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$100M In Fraud Fines One Day Meeting With Prime Minister Gillard The Next

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Michael Dell, whose company was last year slapped with a $100 million dollar fine after being investigated for fraud in the USA, spent yesterday cuddling up to Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Health Minister Nicola Roxon, in an effort to win new business out of the Australian Federal Government.

Dell, whose minders kept him well away from most IT journalists following his massive fine by the SEC, had been involved in five years of litigation with the IT company, relating to a fraud case involving both Dell and its Chairman Michael Dell.

The SEC alleged the company failed to disclose its relationship with Intel Corporation, who was providing hundreds of millions in illegal payments to Dell in exchange for the IT Company exclusively using Intel microprocessors in Dell products.

The issue was that the payments that were made by Intel  over several fiscal quarters distorted the true operational earnings of Dell and that Michael Dell mislead investors into believing that the company was more profitable than it really was.

Michael Dell, the company founder and current chief executive, agreed to personally pay a $4-million as part of the total settlement.

Unlike previous visits where MD, as he is sometimes called, has held court at venues like the Sydney Hyatt, this time only two members of the press seem to have been permitted to interview the Great Man: Fran Foo from The Australian and Brian Corrigan from the Financial Review.

Neither was able to draw much headline news from Dell, though he did tell both journos the company had plans build a datacentre in Australia.

He did not reveal any details like timing, size, location, price or likely partners, though he did say it would be one of 10 around the globe and made it plain it wouldn’t offer public cloud computing.

Customers, quoth MD, “don’t really want a public cloud … what they want is a private, secure cloud that has a level of assurance and security with it.” He said further details would be announced in coming months.

In Canberra he had a brief meeting with PM Julia Gillard and Health Minister Nicola Roxon: the latter possibly the real target of the visit, given subsidiary Perot Systems’ – now renamed Dell Services – interest in e-health systems.

IT Resellers Set To Be Hurt By NSW Government

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NSW resellers and distributors along with notebook suppliers are set to be hit hard by a NSW Government decision to put on hold their computers-in-schools program due to funding issues. Among the hardest hit will be those selling networking and services.

NSW resellers and distributors are set to be hit hard by a NSW Government decision to put on hold their computers-in-schools program due to funding issues. Among the hardest hit will be those selling networking and services.  

Late on Friday the NSW Government ordered public school principals not to apply for the Federal Government’s computers-in-schools program, claiming Canberra hasn’t resolved funding issues.

The Rees Government threatened to pull out of round one of the scheme in June unless it received an additional $245 million to cover installation, software and other costs. It set an October 9 deadline for round two to “solve” these issues.

NSW Education Minister Verity Firth says she has asked the Feds to extend the October 9 deadline. “The Commonwealth made a promise; the promise is akin to promising someone a brand new suit, providing them with the pants and then asking them to buy the jacket,” Firth told reporters.

That argument doesn’t seem to have deterred other states. Indeed Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard said the Commonwealth would not extend the deadline for NSW’s sake, because it would delay the roll-out of computers to the other states and territories.

The first round of the program delivered $116 million to 896 secondary schools across the country, allowing for 116,820 new computers, mostly laptops.

$100M In Fraud Fines One Day Meeting With Prime Minister Gillard The Next

by

Michael Dell, whose company was last year slapped with a $100 million dollar fine after being investigated for fraud in the USA, spent yesterday cuddling up to Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Health Minister Nicola Roxon, in an effort to win new business out of the Australian Federal Government.

Dell, whose minders kept him well away from most IT journalists following his massive fine by the SEC, had been involved in five years of litigation with the IT company, relating to a fraud case involving both Dell and its Chairman Michael Dell.

The SEC alleged the company failed to disclose its relationship with Intel Corporation, who was providing hundreds of millions in illegal payments to Dell in exchange for the IT Company exclusively using Intel microprocessors in Dell products.

The issue was that the payments that were made by Intel  over several fiscal quarters distorted the true operational earnings of Dell and that Michael Dell mislead investors into believing that the company was more profitable than it really was.

Michael Dell, the company founder and current chief executive, agreed to personally pay a $4-million as part of the total settlement.

Unlike previous visits where MD, as he is sometimes called, has held court at venues like the Sydney Hyatt, this time only two members of the press seem to have been permitted to interview the Great Man: Fran Foo from The Australian and Brian Corrigan from the Financial Review.

Neither was able to draw much headline news from Dell, though he did tell both journos the company had plans build a datacentre in Australia.

He did not reveal any details like timing, size, location, price or likely partners, though he did say it would be one of 10 around the globe and made it plain it wouldn’t offer public cloud computing.

Customers, quoth MD, “don’t really want a public cloud … what they want is a private, secure cloud that has a level of assurance and security with it.” He said further details would be announced in coming months.

In Canberra he had a brief meeting with PM Julia Gillard and Health Minister Nicola Roxon: the latter possibly the real target of the visit, given subsidiary Perot Systems’ – now renamed Dell Services – interest in e-health systems.

JB Hi Fi and Harvey Norman Set To Slug It Out Online

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Harvey Norman’s new Ofis IT and office supplies chain _ aimed at challenging Wesfarmer’s Officeworks _ will have a major online operation, unlike the parent Harvey Norman chain, Australian IT reports.

The move will take the Internet adverse retailer up against arch rival JB Hi Fi who also plan to offer an online office service which will allow small medium business, SOHO home operators and large enterprise to order online.

JB Hi Fi who last year aquired the DigitalHome portal from 4Square Media are already set up to deliver the service which will be supplied with reviews and content from SmartOffice.

But the online store has been delayed after once Web-wary Gerry Harvey instructed staff to take their time and get the operation right from opening day.

The Web site is to handle business-to-business operations as well as business-to-consumer sales.

After investigating what competitors had on offer, and its ability to deliver, Ofis found most web sites had poor user experience and it did not want to fall into the same trap, the Oz reports.

Said Ofis GM Paul English: “In the past Harvey Norman hasn’t been great at online, so we want to make sure we get this right. Gerry, who isn’t the greatest fan of online, has said this had to be done properly.”

Dell Copies Acer

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Under pressure from Acer Dell has announced that they are set to launch a “Formula Red” notebook which just happens to be the same colour as the highly succesful Acer Ferrari line of notebooks. The imatation to will go on sale in mid April.

After taking a restrained attitude toward the growing gamer notebook market for some time, Dell Australia has decided to go in hard, marketing the company’s latest highly-specced notebook – its fastest ever. The move pits Dell against Alienware, the specialist gaming and multimedia PC maker which Dell is in the process of acquiring, as well as Acer with its Ferrari line.

From April 24, Dell will offer the XPS M1710 Special Edition Formula Red notebook to Australian buyers. Decked out in blazing red livery (echoing Acer’s Ferrari), and fitted with an Intel Core Duo processor, 17in. screen, ruggedised chassis and Nvidia Geforce 7900 graphics, it will also feature an illuminated touchpad and user-customisable 16-colour “perimeter lighting”.

Pricing will start at $4299 – plus delivery at $99.

Paul McKeon, Dell Australia’s communications manager, said the local outfit sold limited numbers of an XPS desktop last year, but had not previously marketed a notebook XPS model. Arrival of the new XPS M1710 Special Edition Formula Red – just announced in the US this week – gave the chance to pursue the mobile gamer and multimedia enthusiast market with a premium product.

Dell will be looking for different ways to market the new machine in order to reach the specialised market sector, he said. A Dell statement promises would-be buyers “personalised XPS service with dedicated sales, specially trained technicians and designated phone queue”.

McKeon does not believe Dell will be competing with itself in the wake of the proposed Alienware acquisition. “We see the products as complimentary, and Dell has said Alienware will continue to operate as a standalone unit,”he said.

IT Resellers Set To Be Hurt By NSW Government

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NSW resellers and distributors along with notebook suppliers are set to be hit hard by a NSW Government decision to put on hold their computers-in-schools program due to funding issues. Among the hardest hit will be those selling networking and services.

NSW resellers and distributors are set to be hit hard by a NSW Government decision to put on hold their computers-in-schools program due to funding issues. Among the hardest hit will be those selling networking and services.  

Late on Friday the NSW Government ordered public school principals not to apply for the Federal Government’s computers-in-schools program, claiming Canberra hasn’t resolved funding issues.

The Rees Government threatened to pull out of round one of the scheme in June unless it received an additional $245 million to cover installation, software and other costs. It set an October 9 deadline for round two to “solve” these issues.

NSW Education Minister Verity Firth says she has asked the Feds to extend the October 9 deadline. “The Commonwealth made a promise; the promise is akin to promising someone a brand new suit, providing them with the pants and then asking them to buy the jacket,” Firth told reporters.

That argument doesn’t seem to have deterred other states. Indeed Federal Education Minister Julia Gillard said the Commonwealth would not extend the deadline for NSW’s sake, because it would delay the roll-out of computers to the other states and territories.

The first round of the program delivered $116 million to 896 secondary schools across the country, allowing for 116,820 new computers, mostly laptops.