Dell Computer Corporation, headquartered in Round Rock, Texas, near Austin, is the world's leading direct computer systems company and a premier supplier of technology for the Internet Infrastructure. Company revenue for the last four quarters totaled $25.3 billion.

Dell is the No. 2 and fastest growing among all major computer systems companies worldwide, with more than 36,500 employees around the globe. The company ranks No. 1 in the United States, where it is a leading supplier of PCs to business customers, government agencies, educational institutions and consumers.

The company was founded in 1984 on a simple concept: that by selling directly to customers, Dell could best understand their needs, and efficiently provide the most effective computing solutions to meet those needs.

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Through the direct business model, Dell offers in-person relationships with corporate and institutional customers; telephone and Internet purchasing; customized computer systems; phone and online technical support; and next-day, on-site product service. Dell operates one of the world's largest and most profitable e-commerce sites with more than $40 million in sales daily.

Today, Dell is enhancing and broadening the fundamental competitive advantages of the direct model by increasingly applying the efficiencies of the Internet to its entire business. Nearly 50 percent of Dell's sales currently are Web-enabled, and about 40 percent of Dell's technical support activities and about 70 percent of Dell's order-status transactions occur online. And Dell is a key partner with many of its customers in helping them deploy the technology they need to capitalize on the efficiencies of the Internet.

"We are combining Dell's Internet expertise, and our unique ability to organize resources around distinct customer needs, to create new Web-related capabilities. The Dell advantage is based on direct relationships, low cost, speed to market and e-commerce expertise as much as it is on Internet hardware, appliances and customer services and support."