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: Meathead who wrote (45111)	5/30/1998 2:18:00 PM
From: rudedog	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 176387

Meat - Again, what will CPQ's advantage be going forward in the Wintel workstation market?? I have been looking at this question pretty closely and have concluded that in terms of hardware offerings (or even, more broadly, systems offerings) CPQ will not be able to achieve a sustainable advantage in this market. In order to win, CPQ would have to develop a lower cost model for purchases where even large purchases are made up of many individual configurations, exactly where Dell is strong. CPQ will need to develop a presence in the market where they can increase overall revenue even if hardware revenue grows at or below the market. They can do this by an increased service offering, a more integrated management of the overall burden to the customer of owning and managing IT investments, by offering a broader range of system components, and by becoming a more trusted partner at higher levels of the IT infrastructure. I also believe they are doing all of the right things to move in that direction, although it is still an open question if they will make that work. BTW Dell is also doing well at developing an image as a trusted partner to IT, in fact I would say that in the markets they serve they are doing the best job of any vendor at providing a consistent, believable and high-integrity model of a vendor partner. I believe that CPQ's business and Dell's will be increasingly different, with CPQ heading into a much more people and capital intensive model which leverages the things they know how to do. I think CPQ will be a very hard contender for IBM, HP and SUN to deal with. I would expect CPQ to play a mostly defensive game against Dell, and that Dell will continue to set the pace in the markets they chose to enter. Anybody with any sense would pay deep attention to Dell's methods, business model and strategies, it is a graduate course in how to succeed in High Tech.