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Dell Inc.'s (DELL) proposed acquisition of Perot Systems Corp. (PER) for $3.9 billion is good medicine for the computer maker's fledgling services business.

Dell, Round Rock, Texas, generates around 60% of its roughly $61 billion in annual revenue selling computers and servers. Now, the company is following other competitors that have expanded from hardware into services, like International Business Machines Corp. (IBM), Hewlett-Packard Co. (HPQ), Accenture PLC (ACN) and Fujitsu Ltd. (6702-JP).

Unlike those companies, however, Dell isn't trying to be all things to all people. Rather, Dell is building on its already prominent government and health-care business, the industries Perot Systems specializes in serving. That could make Dell even more attractive to its clients that are looking for both packages of hardware and advice on how to deploy it.

Though Dell is late to the services sector, its timing might prove opportune. Tech spending in the approximately $2.5 trillion U.S. health-care industry is expected to grow by as much as 10% this year, according to findings from a recent survey by market tracker IDC. Gartner Inc., another market tracker, says health-care IT services revenue will have a compound annual growth rate of 5.1% through 2013. That natural growth could get a boost if the Obama administration succeeds in pushing through health-care overhaul, which would expand coverage to millions of Americans.

Also auguring well for the acquisition: An earlier economic-stimulus proposal that has large dollops of cash directed toward the government and health-care sectors. IDC identified about $23 billion in spending on government and health care IT as part of the stimulus package.

"We believe that [Perot Systems'] strong health-care and federal government business create sustainable competitive revenue opportunities for the combined companies," BMO Capital Markets analyst Keith Bachman wrote in a note. He added that while Dell would have an overexposure to the U.S., that could benefit the company in the near term because the country will likely emerge from the recession earlier than Europe.

Dell's profitability is also likely to benefit, though how quickly and by how much remain to be seen. Professional services of the kind Perot Systems sells are much more profitable than Dell's hardware sales, so the mix is sure to bolster Dell's gross and operating margins. "Clearly, it's a positive for Dell's margins," Dell Enterprise Chief Technology Officer Paul Prince said in an interview.

Given their substantial lead over Dell, neither Hewlett-Packard nor IBM will likely feel a broad challenge. But Dell's move could force the two companies to pay more attention to their own health-care and government sectors.

H-P didn't return email seeking comment for this article. IBM declined to comment.

Of course, the acquisition won't propel Dell into the top rankings of IT services providers. Over the past four quarters, Dell and Perot Systems had a combined $8 billion in revenue from what Dell describes as "enhanced services and support." That's a far cry from the $58.9 billion in IT-services-related revenue IBM generated in 2008, according to a June report by Gartner. Over the same period, H-P had $38.6 billion, although its acquisition of EDS didn't close until the end of August 2008, according to Gartner.

Meanwhile, Perot Systems has annual revenue of just $2.8 billion.

Now, Dell is making the same move, though in a deliberately narrow fashion. Capitalizing on its own strengths, analysts say, is the smart way for Dell to look for growth.

"It's a step in the right direction in addressing Dell's services capability," said Kaufman Bros. analyst Shaw Wu.

Dell shares fell 4.1% to $16.01.

-By Ben Charny, Dow Jones Newswires; 415-765-8230; ben.charny@dowjones.com

(Jessica Hodgson contributed to this article.)