s thin client computers support all popular protocols, including 5250, 3270, and VT terminal emulation through an OEM relationship with Ericom. While connectivity to “legacy” platforms (like OpenVMS and Tandem systems) is a reliable part of Wyse’s business, the growth is definitely in cloud and virtualization. The company includes the virtualization products of leaders like Microsoft, VMware, and Citrix in its thin clients. Wyse’s portfolio of cloud software enables customers to manage their thin clients, PCs, and mobile devices over the cloud, while its upcoming “Stratus” software will “cloudify” entire client devices, making users’ PC, thin client, and mobile environments accessible from anywhere across a private cloud. Terms of the deal with Dell were not disclosed. The boards of directors of both companies have approved the deal, Dell says. The deal will be accretive to Dell’s non-GAAP earnings by the second half of 2013, the company says.
|
