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This article in INCREDIBLE!!!!! Even the resellers are admitting that DELL is their best selling machine - across the board. DELL is killing the other vendors in the SMB market, just like they said they would. I follow COMPUTER RESELLER NEWS closely and this is the most pro-DELL article they have had in a while. Stand by.
Fez
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COMPUTER RESELLER NEWS
March 22, 1999, Issue: 834
Section: News
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Dell gains Ground As Best-Seller In All Segments
John Roberts
New York -- Dell Computer Corp., Round Rock, Texas, is on a roll in the small- and midsize-company hardware market, according to results from the February CRN/Answers Research Inc. reseller poll.
The percentage of VARs citing Dell desktops, notebooks and servers as best-sellers continues to climb and now stands well above year-earlier levels.
In the desktop market, for example, 12 percent of VARs surveyed in February said Dell was the manufacturer of their best-selling desktop. This is up from 10 percent in January and 2 percent in February 1998.
"I'm seeing a lot more Dell machines in places-including Fortune 500 companies-where I would expect to find Compaq [Computer Corp.] or [Hewlett-Packard Co.] machines," said Robert Salfi, a consultant and principal at R. Salfi Associates, Summit, N.J. "A fundamental reason behind the shift is Dell's competitive pricing."
Dell has been chipping away at Compaq's lead among major vendors in the small- and midsize-company desktop market since last summer, according to the CRN survey data. Results from last month show the two companies neck-and-neck for the top spot.
In February, 11 percent of resellers surveyed said Houston-based Compaq was their best-selling desktop, trailing Dell by a single percentage point. This is the first time Dell has reached the top position on the best-selling list since CRN began the survey in late 1994.
Data from the three preceding months give Compaq the edge. In January, for example, 13 percent of resellers said Compaq was their best-selling desktop vendor, compared with 10 percent for Dell. Quarterly figures also show Compaq ahead of Dell, although over the past year the vendor's lead shrank dramatically.
A total of 267 resellers responded to the February poll.
Dell's rise in the small- and midsize-company notebook market has been even more startling.
In February, 14 percent of VARs surveyed by CRN said Dell notebooks were their best-sellers. This is up from 11 percent in January and 8 percent in December and continues the steady increase seen since last August, when only 4 percent of resellers cited Dell as their best-selling notebook vendor.
The February figure was good enough to tie Dell with the IBM Personal Systems Group, Somers, N.Y., for second place on the best-selling list, with both vendors running ahead of Compaq. Toshiba America Information Systems Inc., Irvine, Calif., has a solid grip on the top spot. Its notebooks were cited as best-sellers by 29 percent of resellers last month.
Dell also has moved up in the small- and midsize-company server market since last summer, although the vendor's progress has been more sporadic in this segment.
In February, 8 percent of resellers surveyed said Dell was the manufacturer of their best-selling server. While this was significantly above the 3 percent figure in February 1998, it was below the 12 percent reading in January 1999 as well as the 9 percent figure in December 1998.
Compaq remains the best-selling server vendor. Last month, 20 percent of VARs said Compaq servers were their best-sellers. HP, Palo Alto, Calif., was next with 11 percent, followed by IBM at 10 percent.
However, Dell-or any other vendor-is not threatening the dominance of white-box units in the small- to midsize-company desktop and server markets.
For example, 41 percent of respondents said white boxes were their best-selling desktops in February, the highest percentage in nearly a year and more than the top four major vendors combined.
And 33 percent of resellers surveyed last month said white-box systems were their best-selling servers, well ahead of any individual branded vendor.
"We differentiate ourselves by selling [white-box] desktops, servers and notebooks assembled locally," said Wayne Walters, president of Computer Connection Inc., Leesburg, Va.
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