Dell wraps up $155M MessageOne deal

Dell Inc. has completed its $155 million purchase of software firm MessageOne Inc.

The acquisition is part of a strategy by Dell (Nasdaq: DELL) to boost information technology offerings to corporations. Recent deals include the $1.4 billion acquisition of data storage software firm EqualLogic Inc. and the British IT firm The Networked Storage Co.

Austin-based MessageOne was founded in 2001 by Dell's younger brother Adam Dell. The product manages e-mail archiving and disaster recovery and is offered in a software-as-a-service model, meaning software is delivered, hosted and operated over the Internet rather than on disks. The firm has more than 180 employees and has raised more than $33 million in venture capital.

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In regulatory filings, the company stated Michael Dell was not involved in the negotiations to buy Adam Dell's company. Michael and Susan Dell and their children will receive $12 million in the deal. The family says the money will be donated to charity.

"Companies currently spend 70 percent of their IT budgets maintaining their current infrastructures and dealing with routine issues," says Steve Schuckenbrock, president of Dell Global Services.

Dell is building a product line that combines software-as-a-service technology to "simplify the purchase, delivery and management of IT infrastructure services for companies," he says.