For the past 48 hours, the tech world has been abuzz with the latest M&A rumor: Dell, two years out from what was the biggest technology LBO of all time, is considering another massive transaction: the purchase of $50 billion+ enterprise value cloud computing company EMC.

It’s not definite yet, but in a post on LinkedIn published today, Marty Wolf took a look at how it fits in with the current state of the channel, especially in the context of Microsoft’s new Surface devices announced earlier this week.

Strategically, a Dell/EMC combination could be a compelling move – and a reinvigorated Dell oriented toward the enterprise and less toward the consumer and SMB segments has the additional bonus of being somewhat insulated from the effects of Microsoft’s increasingly aggressive incursions on the product space.

Distributors like Ingram Micro, Tech Data, Synnex, ScanSource and Avnet do better with more OEMs, and are no doubt eyeing an EMC/Dell deal warily. Resellers and integrators like CDW, Insight, Sirius, SHI and WWT have the opposite reaction – they have a more strategic position, and are benefitting from Dell’s evolving channel-friendly environment.

One thing is clear: the enterprise space is growing very competitive – and being channel friendly is increasingly necessary for success.

To read the full piece, click here and comment with your thoughts.