ROUND ROCK, Texas, and EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn., Dec. 13 -- Dell and Compellent Technologies, Inc. today announced they have entered into a definitive agreement for Dell to acquire Compellent, a rapidly growing provider of highly-virtualized storage solutions with automated data management features, including tiering and thin provisioning, for enterprise and cloud-computing environments. The acquisition is the latest strategic investment by Dell as it expands its portfolio of enterprise-class storage solutions and is consistent with Dell's strategy to help customers better manage data growth, reduce storage costs and dramatically simplify the management of IT infrastructure.

The acquisition of Compellent will deliver on Dell's commitment to provide its customers solutions that are open, capable and affordable. Dell delivers an open and integrated approach to data management that drives efficiency and dramatically reduces costs by streamlining operations.

Upon closing the transaction, Dell will quickly make Compellent an integral part of its industry-leading storage portfolio, including PowerVault, EqualLogic and Dell/EMC. Compellent expands Dell's award-winning storage solutions, which now offers customers innovative systems and choice at every storage tier, from direct-attach to highly-virtualized SANs.

Dell also plans to keep Compellent's existing operations in Eden Prairie, Minn., and will invest in engineering, support, operations and sales capability to grow this business.

Compellent sells its solutions through an extensive network of channel partners. Dell plans to maintain and enhance the strong channel program that Compellent has developed. Dell also signed a reseller agreement with Compellent that extends the storage portfolio it can offer its worldwide customer base, effective immediately.

"Compellent is a natural complement to Dell's expanding enterprise storage portfolio. The Compellent storage platform will enable Dell to provide customers additional mid- and high-end network storage solutions that simplify and reduce the cost of data management," said Brad Anderson, senior vice president, Enterprise Product Group. "Compellent's design focus on intelligently managing data to increase efficiency, agility and resiliency is consistent with Dell's approach of building solutions that can quickly scale to meet the most demanding enterprise environment."

"We are excited about our merger with Dell. This is the next logical step in our goal to scale our products, channel and team worldwide," said Phil Soran, president, CEO and chairman of Compellent.  "With Dell's scale and technology leadership, we accelerate the adoption of our virtualized platform, Fluid Data, to redefine the value of enterprise storage for datacenters and cloud computing."

Terms and Closing

Under terms of the agreement, approved by the boards of directors of both companies, Dell will pay $27.75 per share in cash for each share of Compellent for a total equity value of approximately $960 million, and aggregate purchase price of approximately $820 million, net of Compellent's cash.  The transaction, which is subject to approval by Compellent's shareholders and customary closing conditions, is expected to close in early 2011.

About Dell

Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) listens to customers and delivers worldwide innovative technology, business solutions and services they trust and value. For more information, visit www.dell.com.

About Compellent

Compellent Technologies (NYSE: CML) provides Fluid Data storage solutions that automate the movement and management of data at a granular level, enabling organizations to constantly adapt to change, slash costs and secure information against downtime and disaster. This patented, built-in storage intelligence delivers significant efficiency, scalability and flexibility. With an all-channel sales network in 35 countries, Compellent is one of the fastest growing enterprise storage companies in the world. For more information and news, visit www.compellent.com and www.compellent.com/news.

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Source: Dell Inc.; Compellent Technologies, Inc.