Marius Haas was head of HP's networking business before leaving two years ago to join an investment firm. On Tuesday he was named president of Dell's enterprise solutions business, where he'll oversee the engineering, development and marketing of Dell's enterprise products.

Haas replaces Brad Anderson, who ran Dell's enterprise division since 2005 and is now leaving the company.

Dell announced the news on the same day it reported for its second quarter, which closed Aug. 3. Its profit for the period declined 18 percent from a year earlier, to US$732 million, while revenue fell 8 percent to $14.48 billion, Dell said.

Its server and networking sales were among the highlights for the quarter, up 14 percent from last year, while sales of storage products were down 13 percent. Together, the three product categories account for about one-fifth of Dell's overall business.

Most of Dell's money still comes from desktop PCs, sales of which were down 9 percent from last year, and from laptops and other mobility products, which were down 19 percent. Revenue from services was up 3 percent, Dell said.