Advanced Desktops and Workstations: IBM Brings Home the Gold
HP took second place, scoring 68, followed by Dell and Sun, with scores measuring 65 and 64, respectively. The average ARC score for this category was 67.
Looking back on last year's contenders, IBM moved up in the ranks substantially this year. Placing fourth in 2001, IBM leaped over its competition, moving to the leading position in 2002. Last year's advanced desktop and workstation category winner, Sun, traded places with IBM to come in fourth. HP held on to second place, while Dell placed third (filling Compaq's third-place spot last year), moving up from fifth place in 2001.
What accounted for the win? "We've built some solution-orientated focus into our products," says Frank Vitagliano, IBM vice president and distribution channels manager, "including manageability, security and data-migration tools."
IBM swept the product innovation subcategory, tying for first in overall revenue/profit potential with Sun. In the support subcategory, IBM placed first, but placed second in two criteria: presales support and marketing support (tying with Sun again). However, the partnership subcategory proved elusive for IBM: Matching the average for the subcategory, it ranked third behind first-place Dell and second-place HP, though only two points separated the range of scores.
Dell scored well above the average score in three particular partnership
criteria: communication, e-business portal and ease of doing business. That was enough to give Dell the opportunity to take home the ARC partnership subcategory award crystal this year. Of note, the partnership subcategory holds the strongest level of importance in scoring for this segment of the 2002 ARC research.
Dell did not do nearly as well in the loyalty subcategory, however, finishing dead last with a score of 57,well below the category average loyalty score of 70. First-place loyalty winner IBM scored eight points higher than the category average, with a very strong 78.
When advanced desktop and workstation solution providers were asked their expectations of their company's business with vendors in this category for the coming year, more than half said they anticipate an increase in business (55 percent), while an additional 37 percent said they expect no change. Only 8 percent reported expecting a decrease in growth in business for this product segment. Not bad, considering the slow economy and declines in product-unit shipments and vendor revenue,particularly in the workstation area.
When solution providers were asked to comment on the percentage of their advanced desktop and workstation products sourced via various channels, products purchased through distributors was the highest percentage reported (57 percent). Roughly 38 percent of products were reported to be purchased direct from the vendor, most likely because Dell is included in this category and mainly sells direct.
Solution providers reported that, across the board, Dell, IBM, HP and Sun have all made improvements in product quality. When comparing vendor to vendor, 27 percent of HP solution providers said HP's communication has improved in the past year, compared with 20 percent of Sun's VARs and 13 percent each of IBM and Dell VARs. When asked about responsiveness, 12 percent of Dell's partners reported improvement, compared with the others at 5 percent, respectively.