Transitioning itself from a PC vendor to a "solutions" vendor is not an easy task, however. It's having to retrain its 20,000 sales people to sell more complex systems, which Swainson acknowledged is "no mean feat." Eventually it will need to retrain some of its channel partners as well.

Nor does Dell have all the pieces in place for its target markets. "There are holes, frankly, in each one, and we'll have to build or buy to fill those holes," Swainson said.

Nevertheless, analysts at the event were bullish at its prospects. Dell may be late to the game in building a software business, but it's buying the right pieces and doesn't have a "mish mash" of legacy products to worry about, as some of its rivals do.

"There seems to be a good strategy behind it," said Peter ffoulkes, a research director with 451 Research Group.

Dell has a window of opportunity while HP, whose strategy has been in disarray, gets itself back on track, ffoulkes said. In particular, HP "messed up" its mobile strategy, and Dell now has a chance to do that right.