Dell now has ~$10 billion in its jeans to spend on an acquisition or two. It raised another billion this week selling bonds. That's the second time in two months it's sold debt, not something it's done much of in years past.

It also has IBM's poached M&A chief David Johnson, but since IBM sued him to enforce his non-compete he's off "studying the company" while a court decides if and when he can practice his skills.

The Wall Street Journal talked to somebody who talked to Michael Dell and says the company is expecting to buy a "significant-sized company" this summer.

The paper also talked to people who talked to CFO Brian Gladden, who indicated Dell wants to expand its data storage and tech services.

From what Gladden told BusinessWeek those services appear to be managing networks and equipment. The magazine suggests Dell might think about Palm, Motorola, Affiliated Computer Service, BMC, Symantec and EMC.