Dell move has UK players running scared
The PC maker's entrance into the US white-box market has caused panic among systems builders on this side of the Atlantic, writes Martin Lynch.
"I am Godzilla, you are Japan!" is a line screamed by a character called Critical Bill in the film Things To Do In Denver When You're Dead.
He says this before all hell breaks loose. Considering recent US events, it could have been penned for Dell, when it recently announced its entry into the US white-box market.
Many smaller systems builders are, understandably, rather unnerved by the move. All eyes and ears are on the rumour mill for news that Dell might attempt a similar assault on the UK.
The question facing most UK businesses is how customers will buy their PC, server, notebook or workstation?
There has always been some gentlemanly distrust between systems resellers and the vendors that supply them. This is because desperate PC vendors have tried to launch sneaky direct-selling schemes.
Resellers cry foul while vendors pretend that they did not mean to take business away from their 'valued' channel partners. Then everything simmers down and much bridge building ensues but, underneath it all, the old trust has gone.
Then there are the systems builders which have been ignoring the wrangles between tier-one suppliers and their resellers by carving out their own niche: one built on introducing new technology first, and much more cheaply than the big boys.
Reactions to Dell's entrance into the low-margin world of the systems builder in the US have been mixed, but there are two clear viewpoints.
One is upbeat and asserts that Dell's entry validates the white-box market. The other resembles the panic that builds up in a broken lift full of people.
Systems builders don't need a big fish in their pond, and tier-one resellers don't need their PC suppliers getting any bright ideas about doing the same.
Stepping up the pace last week, and waving what it calls its 'Dell-buster' contract, was Computer 2000 (C2000), which has announced a pan-European deal with Supermicro, the leading US maker of white-box servers.
According to C2000, the deal gives SME resellers a chance to "bash" Dell with low-cost, quality servers.
The systems will cost SME resellers roughly a third less than a tier-one equivalent, but will boast technologies that take tier-one suppliers up to nine months to implement.
But resellers' speed of take-up will be the only gauge of success because, if Dell is planning a European white-box drive, this alliance will need all the set-up time it can get.
One thing is for sure: vendor loyalty is crumbling fast in the PC/server market.