The services are open to customers of all hardware vendors, but Dell hardware customers have the advantage of being able to select PCs and laptops that are "services-enabled" -- with the basic platform ready to connect to its cloud services, without any complex configuration.

Dell's SaaS focus would remain, at least for the time being, on infrastructure management, because "it's well known that for every pound customers spend on new systems, they spend eight or more just keeping the lights on".

Its offering covers three areas, "managing distributed devices, managing datacentres, and business continuity", he said. In each of those three areas, Dell offers specific SaaS products or a whole 'module' as customers choose.

Its distributed device management tackles areas such as patch management, and applying changes remotely across devices. One of Dell's UK customers, in the oil and gas industry, uses this service to manage its sales team's laptops running over 3G wireless.

In datacentre management, Dell addresses remote infrastructure monitoring, including performance and fault management. One of its retail customers deployed this system in the cloud to avoid the costs and time required to apply it on-premise in its buildings around the world, Gumbert said.