NEW YORK (The Deal) -- Dell's$67 billion takeout of EMC (EMC) gives large tech groups including Hewlett-Packard (HPQ) - Get Report , IBM (IBM) - Get Report , Cisco Systems (CSCO) - Get Report and Microsoft (MSFT) - Get Report plenty to consider.

Michael Dell and Silver Lake are betting on a combination of Dell strength in PCs and servers, with EMC's position in external storage and its VMware (VMW) - Get Report publicly traded subsidiary, which provides cloud IT software.

"It does stand in contrast so some areas where instead of beefing up companies are splitting up," Said Moody's Investors Service analyst Rick Lane.

A prime example: Hewlett-Packard plans to spin off its servers and enterprise-focused units from its consumer-focused PC and printer business on Nov. 1.

IBM has also divested significant hardware assets and moved more toward corporate cloud computing. The company sold lower-powered servers to Lenovo Group (LNVGY) for $2 billion in 2014, after selling its PC business to Lenovo for $1.75 billion in 2005.

"Dell is taking a slightly different approach," Nat Burgess of Corum Group, suggesting that picking up the stake in VMware could make the company into a power in the cloud.

"VMware is the only one who can challenge Microsoft in the corporate cloud and keep Google (GOOGL) - Get Report and Amazon (AMZN) - Get Report at bay," he said. "Rather than packaging hardware for sale in a market that won't place a high value on it, they are making a software acquisition that long term can lift the hardware business."

Hewlett-Packard CEO Meg Whitman suggested in an email to staff sent Monday that Dell is late to the enterprise technology game. "This is validation for the strategy that we have laid out and I am not surprised that others would try to emulate it," she wrote. "But the reality is that we are two years ahead of the game and it will be difficult for others to catch up."

Whitman suggested Dell will have to pay $2.5 billion in interest annually on the $50 billion or so in post-merger debt. "That's $2.5 billion that they will allocate away from R&D and other business critical activities, which will keep them from better serving their customers," she added.  

Hewlett Packard Enterprise will presumably have more flexibility to make deals after the split from the consumer-focused business.

FBR & Co. analyst Daniel Ives suggested in a Tuesday report that the company could target a security company such as Fortinet (FTNT) - Get Report or Qlik (QLIK) , in his rundown of the top M&A combinations in the sector. The company declined to comment.

Cisco, acquired network security software maker Sourcefire for about $2.7 billion in cash, could pursue a company such as FireEye (FEYE) - Get Report . Moody's analyst Lane noted Cisco has a small partnership with EMC, and asked whether the company could take interest in storage company NetApp (NTAP) - Get Report .

Cisco declined to comment on either situation.

Meanwhile, Dell's purchase of EMC has a 60-day go-shop period that gives the large tech groups to consider making a run at EMC and VMware.

"Everyone is going to be scrambling and wondering if they should let it go or in the least force Dell and Silver Lake to up the ante and take more risk," Burgess of Corum Group said.