White-Box Sales On Upswing

In January, 44 percent of the SMB solution providers surveyed said their best-selling desktop was a white box, while 38 percent said white-box servers were their best-sellers.

For the first quarter of 2001, survey data showed that white-box desktops were the best-sellers among 37.3 percent of the solution providers polled; white-box servers were the best-sellers among 30.6 percent.

White-box sales growth during the second half of 2001 coincided with news of the proposed HP-Compaq merger, which some solution providers said sowed confusion and opened the door for more white-box sales.

"The confusion is helping us a little bit in high-end servers," said Ray Rueda, president of Honor International, a Miami-based white-box builder. "But it doesn't really impact desktops. What's helping most there is that the economy is improving."

Henry Saul, president of H.D. Saul Computing, a white-box maker in Union Mills, N.C., agreed that an improving economy was the main reason for the growth of his business. "January was strong, and February has been very good," he said.

Second-half white-box numbers improved significantly over first-half figures. In the first quarter, 37.3 percent of respondents cited desktops as their best-sellers; in the second quarter, the percentage fell to 33.3. But the numbers rose to 42.6 percent and 40.6 percent for the third and fourth quarters, respectively.

Meanwhile, 30.6 percent of solution providers said white-box servers were their best-sellers in the first quarter of 2001. After dropping to 27.3 percent in the second quarter, the percentage jumped to 35.6 for both the third and fourth quarters.