Dell acquires IT services company ASAP

Dell today acquired ASAP -- a company that manages software licenses, purchases, renewals and compliance -- to bolster its software business.

The $340 million deal marks Dell’s third acquisition of a services organization in the past year and the second since CEO and Chairman Michael Dell dismissed then-CEO Kevin Rollins and reorganized the company.

Dell, a company which is moving from direct sales to distributed-channel sales, picked up managed services vendor SilverBack Technologies last month and ACS, a British IT managed services company, in November last year.

The ASAP acquisition will further Dell’s goal to simplify IT for customers by removing cost and complexity and making IT implementation a simpler affair.

“The acquisition will fit well with Dell's commitment to simplify the task of managing IT infrastructure,” says Graham Titterington, an analyst with Ovum in a statement. “It demonstrates a powerful trend in the IT industry for major equipment vendors to broaden their range of offerings, to escape from the pressures of commoditization in raw hardware sales and to become more strategic in their relationship with their customers.”

ASAP is a 23-year-old company that employs 600 persons and is based in Buffalo Grove, Ill.

The deal is expected to close in Dell’s fiscal third quarter.

In related news, private investment firm TPG Capital announced that former Dell CEO Kevin Rollins has joined it as a senior advisor.