During the first half of fiscal 1998, demand remained solid. The top companies have been consolidating their market shares during this period, and Dell has emerged from this environment as a leader in market share growth.

I think that Kurt (Warner) had a solid first half,

Stefan made a fantastic save in the first half and has put in solid performances since he came into the team.

although Dell is executing well amid weak demand, we remain cautious on Dell given sharply lower IT spending and weakening global economies.

When we acquired Secureworks, if we had taken it and made all the salespeople into Dell salespeople, we would have totally destroyed Secureworks. Instead, it remained Secureworks but with capital from Dell and access to Dell's customers. And now, it's a great business.

We see a healthy industry in the year ahead, ... Major demand drivers, including processor transitions and component cost reductions, remain solid, and consolidation is separating top companies such as Dell from the rest of the field.