Channel Best-Sellers: Systems/Storage

According to The NPD Group/Distributor Track, which provides an aggregate monitor of products sold through distributors affiliated with the Global Technology Distribution Council, HP logged 50.6 percent of desktop revenue in 2006 as measured by U.S. dollar volume. It was followed by Lenovo, with a 33.1 percent share, Apple with 11.3 percent, and Sony, with 1.7 percent.

HP also was the top-growth best-seller, with a percentage point increase of 2.4 from 2005 to 2006. Lenovo's share fell 2.6 percentage points during that period, while Apple slipped 0.7 percentage points. Of the top best-sellers for desktops, Acer was the only vendor besides HP to log an increase.

Todd Barrett, manager of security and networking sales at CPU Sales and Service, a Waltham, Mass.-based solution provider that sells HP products and also provides Dell to customers if requested, said his company appreciates the flexibility HP offers its channel partners.

"With HP, we can act as an agent or resell the products or point customers to HP online," he said. "Customers aren't tied to any single source."

Jerry Benisch, sales manager at Clifton Gunderson Technology Solutions, the technology consulting practice of Peoria, Ill.-based Clifton Gunderson, the nation's largest CPA firm, said his company works with several vendors but standardized on HP for PCs six or seven years ago and never looked back.

"We've found HP desktops to be extremely dependable, with no problems," Benisch said. "And they are exceptionally well-priced."

Benisch said that while everyone thinks of Dell as the price leader, solution providers prefer to compete on service and dependability. "Most people understand that HP's prices won't beat Dell's, but they'll turn to HP for dependability," he said.

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