Dell Technologies Inc. is shaking up its Infrastructure Solutions Group with a series of organizational changes that boost the influence of Dell veterans at the expense of executives who came over with the computer giant’s 2016 acquisition of EMC Corp.

Just four months after former ISG president David Goulden, a former top EMC executive, stepped down in favor of 30-year Dell veteran Jeff Clarke, Dell is disbanding the Converged Platforms and Solutions Division of the infrastructure group, which was led by an EMC veteran. CPSD’s products will be distributed among existing server, storage and networking groups, according to sources.

CPSD encompassed a crowded portfolio that included the EMC-built VxRack and VxRail hyperconverged appliances, the VxBlock converged platform and the ScaleIO software-defined storage product, along with some enterprise cloud offerings. The unit was also responsible for selling the Dell XC hyperconverged appliance in partnership with Nutanix Inc.

Under the new organization, hyperconverged computing platforms will move into the Dell EMC Server Division, while the converged platforms (e.g. VxBlock and Vscale) will go into the storage division. The hyperconverged group will report into Ashley Gorakhpurwalla, a Dell veteran who heads Dell EMC’s Server Division. It will continue to be a separate P&L within this group. Converged infrastructure will be run by Jeff Boudreau, a long-time EMC executive who continues to head the Storage Division. Engineering for the converged product lines will be managed by Networking Division head Tom Burns, a pre-merger Dell exec.

Dell is also tweaking ISG’s marketing function, which had previously been run in a decentralized manner by EMC exec Jeremy Burton under Goulden. Marketing is moving into a central ISG function that will be overseen by Burton, the CMO.

A Dell EMC spokeswoman said the new structure “is designed to help simplify our organization for clear lines of decision making, get our products to market faster and align our teams to our biggest priorities.”

For those keeping score, the remaining question is what becomes of Chad Sakac, the long-time EMC executive who led the now-disbanded CPSD. He is reportedly a well-liked figure within Dell EMC as well as an articulate spokesman. A spokeswoman wouldn’t say whether Sakac will stay with the company, commenting, “Once he decides his next move, we’ll let you know.”

Storage boost

The moves appear to be an effort to boost Dell EMC’s flagging storage division, which has reported flat sales for the past two quarters. In Dell’s most recent quarterly earnings call, Clarke acknowledged that “We have lost share [in storage]. That’s undeniable.”

“Dell’s storage business has been losing share to IBM, NetApp and Pure Storage,” said David Vellante, chief analyst at research firm Wikibon, a sister company of SiliconANGLE. “Michael Dell doesn’t suffer poor business performance. Market share is critical in a low growth market. You execute or you’re out.”

The moves also tightens the grip of pre-merger Dell executives on the enterprise business of the combined companies. Dell founder and Chief Executive Michael Dell has billed his company’s acquisition of EMC as a marriage of equals, but many of the senior executives who led EMC for a decade or more have departed or been re-assigned, some prior to the merger. They include former CEO Joe Tucci, Goulden, former EMC enterprise storage chief Brian Gallagher.

“Clarke is trying to streamline the portfolio and better align CI and HCI with core server and storage technologies,” Vellante said. “Dell is a company with high-volume DNA that wants reduced transaction complexity.” Clarke will bring a focus on simplicity to an EMC product portfolio that touted more overlap than gaps.

“Jeff Clarke is, by all accounts, a very good operations person who was brought in to change things and drive business performance,” Vellante said.

Image: Dell Technologies