Computer maker Dell, which has struggled with flagging sales of PCs and servers during the downturn, has bought itself a piece of the US government’s stimulus pie, The New York Times reports. The company said Monday that it would spend US$3,9bn in cash to buy Perot Systems, a provider of technology services that is especially strong in the growing field of electronic health records.
Perot Systems was founded in 1988 by Ross Perot, a two-time US presidential candidate.
The US government is pouring $19bn over the next five years into technology to help doctors and hospitals digitise medical records.
Dell and Perot were already working together on some medical projects, but the combination brings tremendous firepower to the task. Perot serves 1 000 hospitals — more, it says, than any other services firm. And Perot already helps automate the patient records of 200 000 doctors.