In the third area, business continuity, Dell offers business instant failover -- at the touch of a button -- to hosted versions of Microsoft Exchange or Lotus Notes. This is for use by firms already running those systems on premise, in the event of an outage, and can be used to provide email access until businesses' own servers are running.

Dell as a whole is now focusing on being a hardware supplier, software services supplier and higher-end IT services firm, Gumbert noted. It will continue to work with application partners to help "complete the stack", and Perot Systems will principally aid with providing a range of services, including process outsourcing and custom applications.