Addressing the small- and medium-business market remains a high priority for Dell, and the vendor attempts to make direct contact with about 10 million of those companies on at least a monthly basis. This week Dell introduced a laptop computer tailored for that market segment.

"We believe that even today customers in this space tend to be underserved," says Frank Muehleman, VP of Dell's SMB division. "We're trying to match each customer's complexity and size with a representative with the experience and resources they need."

Dell believes it reaches nearly all the country's 10 million businesses that have between one and 500 employees every month with its Dell Direct catalog and other direct-mail efforts, Muehleman says. Depending on the demands of specific customers, accounts will be assigned to specific support staff.

It's important to try to design equipment, software, and services that can specifically meet the demands of the SMB market, he says. At the Small Business Administration Expo in Washington, D.C., as part of National Small Business Week, Dell introduced the Latitude D510 notebook computer. The notebook's size, price, and service options are designed to appeal to growing businesses, he says.

Priced starting at $929, with a weight of 5.2 pounds, the Latitude D510 can be configured with an Intel Pentium M or Celeron M processor, and with either a 14.1-inch or 15-inch display. To reduce up-front investment, the computer is offered with a one-year service and warranty program, instead of the standard three-year agreement.