Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : Dell Technologies Inc. -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: kemble s. matter who wrote (135542)	7/5/1999 3:12:00 PM
From: TechMkt	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 176387

Read the last paragraph. Fez _____________________ Computer Reseller News July 05, 1999, Issue: 849 Section: Service & Integration ------------------------------------------------------ Focus On: Flexible Support And Maintenance -- Packing More Service Punch Aaron Ricadela Special from InformationWeek - Executives at emerging enterprises are beginning to demand that hardware companies offer them more comprehensive, flexible support and maintenance services-just as they do for their larger customers. Vendors are responding. In coming months, IBM Global Services, Somers, N.Y., will expand a pilot it quietly launched in March that uses a few select channel partners, including Tempe, Ariz.-based MicroAge Inc., to sell companies with 50 to 500 employees the type of umbrella contracts IBM has sold directly to large enterprises for years. IBM has put about $1 million into the program, which lets small businesses configure through resellers a single maintenance and support contract for all their hardware from IBM and other suppliers for about $5,000 to $50,000 per year. The goal is to eventually offer the services nationwide. It is a hassle to manage multiple service contracts with different expiration dates for the PCs and servers Dixon Ticonderoga Co. leases from IBM and Gateway Inc., said Garrett Grainger, vice president of information systems at Dixon, a $130 million pencil manufacturer based in Heathrow, Fla. The IBM bundle "would be perfect because I could get blanket coverage," he said. Palo Alto, Calif.-based Hewlett-Packard Co.'s Business PC Organization is enhancing a service program, introduced for its NetServer line this spring, that makes it easier for small companies to get different elements of an extended warranty through HP and resellers, said Duncan Campbell, services and support manager at HP. When customers have to choose between the two, they often wind up with too much or too little support, he said. The program sounds good to Matthew Schoen, vice president of IS at Allsport, a subsidiary of the $185 million photo stock house Getty Images Inc.. Schoen has a mix of systems from Dell Computer Corp., HP, and Micron Technology Inc., and said he does not mind using systems vendors' reps when problems are not urgent, but local resellers may be better when uptime is critical. Serving emerging enterprises often requires in-depth support options, said resellers. "Just because they're small doesn't mean their requirements aren't complex," said Frank Picarello, MicroAge's vice president of services. MicroAge provides product and support bundles that go beyond extended warranties to "solve business problems," he said. At PC Expo in New York last month, Dell Chairman and Chief Executive Michael Dell said his company also is embarking on an aggressive computer-services campaign. Dell, Round Rock, Texas, will unveil in the next few weeks a partnership with computer diagnosis start-up Motive Communications Inc., Austin, Texas, to provide emergency service support to small businesses. "This prepares us for Internet support," said Dell Services Director Robert Riazzi.