Pitney Bowes posts online deal with Dell

The mail and message management company has signed a deal with Dell Computer to offer its ClickStamp Online software preinstalled on Dell's Dimension and Inspiron small-business computers, the companies said in a statement Wednesday.

ClickStamp Online, from Pitney Bowes' online postage division, lets people import and print logos, graphics and postage on envelopes from their desktops.

Pitney Bowes has struggled over the last few years against start-ups that cut into its postage-metering market by taking the business online, and about a year ago it began a push to bring its products and services to the Web.

Little by little, many of the Internet start-ups, such as Stamps.com and E-Stamp, have fallen by the wayside. Stamford, Conn.-based Pitney Bowes, meanwhile, has made a steady comeback.

Through PC industry heavyweight Dell, the company is looking to "enhance the distribution and reach of our PitneyWorks suite of products and services into the rapidly growing Internet-enabled small business market," Elise DeBoise, president of PitneyWorks, said in a statement.

Dell computers with ClickStamp Online software will begin shipping later this quarter, the companies said.