Dell Launching $60M Fund To Invest In Storage Startups

Dell founder and CEO Michael Dell just announced that the company will be launching a $60 million fund to invest in storage startups.

Dell, who was speaking at the Fortune Brainstorm Tech conference in Aspen, noted that big data is a hot category right now, and he said and it’s been a “huge area” for his company too. At the same time, he said there’s an “enormous opportunity” for new companies — as he elaborated, he focused less on pure storage, and instead on helping companies (especially those with less than 10,000 people) accessing and using in real-time “the huge quantities of data” that they’re already storing.

“The storage world is really getting shaken up a tremendous amount,” Dell said, pointing to technologies like flash memory. He said the goal of the fund is to “get out in front” of these new technologies.

Dell has also been making acquisitions in this area, for example by purchasing EqualLogic and Compellent, and he said those acquisitions will continue.