Dell took a swipe at HP to start off its inaugural Dell World event with a survey it did in conjunction with a research group that found customers with 500 or more people are uncertain about the direction HP is taking.

It’s quite a start to Dell World and signals Dell’s intent to really go after HP and attack its instability.

I asked at the press and analyst event why Dell issued the press release and participated in the study.

“I also believe that there is a certain benefit to us from the opportunity created by the turmoil and uncertainty from one of our major competitors who should be pretty obvious,” Dell said in response to my request for his remarks on the matter.

So, now we have two companies aggressively going after HP: Dell and Oracle.

The Dell method is a bit different than the Oracle kind of attack. Oracle puts out a press release saying Autonomy came to them offering the company for sale. HP has issued a press release saying HP customers are questioning if HP customers have the right long-term technology partner.

According to the survey of 130 HP customers, Technology Business Research found that 46% of respondents are now less likely to purchase HP products and services. For companies with 1,000 to 4,999 the sentiment rose to 53%.

Not surprising, the study found that customers are looking for alternatives to HP in terms of PCs and servers.

Services Angle

HP and Dell are long-time competitors. HP’s turmoil certainly benefits Dell in the desktop, server and mobile market but also in services. Dell has taken the “Audi,” approach to its business. It knows that high-end mobile devices extend into infrastructure offerings where services generate considerable revenues.