ViewSonic To Roll Out IP-Based Monitors

In a meeting with VARBusiness editors on Wednesday, March 23, ViewSonic executives said the plan is very much a statement direction as the company tries to carve out higher margin niches for its partners in the highly competitive and commoditized display market. The displays under development would use as a sole source of connectivity to computing or other digital sources a RJ45 network connection, a standard Wi-Fi link or a cellular connection.

"We are absolutely in the engineering and R&D development side of this," said Greg Avera, general manager of ViewSonic's wireless and network technologies. "We think we can productize these ideas this year. It's probably not going to be this summer, but it's definitely going to be this year."

ViewSonic sees its net-based displays as an opportunity to further its effort to break away from the traditional model of connecting a single display to one PC. In addition to allowing solution providers to stream content to display content in installations such as airports, shopping malls, restaurants and even the home-entertainment market, the displays could have a strong niche in such businesses as brokerages, call centers, hospitals and schools, said Chris Drynan, director of business development and marketing at En Pointe Technologies, an El Segundo, Calif.-based ViewSonic partner.

"It could shift some of the industry on its ear," said Drynan, who was recently briefed of the plan by ViewSonic officials. "I don't know how quick it will take off, but it would be interesting to see someone pull this off."

The effort comes as closely held ViewSonic tries to carve out its niche as an innovator of high-end display technology as well as a vendor that can compete with deep-pocketed and highly diversified rivals such as LG Electronics, NEC-Mitsubishi, Samsung and Sony, among dozens of others.

An oversupply of glass panels used to make LCD and plasma displays in the third quarter last year hit ViewSonic and others hard, company officials said. While that has stabilized, the LCD market remains highly competitive as more manufacturing plants go online. Drynan said the past year was a difficult one for ViewSonic. "They lost market share; it's been a tough business overall," he said.

Also there were mixed messages coming from ViewSonic's field sales force, and the company was slow in its ability to get partners special pricing, he said. ViewSonic, which says 99 percent of its sales come from the channel (including retail), has sought to have better dialogue with its partners by forming its new advisory council. The intent is to allow channel partners to communicate issues with the vendor.

"It seems like they're aware of the issues and looking to address them," Drynan said. It's clear that ViewSonic seeks to play on both sides of the price wars in the channel. The vendor knows certain VARs, white-box system builders and their customers will buy based on price. And for those, the company will continue to offer aggressively priced product. For others focused on cutting-edge technology solutions, ViewSonic plays in that arena as well.

"A certain segment will buy on price, [and] we provide entry-level solutions for them," said Matt Milne, ViewSonic's president. For solution providers seeking displays suited for specific solutions, including multiple displays and fast response times (its newest LCDs support 4 ms), as examples, ViewSonic wants to be seen as an innovator as well.

"We have got to have the flexibility to address the needs of the channel," Milne said. "We have to effectively do business in a variety of ways." The fact that Dell and HP aggressively bundle displays with their PCs makes it all the more challenging for VARs, said Peter Thelen, a regional vice president at Pomeroy IT solutions, Hebron, Ky.

"At the end of the day, unfortunately, they have to be price-driven because their products in lots of instances are still viewed significantly as a commodity, Thelen said. "They need to continue to challenge themselves to differentiate their product from their competition."

To that end, ViewSonic officials said they will be calling on the new advisory board quarterly. "We now have a winning channel formula, but the danger will come if we stop moving," said Jeff Volpe, ViewSonic's VP of marketing. "We want channel feedback. We need to look at market factors and do things in terms of what the solution providers need."

Avera said that it is ViewSonic's responsibility to listen to what its partners say and, internally, process improvements to align to those market needs. ViewSonic plans to focus on process improvements for better velocity, and to try to take unnecessary costs out of doing business.

"It's important to spend time at the grassroots level to find out what our customers need. VARs, more than anything else, want ease of doing business. They want quick management of inventory."

The company currently has about 23,000 channel partners, including some multiple partners within the same business entity, Volpe said. ViewSonic has doubled its partner database in the past five years. Roughly one-third are white-box producers.