Digital Convergence Gains Momentum In Enterprise
Hauppauge Computer Works, a Hauppauge, N.Y.-based system builder and a unit of Hauppauge Digital, has begun providing its MediaMVP devices for deployment in a large-scale rollout of multimedia ad and training displays for physicians' offices nationwide, said Hauppauge Computer Works CEO Kenneth Plotkin.
Hauppauge Computer Works' $99 device features a PowerPC chip and runs on Linux. It was initially designed with home consumers in mind.
DIGITAL ENTERPRISE?
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>> Hauppauge Computer Works reports a 30,000-unit deal for its MediaMVP into a large-scale deployment by a large drug company. MediaMVP is based on the Linux OS and PowerPC processor, with a list price of $99.
>> Dell Computer begins shipping high-end LCDs and LCD-TVs to both consumers and commercial customers. The move is part of the company's strategy to stake out a claim in the growing market for digital IT convergence.
"After we introduced the product and said it's based on Linux, we started getting calls from VARs and integrators asking if they could use it," Plotkin said. "It's a very good example of how creative systems integrators are taking off-the-shelf consumer products and repurposing them for commercial applications."
Ellen Frank, a marketing manager at Comp-u-Plus, a Monsey, N.Y.-based solution provider and Hauppauge Computer Works reseller, said a healthy number of MediaMVP systems have been for commercial applications. "So far I see an 80-20 split," she said, with 20 percent of the systems going into commercial solutions, adding she sees momentum behind digital convergence in the commercial segment.
It is the potential for significant, incremental revenue in the digital convergence space that has sparked Dell's latest move. The Round Rock, Texas-based vendor last month began shipping the high-end W3000 30-inch LCD-TV, priced at $3,299.
Gateway, Philips, Sony and others have aggressively been pushing their LCD-TVs in the United States, and Hewlett-Packard has indicated its interest in the space.
"We're sort of focused on getting the best product out to market," said Pamposh Sutshi, director of marketing for Dell's Peripherals and New Business Client Product Group.
Unlike Gateway, which has local stores with LCD and LCD-TV displays where solution providers can show customers the product, Dell is limited largely to online sales, said Ted Hunter, general manager of Champion Networks, a solution provider and Gateway partner in Brunswick, Maine. "People like to touch and feel and see when they are making that type of purchase."