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Computerworld - Jeff Clarke is responsible for development and marketing of Dell Inc.'s enterprise products, including its servers, workstations, storage devices and networking equipment. Clarke, one of three senior vice presidents who manage the different segments of Dell's product group, spoke with Computerworld today about the company's latest financial results as well as issues such as its continuing reliance on Intel Corp.'s chips over Advanced Micro Devices Inc.'s Opteron processor.
How much of Dell's revenue comes from the enterprise products, and where do you expect that to go in the future? Enterprise is slightly north of 20% of our revenue. We're going to continue to grow it ahead of the company's average growth, but we don't project it out at any point in time.
Dell's server and storage sales rose 20% worldwide in the company's fourth quarter, and sales to business customers in the U.S. were up 19%. How did that map to your expectations? I think we came in right on our guidance for the quarter. The company grew 17% overall, and enterprise was up more than 20%. As I said, our goal is to grow the enterprise business ahead of the company's average. The strategy is to show that it's a diversified technology company and that it's more than a PC business.
What's your response to the view that Dell isn't a big technology innovator? Everybody's entitled to their opinion. What we focus on is what our customers' requirements are and what they expect from us. Our view of the world is, "Look at these technologies. How can we bundle them together in a product?" We were one of the first companies to put lithium ion batteries in a system. Did we invent lithium ion technology? No. Did we think of packaging it in a system? Yes. That's our approach to innovation, and our customers continue to vote with their wallets.

Jeff Clarke of Dell Inc.

Why are you still holding off on using Opteron in servers? Our product plans are Intel-based, and that's what we're shipping today. We're always evaluating new technologies in our labs, and there are points in time where one part is faster than another one. The question is whether that advantage is going to be sustained over time.
What about the breakdown between Intel's Itanium chip and its 32-bit x86 processors with 64-bit capabilities? We're very, very strong proponents of the 32-bit chips with 64-bit extensions. We do have an Itanium-based system because customers have asked for one. But the vast majority of our products are