Exclusive: Dell brings on ex-HP executive to spur global services

A man wipes the logo of the Dell IT firm at the CeBIT exhibition centre in Hannover February 28, 2010.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Dell Inc has hired a former Hewlett-Packard Co networking chief to help hasten its push into the global technology services market, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Marius Haas left the world's largest computing company in 2011 after it hired Leo Apotheker as CEO in 2010, and has been an industry adviser with private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since that time.

He will replace Brad Anderson, Dell's president of enterprise solutions, one of the sources said on condition of anonymity because the news has yet to be announced.

It is unclear whether Anderson, also a former HP executive who joined Dell in 2005, is leaving the company.

Both KKR and Dell declined to comment on Tuesday. Haas did not return calls seeking comment.

Haas was the senior vice president for HP's Networking Division for about two years since 2008. Prior to that, he spent time five years as HP's chief strategy officer and head of mergers and acquisitions

Dell, founded by Chief Executive Michael Dell, is in the midst of a turnaround, juggling acquisitions with the need to fatten margins by trimming expenses even as global tech spending appears on to be slipping.

Once the world's top PC maker and a mainstay of business-school case studies, Dell has been losing market share and now has to contend with Asian PC makers like Acer Inc and Lenovo.

Shares of the No. 2 U.S. PC maker, which plans to pay its first dividend to shareholders this year, are down 15 percent in 2012. In May, it warned that global tech spending is weakening faster than anticipated and forecast a disappointing 2 to 4 percent revenue gain for the fiscal second quarter.

The company will report second-quarter results after the close on Tuesday.

Dell plans to slash more than $2 billion in costs over the next three years, primarily from the supply chain and sales group, as it sharpens its focus on the technology needs of corporations.

But it has also been acquiring at a rapid clip to help its broader strategy of diversifying away from personal computers, a market where growth is decelerating as Apple Inc's iPad and other mobile devices pull consumers away. It has bought eight companies in the past 12 months, including Wyse Technology and SonicWall.

(Additional reporting by Nadia Damouni; Editing by Bernard Orr)