(Reuters) - Dell Technologies Inc reported a 3% rise in first-quarter revenue on Thursday, as more customers upgraded their systems ahead of Microsoft's planned phase out of Windows 7 and strong performance in its VMware Inc unit.

The company also swung to a profit, reporting net income attributable of $293 million, compared with a loss of $636 million a year earlier.

Dell, one of the top players in the PC market, returned to public markets on Dec. 28 after it bought back interest tied to the performance of software maker VMware, and shares have surged nearly 50% since then.

Client Solutions Group, which consists of Dell's desktop PCs, notebooks and tablets, as well as its branded peripherals business, reported a 6% rise in revenue to $10.91 billion.

Analysts had expected the segment to report revenue of $10.58 billion, according to FactSet.

Revenue from commercial customers rose 13% and contributed $8.31 billion to the Client Solutions Group, boosted by Microsoft Corp's decision to end support for its Windows 7 operating system early 2020.

Separately, Dell's unit VMware reported a 13% jump in revenue to $2.28 billion.

Dell's total net revenue rose 2.6% to $21.91 billion in the three months ended May 3. On an adjusted basis, Dell reported revenue of $21.99 billion.

Analysts on average expected the company to report revenue of $22.24 billion, according to IBES data from Refinitiv.

On a per share basis, the company earned 38 cents in the quarter. Excluding certain items, earnings were $1.45 per share.

Dell did not report earnings per share for fiscal 2019 due to certain transactions.

Revenue in its Infrastructure Solutions Group fell 5% to $8.20 billion, largely due to a 9% drop in the server and networking side of the business.

(Reporting by Shariq Khan in Bengaluru; Editing by Sriraj Kalluvila)