D&H To Carry AOpen's Barebones Product Line

D&H has signed an agreement with AOpen to carry its line of system builder components, according to both companies. The Harrisburg, Pa.-based distributor will carry AOpen's barebones notebooks, motherboards, optical storage solutions and new XC Cube small form factor barebones PCs. The distributor also intends to add other AOpen product categories, said Bill Roe, components product manager at D&H.

"AOpen is a well-known brand in the system builder category. They fill a hole in our component lineup," Roe said. "We always strive not to offer every vendor, but the right ones bring highest-end quality. There's a place in the middle for these guys. They're a manufacturer with worldwide reach and with a breadth of products. They're a perfect blend of quality and build."

AOpen will provide D&H solution providers with service-level agreements that should help them sell its whitebooks against offerings from branded manufacturers, Roe said. D&H has the ability to do the service work for any non-DOA product and return the unit to the reseller within 48 hours.

"This puts our finished whitebook out there as a viable alternative. We fully configure whitebooks here, and we also sell the pieces to resellers who want to sell their own," he said.

Quality Computer Systems, a Macon, Ga.-based system builder, has built and sold AOpen-based systems for the past nine years and expects his whitebook business to increase 25 percent this year, compared with a 5 percent increase in white-box desktops.

"What we're thrilled about is the motherboards and the laptop components," said Brad Spiegel, general manager of Quality Computer Systems. "[AOpen] makes it easy to compete with people like Dell with our own white-box notebook."

One of the advantages of selling whitebooks, Spiegel said, is that his company can service systems itself, often completing repairs within 24 hours whether the systems are under warranty or not.

"That's something that none of the major manufacturers can do any longer. Ninety percent of the time I win because I can service it here," Spiegel said.

AOpen expects to double its whitebook revenue in 2004, compared with last year, said Jack Chen, director of marketing and channel development at AOpen.

AOpen whitebook components are also available through ASI and Synnex, Chen said.

"We are consistently working with channel partners to come up with different channel plans to compete against name brands like Dell [and] HP," Chen said.

D&H also said it will participate in the new "AOpen for Education" program, which provides additional support for solution providers selling to education customers.