Dell may be the new kid on the block in terms of channel presence, but its name is well established in the SMB desktop customer base. The vendor accounted for the largest percentage of the dollar value of customer proposals written by VARs in the first half of the year. But that doesn't translate into Dell having the largest share of deals closed, according to new research by the Institute for Partner Education & Development (IPED), the research arm of Everything Channel, which also owns ChannelWeb.
Dell also finished fourth in the final version of IPED's new Channel Affinity Index, which measures vendors based on weighted ratings in 15 categories by solution providers. Meanwhile, Apple solution providers continue to show the love for that company's desktop systems, leading Apple to the top Index score.
Hewlett-Packard closed more revenue in deals in the first half of the year than any other vendor, even though its average transaction size was smaller than those of its four closest competitors, according to IPED's research.
Overall, VARs expect desktop sales to sink in the second half, likely due to laptops making more inroads into the PC space and the economy.
The following slides illustrate some of the complete results in the SMB desktop systems category. ChannelWeb is providing further findings in other product categories throughout December.
