Editor's Letter: In Search Of Alternatives
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There's nothing like a little competition, coupled with rapidly evolving technology, to brighten the outlook for custom-system integrators.
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Custom-system sales popped in the third quarter, according to the latest
CRN
polling data, which you'll find in our Market Report at the end of this issue. For the first time in two years, custom systems emerged as the best-selling desktops in the channel. The poll also showed a jump in the number of solution providers building their own systems, as well as a jump in the number that are selling custom systems.
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Why? One can only speculate. But Dell's troubles certainly contributed to the shift. Nor was it merely coincidental that AMD's share of the market rose to 27 percent or that Intel was slashing prices as it introduced its new
architecture.
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But there are also signs that something more significant than a short-term change in the weather is afoot.
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It may be that we are on the threshold of a new era of growth for the custom-system community, one that is driven by a growing array of alternative platforms and possibilities for customization. For one thing, the market is becoming much more receptive to options outside the so-called mainstream.
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Consider that
CRN
's solution provider survey also found that the fastest-rising branded desktop vendor in the channel was Apple. Or that both Gartner and IDC recently named Sun Microsystems as the fastest-growing
vendor. Or that there is rising deployment of
among custom-system solution providers. Or that AMD's rise has altered the landscape for good. As Nathan Brookwood of Insight 64, put it: "I don't think [Intel] will ever put the AMD genie back in the bottle."
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For system builders, the roads less traveled are beginning to stretch in all directions. As such, in this special installment of
Custom Systems Magazine
, we focus on alternative hardware and software platforms and how they are giving system builders more choice for customizing systems, improving margins and bringing unique solutions to market.
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In our lead story, we address the alternative-platform question of the hour. As Microsoft prepares to launch Vista, a number of Linux vendors are introducing serious desktop alternatives. While skepticism abounds, interest in desktop Linux is skyrocketing. One piece of evidence: Every story that crn.com publishes on the subject drives traffic through the roof. In our lead story,
CRN
's Paula Rooney assesses the potential upside for system builders. In a separate story, the
CRN
Test Center takes a look at the major commercial contenders—Linspire, Novell and Xandros—to determine "Which Linux Desktop Packs The Most Punch."
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The market's growing acceptance of alternative platforms, though, is not just about Linux. In our "Custom Is Cool" section, we take a close look at four custom-system solution providers that have ventured into alternative platforms, including Opteron-based supercomputers, Solaris-based notebooks, VIA mini-ITX platforms and Asterisk-based
solutions.
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These stories only scratch the surface of all the potential roads opening up to solution providers. As component distributors report in our story "Delivering The Whole Nine Yards," custom-system builders and their clients are venturing into all sorts of niche products and categories, and distributors are broadening product lines to accommodate them.
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Bob O'Malley, senior vice president of U.S. marketing at Tech Data, even says that being in the component business is giving the distributor an early warning of where the market is heading. "We're able to see some trends happening even faster than in the
business," he said.
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If Linux is going to make inroads on the desktop, you can bet the first signs will arise in the custom-system channel. As a group, custom-system builders have long held a significant share of the x86 market. Now they are well-positioned to play an even more significant role in pushing alternative platforms into an increasingly diverse market.