Client & Server Processors Category Profile

Despite putting tighter restrictions on its channel program, Intel partners remain loyal even in the face of significant market-share gains by a formidable rival. Intel swept the Client & Server Processors category of the 2006 VARBusiness Annual Report Card (ARC), beating its only rival, AMD, in virtually every area. Intel's overall score was an 82; AMD's was a 73.

In most of the criteria, AMD didn't come close to Intel. AMD showed the strongest deficiencies in presales and postsales support, its partner portal and overall solution-provider programs. Intel partners also gave their preferred company higher scores for the vendor's product quality/reliability and for quality of technical support.

Jonathan Seckler, AMD's manager of North American channel marketing, says he had no illusion that the vendor was going to beat Intel this year. "We knew this would happen," Seckler says. "We took away from the report card what we were supposed to. In any other category, we would have had great scores. The microprocessor market is very competitive; it's the flagship for the rest of the industry. The category has high loyalty scores and high satisfaction. That's the positive [side]."

Still, AMD says it's taking action to improve channel satisfaction. First, the company is one year into upgrading its partner portals, for systems builders and VARs alike. Partners had very little to say that was positive about Intel's or AMD's portals.

"They both leave a lot to be desired," says Bill Buppert, owner of Jobfit.net, a solution provider based in Georgetown, Texas. "There's a lot of technical information that's available on both sites, but navigation is very difficult. I also feel as though the portals are somewhat poorly designed."

The real issue with the two companies' portals, Buppert says, is the content. Much of it is dated, and there's a lack of relevant information. "When you look at both portals, it's obvious that they were developed by engineers," he says. "They have technical information ad nauseam. Eighty percent of the information is interesting only to other engineers. To the rest of us, it's meaningless."

AMD is furthering its efforts to recruit VARs, which can sell custom systems or OEM-branded ones from Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Sun, among others. The chip-maker is also adding new services. Last year, AMD launched its Validated Server Platforms and Commercial Stable Image Programs. Both define motherboard vendors that are compliant with AMD's technical requirements. And later this month, AMD will service those components certified in the program.

"We're actually bringing all of our partners under one umbrella and providing centralized service and support," AMD's Seckler says.

The program was launched for a handful of motherboard vendors, but Seckler says it will apply to other components, too, over time. He declined to elaborate further. At least in some instances, some partners say there may be some blind loyalty to Intel because of the longevity of those relationships. For example, Intel partners see a higher profit potential than AMD partners. But some say AMD solutions offer better margins.

John Storlie, owner of Yakima Networking, a systems builder in Union Gap, Wash., says that Intel combines the motherboard and CPU, making delivery of a PC $200 to $300 more. "That's effectively money in my pocket," he says.

But if there's one thing that's holding AMD back, Seckler says, it's awareness. "It's perplexing to us why Intel performed so much better," he says. "There's definitely an awareness gap on the part of certain solution providers. We're working on that."