Specifically, after word last week that decisions would soon have to be made about the remainder of the six-month project made possible by an internal innovation fund, Dell on Wednesday announced that the laptop--based on the with preloaded--will be available in select geographies this fall.

"Project Sputnik is a great example of the employee-driven innovation we built Dell's incubation program to enable," said Nnamdi Orakwue, executive sponsor of the Dell incubation program and executive assistant to Michael Dell, in a on Wednesday. "This project represents the first of many new ideas Dell employees will test with customers or partners through the program, and we look forward to supporting Sputnik to be successful as it becomes a product this fall."

'From Pilot to Product'

As I've noted before, the laptop targets developers with a "complete client-to-cloud solution," as Dell describes it. Specifically, software included on the Ubuntu Linux device will allow developers to create "microclouds" on their laptops, simulating a proper, at-scale environment, and then deploy that environment seamlessly to the cloud.

When I spoke last week with Barton George, Dell's director of marketing for the Web vertical, the company had just recently launched its "," through which a limited number of applicants will receive a discounted, beta version of the laptop.