Yesterday brought to light Dell’s interest in Compellent, as the company attempts to rebound from its loss in the 3Par bidding war with HP.  Michael Dell wants to step up the pace at which the company plans to compete HP and IBM as they all vie for the top position in IT sales, as we learn from an interview with Dell, on Reuters Canada.

Dell’s strategy includes the philosophy of diversity, in both the mobile and computer market. The first step is the acquisition of Compellent Technnologies, estimated to reach $1 billion, in order to improve Dell’s offering in terms of data storage.  The perseverance of the company is well illustrated by Michael Dell’s commentary:

“Five or 10 years ago people would say Dell is a PC company. Well, news flash — most of our margin and profit doesn’t come from PCs. I don’t think people get that. Margins are going in the right direction, the mix of the business is shifting in a pretty considerable way, the picture is starting to emerge more clearly what Dell is becoming.”

Dell’s primary market has long been that of the low-margin PC, competing heavily with –Acer Inc, which is the second largest computer manufacturer in that space. Dell says  stated that his vision is headed toward small and medium sized businesses, a segment which is frequently ignored: “Dell has an enormous channel that can sell to these customers, and this is also where all the growth is.”

Another hot market for Dell is mobile, as the company launched both a smartphone and a tablet.  The trend is controversial tosome analysts who argue that these two product innovations haven’t met the expectations. But Dell maintains that “It’s early stages for us. We’ve got a lot more products planned next year, particularly as the tablet comes into the mainstream here. We’re absolutely changing our role in the industry. At the extreme, you could have said Dell started out as more of distributor, and now you see Dell as an IP owner.”