Hard Facts: September 16, 2002

In general, the higher the percentage of solution providers citing a particular system as their most profitable, the higher the percentage also citing this system as their best-selling. For example, 41 percent of solution providers cite HP/Compaq's PC servers as their most profitable, with 43 percent saying these servers are also their best-selling.

There are cases where the percentage of solution providers citing a particular system as most profitable significantly exceeds the percentage citing the unit as best selling. Among PC servers, 29 percent of solution providers cite white boxes as their most profitable systems, but only 23 percent cite them as their best-selling.

These results reflect the impact of other factors on sales. Some businesses, for example, have a strong aversion to white boxes, which can limit sales no matter how profitable these units are for solution providers.