Custom Systems: Market Improves, Yet Roadblocks Remain
The resurgence reversed some of the losses that took place in the first quarter in areas such as PC desktops and PC servers.
The gains were limited, however, by the fact that component shortages increased significantly in the second quarter in many key areas, including processors, motherboards and memory.
For example, 38 percent of custom system builders reported moderate to severe shortages of processors in the second quarter, up sharply from 23 percent in the first quarter.
In addition, IBM has managed to hold on to most of the huge gain it made in its market position in the RISC server market in the first quarter.
Big Blue's staying power in the RISC server space is an indication that this market appears to be consolidating around the three major vendors—IBM, Sun and HP—with custom systems playing only a peripheral role.
*To read the full CRN 3Q Channel Business Report, click here.