Former Toshiba PC business mulls move into server space

PC business was sold to Sharp and is now considering expanding into new areas

Toshiba's former PC business is now considering moving into the server and desktop space under a new brand called Dynabook.

Toshiba sold an 80 per cent stake in its PC business to electronics giant Sharp last October for ¥4bn ($35m). The acquisition marks a return to the PCs business for Sharp, after exiting the market in 2010 when it discontinued its Mebius brand.

The old Toshiba business was relaunched as Dynabook in Europe in April under Sharp's umbrella. The firm launched its first laptop range using Dynabook branding in July - the Portége X30-F and the Tecra X40-F.

But according to the vendor's northern European boss Nick Offin, Dynabook is mulling a move beyond laptops and into new product areas - including servers and desktops - with the potential for new products to be developed solely for customers outside Japan.

"We're looking at other product categories to see what we can develop and bring to market, to be a fully fledged end-to-end IT offering," he said in an interview with CRN's sister title Channel Partner Insight.

"I'm not saying we will or we won't, but these are some of the ideas we're working on. And it's one way for us to differentiate ourselves from the old Toshiba brand to the new brand. There's also conversations about whether, in the future, we'd do servers or something like that."

Selling desktops or even servers is on the cards for Dynabook as it looks to reposition itself in a market dominated by HP, Lenovo and Dell EMC, which all grew shipment market shares in Q2, according to Gartner.

"I think there's room for an exciting new brand or offering out there. We are embracing new technology trends quicker. We're trying to do things slightly differently with IoT and mobile zero client to differentiate ourselves."

Offin said that in Sharp's next financial year, which starts in April, the firm will have "a good snapshot" of the direction in which the Dynabook brand is going.

Meanwhile, Offin, who leads Dynabook's business in the UK, Ireland and Nordics, is looking to build up the firm's sales team, expecting it to grow by 30 per cent by the end of the year.

The regional boss also said he will focus on bringing the PC business back to the education sector in the UK.

"Schools education is more of a price-led market. One of our plans now is to go back to where we had good customer residence in the old Toshiba brand. That will come with new product offerings that are more suitable for those market spaces," he said.

"We used to have a lot of partners that specifically focused on selling into schools and education."

This article first appeared on Channel Partner Insight