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Although Dell has undoubtedly picked up the pace of late, Gartner research director Adrian O'Connell says the company's acquisitive pattern dates back several years. The current trend, he argues, started with Dell's purchase of SAN vendor Equallogic in 2007, and is focused on pushing the company toward a greater focus on enterprise IT.

"We tend to talk about 'old Dell' and 'new Dell' in terms of the different faces of the company," he says.

Dell's acquisitions since the Equallogic deal have focused primarily on technology and systems integration and management. These include Perot Systems, KACE Networks, and Boomi, in addition to the latest string of buys - AppAssure, SonicWall, Wyse, Clerity and Made - which have all been announced since Feb. 24.

While it's impossible to say for sure, Dell is unlikely to be finished with its buying spree, though the current pace of acquisitions will almost certainly drop.