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Dell Computer shareholders vote to trim company name

Posted on: Monday, 21 July 2003, 06:00 CDT

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Dell Computer Corp. shareholders approved a proposal Friday to change the company's name to Dell Inc., a move that management felt better reflects its broader range of technology products and services.

Dell stockholders, gathered Friday in Austin for their annual meeting, endorse the change for the nation's largest computer maker.

CEO Michael Dell said the company's focus on servers and storage systems is largely accountable for the need for a name change.

The company has moved from making only computer hardware to a range of technology products and services.

``Customers are increasingly using clusters of standard servers in place of mainframe computers that rely on costly proprietary technology,'' Dell said. ``Standards-based systems are now the better choice for most computing applications, and the trend to such powerful and reliable technology favors our company.''

Dell saw shipments of those servers and storage systems increase by 40 percent in the last quarter of the current fiscal year. Dell accounted for almost one-third of U.S. server volume. External-storage revenue was up 65 percent.

During a presentation to stockholders, Dell said the company is growing rapidly in Asian and European markets, where operating income nearly doubled last quarter. Product shipments last quarter were up 40 percent in Asia-Pacific and Japan, and 29 percent in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

In afternoon trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, Dell shares were up 23 cents at $33.45.

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