By
Jeanette Boyne
15 October 2007 03:31PM
Tags:
vars | dell | server
In a recent study of large resellers by Robert W. Baird & Co., 58 percent said they believed Dell as a server vendor is declining in the next three to six months while only 12 percent said they saw Dell improving. This is happening despite Dell's persistent overtures toward the channel this year.
The prognosis for Dell servers in the channel is very negative going into 2008, according to one analysis made available Friday.
In a recent study of large resellers by Robert W. Baird & Co., 58 percent said they believed Dell as a server vendor is declining in the next 3 to 6 months while only 12 percent said they saw Dell improving. This is happening despite Dell's persistent overtures toward the channel this year.
Sun also had a net negative result, with 42 percent seeing a decline and only 35 percent seeing improvement. Meanwhile, the outlook for IBM and Hewlett-Packard is very positive. IBM got 62 percent positive and 14 percent negative results. HP came out on top with 69 percent positive and only 4 percent negative.
In further bad news for Dell, the number of VARs planning to sell less Dell in 2008 outweighs those planning to sell more. Dell had a net score of minus 1 percent.
None of the other 15 vendors tracked in the study landed in the red by this measure. However, Sun and Acer barely landed in positive territory, with plus one percent. HP came out on top of all the server vendors, with 19 percent net positive.
The last piece of negative news for Dell is that sales of its products among these resellers have fallen below resellers' plans for the past nine quarters in a row.
Dell executives say the company will launch a new channel program by year's end, including deal registration and rules of engagement. In addition, Michael Dell this week, speaking at the Gartner IT Symposium in the US said the company had reached US$9 billion annually in channel sales.
However, he also acknowledged that not all solution providers would be happy with the company's plunge into the channel.
An anonymously quoted VAR in the Baird study said, "I am seeing a lot of aggressive pricing from Dell...It smacks of desperation to win business. They are hurting the pricing environment. I lost some deals this year that I never expected to lose because of pricing."
See original article on CRN.com