Compaq Sweeps LAN
Servers
September 21, 1998, Issue: 808
Section: Inside Spending
Compaq Sweeps LAN Servers
Amber Howle
Compaq Computer Corp. emerged as the most widely used LAN server
product among large, midsize and small companies polled in the latest
CRN
Inside Spending brand-preference survey.
Compaq servers were in use at 49 percent of the large companies
queried,
while Hewlett-Packard Co. was cited by 24 percent, and IBM Corp.
placed
third with 13 percent.
At midsize companies, 34 percent named Houston-based Compaq,
while 23
percent named HP, Palo Alto, Calif., and 8 percent named Dell
Computer
Corp., Round Rock, Texas.
Among small companies surveyed, 16 percent used Compaq, 13
percent
named IBM Corp., Armonk, N.Y., and 10 percent cited HP.
In the survey, MIS officials were asked to name all the brands of LAN
servers currently used by their companies.
Doug Strain, Compaq's manager of channel and field marketing for
North
America systems marketing, said Compaq's brand recognition helped
it retain
a dominant position in the survey.
"We've been in the business for quite a while . . . and customers
recognize that
major ISVs in the major LAN server business use Compaq as their
primary
benchmark platform," Strain said.
Marketing Compaq LAN servers to different sizes of businesses does
not
directly correlate with hardware size, Strain noted. "It really depends
upon
what function they use it for," he said.
Although Compaq does develop LAN servers geared toward specific
business segments, it is the reseller channel that ultimately
determines the
vendor's success in those segments, Strain said.
"[The large and midsize segments are] an area where having a reseller
channel
is key versus a direct model," he said. "A majority of our resellers have
a level
of account management and touch with those [segments], and can
offer
services that are difficult to get directly from the vendor."
Strain said Compaq took the lead in the small-business category this
year
because it made an effort to reach out to resellers in that market.
"In the small-business segment, it's important to have resellers out
there who
know how to address the needs of a small-business customer," he
said.
"We've done a lot in the past year particularly to develop programs and
actively recruit resellers who sell into the small-business category."
Compaq strengthened its SMB Solution Provider Program last year
and
toured the country recruiting resellers that focus on the small-business
market,
he said.
Enhancements to the program include priority access to LAN servers
and
other products designed for the small-business space, customized
marketing
tools, financial solutions and more sophisticated lead generation.
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