Survey: Unbranded Systems Take Hit

The white-box desktop and notebook markets took a hit in CRN's Monthly Solution Provider Survey for August, but unbranded systems continue to be a dominant force among respondents.

In the notebook category, only 5 percent of those polled said nonbranded systems were their best-selling notebooks,7 percentage points lower than in July, when 12 percent cited whitebooks as their best-sellers, and 6 percentage points lower than in August 2002, when 11 percent said custom notebooks sold best.

Hewlett-Packard continued to lead the way, with 30 percent of respondents citing HP as their best-selling notebook vendors. In July, 20 percent said HP notebooks sold best.

Solution providers say the falloff in whitebook sales in August could well be an anomaly.

"Back-to-school buying for notebooks was huge for us in July, and that fell off in August," said John Sheaffer, CEO of Sysix Technologies, an Oak Brook, Ill.-based integrator that operates a white-box subsidiary called JANDX.

"Then Dell dropped notebook prices and HP responded. I think companies took advantage of the price drops to buy notebooks in July." Whitebook sales bounced back in September, Sheaffer said.

Meanwhile, white boxes continue to dominate in the desktop arena, although HP and Dell gained some market share there as well.

Of those polled in August, 32 percent said custom desktops were their best-sellers,down from 36 percent in July and 34 percent in August 2002. Yet white boxes held a comfortable lead over Dell, which was cited by 28 percent of respondents, and HP, which was cited by 27 percent.

In the server category, white-box systems held their own or slightly gained share.

Custom systems were cited as best-selling PC servers by 25 percent of polled solution providers in August. HP took the lead, with 38 percent, and Dell took third place, with 24 percent. In August 2002, 24 percent of the solution providers surveyed cited white boxes as their best-selling PC servers.

In the Unix-server arena, white boxes regained the lead they had relinquished one month earlier.

Twenty-eight percent of those polled in August said white boxes were their best-selling Unix servers, vs. 25 percent each for Sun Microsystems and HP.

The white-box number for August was 8 percentage points higher than it was in July, and it vaulted custom systems to the No. 1 market-share position in the latest solution provider survey.

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