Bell Micro HP OEM

Giving VARs & OEMs some get-up and go; GoServices™ from Bell Micro help launch new recurring service offerings

2008-11-10T11:00:00Z

Providing value-add in any market can become increasingly difficult as the competition continues to mimic your every move and steal you thunder. But keeping pace with Bell Micro, and their ever expanding programs, might leave some of the competition a bit dizzy and scrambling for a response. The latest expansion in business was the introduction of HP equipment by Bell Micro to their large OEM customer base. This effectively transformed how Bell Micro, through their OEM-Ready program, is able to provide OEMs access to branded equipment along with Bell Micro resources, supply chains, product lifecycles, priority, and services available nowhere else..

In the past Bell Micro has used their expertise in the storage industry to not only sell storage but also provide a skill-set and value-add services to help OEMs build their business throughout a product's lifecycle. Recently, this analyst has come across information that Bell Micro stirring up the pot again. Just so happens, Bell Micro is rounding up vendor service offerings in the market. Then, working with a select group of vendors and VARs, Bell Micro is getting ready to introduce a new set of value-add services. With this new service offering, vendors are responsible for delivering the services in their area of expertise--allowing VARs to concentrate on selling, gain flexible financing support from Bell Micro for leased-model services, and stabilize their businesses with recurring revenue streams.

Under a new program called GoServices™, Bell Micro will be launching these services that extend beyond typical managed services to include services for assessment analysis, data management, remote management, and asset management. To make this work, Bell Micro will be drawing on their experience in relationship management between vendor and VAR while standing behind every service offering. This is not new to Bell Micro, is part of their mission, and they have proven execution in the industry, especially within their new OEM-Ready program. It is my understanding that Bell Micro has coined these areas The Four Pillars of GoServices, focusing on:

Assessment Pillar--help new customers through a needs analysis to determine the validity of innovative technologies such as consolidation, virtualization, recovery archive and backup, compliance, etc. to help lead to follow-on services and product sales
Data Pillar--supply hosted services by using proven data management technologies to build secure, efficient, scalable, and reliable systems that address the increasing demand for storage related to data growth and regulatory requirements.
Managed Pillar--provide the remote management skills and services to manage any device or technology being sold to customers.
Lifecycle Pillar--offer the services necessary to manage IT assets of a company from procurement to retirement to help lower both OEMs cost as well as those of the customer.

Proof things are working, albeit behind the scenes, I've heard that Teneros, a provider of application continuity appliances for Microsoft Exchange 2003 and 2007, just happens to be one of the vendors. For Teneros, it would make complete sense to turn around and offer their Software as a Service (SaaS) offering through the GoServices program--making Teneros both an OEM customer of Micro Bell, and a vendor in the GoServices program. Something I would assume other VARs/OEMs will soon express a desire to take part in. For the same reasons VARs and OEMs work with Bell Micro, jumping on the bandwagon to provide services back through Bell Micro as GoServices vendors makes more than good business. GoServices have the potential to go far beyond the strong manufacturer relationships already built by Bell Micro. With the proper tools, support, and services Bell Micro stands alone in offering VARs a method to transform traditional transaction-based reseller businesses into a broad set of service offerings.

Helping OEMs Build a Greener Solution

2008-10-03T10:00:00Z

Turn off the light! How many times have we heard that when we were a child? We should have seen the writing on the wall. Today, we are not taking a single switch or piece of equipment for granted. Even the smallest standby power, vampire power, or phantom loads are being measured. In our homes alone, 10% or our typical energy consumption comes from items turned off and not even being used. Imagine what corporate environments are like around the globe. For instance, in a recent IDC study (The Real Costs to Power and Cool All the World's External Storage), the number of spinning disks increases every year, at about 50% across an organization, in the next five years the storage industry will ship eight times above what has been shipped in the last eleven years, and 2007 alone we will spend over $1 billion for powering and cooling these disks.

The large costs associated with simply powering and cooling our datacenters is getting drawing large concern from corporations. In fact, many organizations are seeking out IT suppliers that offer energy-efficient equipment. It is interesting to not that in a recent IDC Survey on Green IT:

Over 50% take into consideration the greenness of their supplier
About 80% of executives consider it increasingly important for suppliers offer green equipment
The most important business driver, for the adoption of green IT, is to reduce operational costs

With the strong desire to reduce operating expenses and the push for a greener IT environment, it is becoming more and more understandable why green IT equipment is becoming the standard and encouraged. Take a look at U.S. federal agencies that purchase over $68 billion in IT equipment annually and are being encouraged, through the Federal Electronics Challenge (FEC), to:

Purchase greener electronic products
Reduce impacts of electronic products during use
Manage obsolete electronics in an environmentally safe way

In order to meet FEC obligations, federal agencies are using the Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool (EPEAT) as the standard and rating system to make purchasing IT equipment that meet or exceed environmental criteria. In fact, there was an Executive Order that mandates the use of EPEAT (Section 2(h). Many organizations are following suit and will only consider equipment that provides some energy efficiencies. OEMs that are unable to meet this growing demand for green IT products and services will quickly find their solution is limited and will not be considered.

The embedded systems organizations that serve OEMs, are quickly stepping up to the plate to provide and meet energy efficiencies needs. Bell Micro, for instance, is one such distributor that is working with market leading HP equipment to supply OEMs brand-value, quality, and energy efficiencies to provide advanced competitive solutions. With proven EPEAT Gold and Energy Star efficiency ratings, as can be identified by searching green technologies at softchoice.com, HP consistently builds energy-efficient and innovative technology -- enabling Bell Micro to help OEMs build a solution that differentiates, promotes efficiencies, and adds credibility.

A Better Distribution Channel for OEMs

2008-09-18T18:00:00Z

Interoperability and compatibility are two important factors when determining the viability of a stable long term platform. It makes no sense to deploy a solution that works today, have a hardware failure tomorrow, and be unable to recover. For instance, you would never want to purchase a SAN from a storage provider that is supplied by only one HBA vendor; unless of course you are willing to stockpile HBAs for the expected life of your SAN.

Many OEMs have undoubtedly encountered this same problem through their distributor channels. I personally am not encouraged when I view various distributor websites and encounter statements like: We try to inventory, find, or build replacement components to protect against product failure and EOL. No warm and fuzzy here and I'm always cautious when I read statements like "We try".

But let's face it, this can be a very risky business for OEMs. After all, what happens if an OEM commits to a distributor for components, tests and certifies the solution, and then the distributor is unable to deliver? This can have serious, if not fatal, ramifications. Complete development, testing, and certification efforts might have been wasted, product development might have to start from scratch, and a whole new technology base might need to be selected. As you can see, OEMs are effectively electing to roll the dice with a narrow technology set (possibly because of cost) ultimately hit the proverbial brick wall and face increasing costs to do business if they can't locate suitable replacement parts.

OEMs also need to consider how their technology fits into the enterprise currently and in the future. Selecting the wrong hardware platform that doesn't integrate well with other enterprise systems could negate any chance of purchase and deployment. Likewise, selecting the wrong hardware today could easily prove to be an integration disaster in the future. A very simple example is to base your system on a 32-bit architecture when everyone, or at least your target market, is moving to 64-bit. Interoperability, connectivity, and standardization can often be difficult technologies to conquer. Sometimes the only way to build a truly cohesive infrastructure is to deploy brand name equipment that has been tested and proven to work together.

To better serve OEMs, embedded systems organizations are in the process of transforming segments of their operations to build and deliver solutions on brand name equipment. Bell Micro is one such distributor that is working with market leading HP equipment to supply OEM-Ready systems and components. Simplifying on a single vendor, through the proper distributor, provides an OEM the following benefits:

As embedded systems organizations build a close relationship with brand name vendors they are able to gain visibility into product lifecycles, obtain supply priority, and have access to superior support and issue resolution
As embedded systems organizations move larger amounts of inventory they are able to command a level of attention from manufacturers others simply don't get
Gain economies of scale and lower costs by standardization by riding the coat-tails a distributors buying power
Companies can focus on the core business, not infrastructure
Working with a vendor-based system architecture, an OEM is able to standardize on hardware offerings that promote successful integrations and successful projects
The long-term partnership and commitment between an embedded system organization and a brand name vendor means an OEMs can more readily and easily take advantage of technology innovation

For OEMs, taking advantage of the relationships an embedded systems organization has built is critical to their success. Searching for replacement parts and system components and worrying about interoperability should be a thing of the past. Bell Micro has built the infrastructure and relationships with vendors such as HP to pass on pricing, support, and service benefits to OEMs--helping OEMs produce solutions that can stand the test of time.

Infrastructure Management is all in a Day's Work for Bell Micro's OEM Team

2008-09-04T10:00:00Z

Infrastructure management remains one of the nagging, unresolved issues of the information age. Companies bring more computer equipment in every size, shape and form into their data centers and offices. Getting this equipment installed and configured is rarely a problem. But tracking what pieces of equipment are under warranty, and when those warranties expire and keeping that information easily accessible when it is needed, is a rarity. Add the software maintenance contracts for each OS and application, each of which has its own expiration date, and the burden on already stressed IT teams is enormous.

The role of a Value Added Reseller (VAR) or embedded systems/OEM customer makes this type of warranty and service contract tracking even more important and difficult to accomplish. A typical VAR or OEM provides computing systems to tens or even hundreds of end-user organizations. Tracking equipment and warranty contracts across all of these customer environments is virtually impossible using traditional methods like spreadsheets. Because of this VARs and OEMs often don't know until one of their customers calls with a problem that a warranty or service contract has expired. Then, before the problem can be fixed, the warranty must be extended or the service contract must be renewed. This delays the break/fix process and lowers customer satisfaction.

More importantly to most VARs or OEMs, however, this type of gap between current equipment and systems and the contracts in place to support and service them represents significant lost revenue opportunity. Just by closing this gap - and increasing the percentage of contracts which are renewed rather than allowed to expire - VARs adn OEMs can expect to see a 15% increase in the available revenue from their installed customer base. This revenue has another advantage to these partners: it's recurring. This means it is more predictable and easier to collect than revenue from the sale of equipment or software.

Bell Micro offers a service as part of its contract with VARs and OEMs that solves the problem of infrastructure management for its partners and their end-users that offers revenue advantages. The service is called Bell Micro Asset Management. Powered by a piece of software from a company called ServTrax, the Asset Management service provides a web browser interface into a backend piece of software with a database designed to track, report and proactively alert on customer warranties and service contracts. With this service, VARs and OEMs can:

Quickly and easily generate customer proposals working with equipment and software obtained from Bell Micro
Generate reports on each of their customers as to what equipment is coming off warranty and when
More easily justify the purchase of new equipment and contract extensions
Grant their end-users access to the website for their own reporting and planning
Track trouble tickets for problems associated with equipment in the database

It is this last benefit that provides one of the more compelling reasons to use the service. If there is some sort of equipment failure or malfunction, the first piece of information that organizations typically need about how to best respond to the problem is the equipment's warranty information. By giving companies ready access to the warranty information over the web, it gives them a central point to quickly find the information they need, make an informed decision about to respond to the problem and then immediately open a trouble ticket associated with that piece of equipment if they determine that is the correct course of action. The servicing company can also then use this portal as a means to track trouble tickets and respond to problem calls from the client.

The benefits to end-users go beyond ticket tracking. Tracking warranties and service contracts enables companies to:

Predict and plan for warranty extensions and service contract renewals
Lower or eliminate repair bills by servicing faulty equipment under existing warranties
Make informed decisions about whether to maintain old equipment or buy new
Minimize data center footprints with higher capacity storage systems
Replace inefficient computer systems with newer, more energy efficient versions
Track what equipment and software they own and where it is located
Track which equipment and software requires the least and most amount of maintenance

Managing computer equipment and the warranties associated with them is one of those tasks that responsible companies know they should do but which is typically too time-consuming to successfully execute upon. By working with Bell Micro, the benefits that VARs and OEMs can receive and then offer to their own customers alleviates this problem. Bell Micro takes care of the busy work of filling out the upfront paperwork plus it makes the information securely available to business partners over the web. In so doing, companies now have the information they need at their fingertips to better manage the equipment they already own as well as justify why it is time to replace it.

A Cure to the 4-Hour Break/Fix Problem

2008-08-12T10:00:00Z

Bell Micro and HP Unveil an Authorized Support Partner (ASP) Program Designed for OEM

The last thing anyone usually thinks about is the details of the service contract when they purchase a new product. Companies at a high level may know they are signing up for next day or 4 hour break/fix support. But, in practice, there is no guarantee in the contract in terms of when they will actually get their product repaired and their application back online. All that the 4-hour service level guarantees is that a qualified technician will be on-site within 4 hours.

Support contracts for pre-assembled systems like a medical MRI device or a server embedded in a satellite television unit only further confuse the issue of who to call and what to expect. In these situations, it may not even be clear who to call for support since the company first needs to figure out which component within the unit is malfunctioning, who manufactured it and if that is the manufacturer they need to call for support.

It is this last example that is particularly problematic. The qualified technician who shows up on-site may need some help to find the computer system, which may be a server blade only after the faceplate of the MRI is unscrewed and the device opened up. This gets beyond the comfort level of most technicians as they are rightly concerned with invalidating the warranties and service contracts of a myriad of other components also embedded into the device.

In the meantime the manufacturer of the MRI is usually in the impotent position of refereeing between the uncomfortable technician and the unhappy customer. In point of fact, the warranty and service level contracts belong to the end-user - which means that the manufacturer is not even authorized under the terms of those contracts to place phone calls on their behalf. Whether the custom system is an MRI or a television satellite device or something in between, the OEM or custom systems manufacturer is likely to get caught in the middle when a break/fix problem arises.

That was until now. Bell Micro and its strategic partner, HP, recognize that pretending that this issue does not exist is not really an option and have come up with a way to solve this dilemma. Bell Micro is uniquely positioned in the value chain to solve this problem: not only does Bell receive equipment and sell it to OEMs or embedded systems manufacturers, it can also manufacture custom solutions and drop-ship them to end-user customers.

What occurred to the business leaders at Bell Micro was that they could supply a replacement for the MRI or satellite television device from inventory - and immediately fix the problem for the end-user customer. With this approach, the troublesome device can be taken off-site from the customer. Troubleshooting to diagnose and fix the problem can be done in the background, without delaying the customer. Then, the fixed device can be cycled back into inventory with no problems nor losses.

Sounds good, but as it turns out there is a fair bit of complexity to managing all of the warranties and service contracts involved in this approach. To make this work Bell Micro teamed with HP to make it possible for their OEM and embedded systems partners to perform break/fix on behalf of their end-user customers. HP made this possible by redesigning their Authorized Support Partner program for OEMs.

So what Bell Micro and HP are doing to resolve this support issue is two-fold.

First, HP now authorizes Bell Micro as an ASP on behalf of any OEM/embedded systems manufacturer working with Bell Micro. When a break/fix problem occurs, Bell is authorized to immediately replace the system from their inventory and then work with HP on behalf of the customer to diagnose and correct the problem. Warranties and service contracts are reassigned along with the new equipment.
Second, HP also now offers ASP authorization to OEM/embedded systems manufacturers who may be interested in obtaining that status. In this case, the OEM team can immediately replace the system at their customer's location and then work with HP on the correction. Again, warranties and service contracts are all reassigned transparently to the end-user customer.

The end-user problem is actually fixed within the 4-hour service level agreement window, and the end-user makes a single phone call. All of the complexity of working through the break/fix process has been removed from the shoulders of the end-user IT team.

Most companies don't really take the time to think about the details of service contracts and most just assume that when they need support that these situations will just take care of themselves. The fact of the matter is that making such assumptions about support, especially when purchasing support for pre-assembled systems, can lead to unexpectedly long service times and lengthy outages later on. It is only through recent initiatives from distributors like Bell Micro and its partner HP that both embedded system manufacturers and their customers are starting to see some resolution to this issue.

Do Four Hour Break/Fix Service Contracts Really Guarantee Anything?

2008-08-06T10:00:00Z

Most companies presume that when they purchase service contracts that guarantee four hour break/fix response times for their computer hardware, they are purchasing the appropriate level of support to ensure they can recover their new equipment should it fail for some reason. This level of confidence is especially critical in circumstances where companies deploy new hardware in conjunction with mission-critical applications - or when that equipment is embedded as part of a custom system, such as a medical device like an MRI. With these applications, any downtime is unacceptable. So companies want and need the assurance that their hardware will be back up and running and, while a four hour recovery window for these applications is still not ideal, it is better than having no time frame for a recovery at all.

Yet what many companies fail to recognize is that these service contracts guaranteeing 4 hour break/fix response times only promise one thing: a vendor response, not a hardware fix nor application availability. So if the technician shows up at the company site - or at the hospital - within 4 hours of the call being placed, the vendor has satisfied the terms of the service contract even though the problem may be no closer to being fixed than when your company originally reported the problem.

This train of thought on the part of companies represents a serious disconnect between what is promised in the service contract and what companies may think they are receiving when they purchase it. Right or wrong, the corporate expectation is typically that the vendor will have someone onsite within four hours, the equipment fixed or replaced, and the application brought back online. In the world of real life, however, companies find out only after an incident occurs that it may be hours, or even days, before the application comes back online. This disconnect helps neither the vendor, since a perception is created that the vendor failed to deliver on an in-force service contract, nor its client, since the application is out of commission until the hardware is repaired.

What good is a four-hour break/fix SLA when your MRI is out of commission for a week waiting for a repair to the embedded server? In real life, the technician that arrives on-site at the hospital may take that long just to figure out how to open up the MRI device and find the server. This situation is no less dire when the server is embedded for satellite television service, or used for more straight-forward uses - like running an Exchange or Oracle database.

Companies that purchase pre-assembled systems from embedded systems manufacturers face additional challenges. Embedded systems manufacturers procure servers and storage from distributers and then offer these pre-assembled systems with these storage and servers as one unit. The embedded systems manufacturer finds themselves as much at the mercy of the systems manufacturer as their end-user customer - and they learn the actual value of four-hour break/fix SLA's in much the same way.

Companies that purchase these pre-assembled systems with four hour break/fix service contracts may find themselves somewhat in a quandary as to who to call for support when hardware fails. Does the company call the embedded system manufacturer that understands the criticality of the application and how it operates but can not actually fix the hardware? Or, does the company call the vendor that services the server and/or storage but whose technician may not understand the hardware's role in the pre-assembled system's configuration? In this case, fixing the hardware without an understanding of how the company utilizes the pre-assembled system could ultimately break or interrupt corporate processes.

Making this situation even more complicated is that companies may actually end up with two service contracts - one for the pre-assembled system that they bought from the embedded system manufacturer and another for the hardware within the pre-assembled system. So if and when a hardware problem does occur, the company may first need to make a determination which component broke and then call the responsible vendor as opposed to just contacting the company from which they bought the system. If it is not clear where the problem lies, a company may need to call both vendors and let them sort out the problem.

Bottom line, companies that purchase these service contracts care primarily about one thing - fixing the hardware problem and bringing the application back online. This gap in understanding about what service contracts actually deliver, the problematic nature of resolving hardware issues within pre-assembled systems and the need to call multiple vendors to resolve the hardware issue only serve to frustrate companies and introduce questions about the support arm of embedded systems manufacturers.

The good news is that at least one distributor, Bell Micro, has enough experience in working with OEM customers to have identified this as an across the board issue. Bell Micro offers more immediate remedies than waiting for equipment fix, and has internally put pressure on suppliers like HP in order to bring some real resolution to this problem with better OEM-ready programs.

Bell Micro and its strategic partner HP now recognize that a customer does not want to "own" support but really wants the OEM that sold them the equipment to "own" support for it. Bell Micro also realizes that for OEMs to deliver on this customer expectation that they need an easier, more practical way to provide a one-stop shop for equipment support. In a forthcoming blog entry, I'll examine in closer detail the steps Bell Micro is taking to address this perennial challenge and what this means for companies in terms of receiving the four hour application fix that they expect when they purchase a service contract.

HP and Teneros Relationship Exemplifies Value Proposition of Bell Micro's New Distributor Model

2008-07-21T10:00:00Z

The announcement in early July that Teneros, a provider of application continuity appliances for Microsoft Exchange 2003 and 2007, selected Hewlett-Packard's (NYSE: HPQ) ProLiant DL380 G5 servers as the hardware on which to base their appliance platform is pretty straightforward on the surface. Microsoft Exchange is one of the most, if not the most, mission critical applications in many companies so it only makes sense for Teneros to use servers from HP in conjunction with their email continuity appliance to support Exchange. In these environments, Teneros wants the highest level of assurance that the hardware and software are compatible with one another and will not experience any unexpected interoperability hiccups after its email continuity appliance is deployed in the field.

Unmentioned in the announcement, however, is that Teneros elected to buy the hardware from Bell Micro, a distributor of HP products, rather than go directly to HP because of the new value proposition that Bell Micro now offers as a distributor. As referenced in an earlier blog entry, Bell Micro recently expanded its OEM-Ready programs and product offerings working with HP as a means of transforming itself to adapt to what is occurring in the embedded system manufacturer world. Specifically, embedded systems manufacturers such as Teneros are switching from designing and manufacturing their own custom motherboards and instead relying upon "white box", off-the-shelf components and/or branded equipment in the construction and distribution of their appliances.

This was part of the motivation for Teneros selecting HP over generic white box providers. The components (CPU, memory, storage, motherboard) in an HP ProLiant may look the same on the surface as a system from another manufacturer. The issue becomes how well do these different components work together once assembled within the server and then interact with one another short and long term. When buying white boxes from other "nameless" manufacturers, one doesn't always know what level of interoperability testing occurs before the system is shipped and if all of the components will interoperate flawlessly with one another. These assurances of availability and interoperability are absolutely critical when deploying Microsoft Exchange.

Equally important, once the Teneros email continuity appliance is out in the field, who will support it? It is unlikely that white box manufacturers can since they are focused on manufacturing, not support. In contrast, HP has the end-to-end value chain that Teneros needs to support its platform out in the field.

So if HP offers the product and service value required by Teneros, then what does Bell Micro offer? Part of what Bell Micro provides to OEM partners like Teneros is further enhancement of HP service offerings, such as enabling Teneros to participate in HP's Authorized Support Partner (ASP) program. This program authorizes Teneros to provide break/fix service on parts deployed to their customers, so that their customer's don't have to make calls and do the legwork. Bell Micro can even step in and provide additional help if and when Teneros needs it. In short, Bell Micro has helped HP and Teneros think through the unique service requirements that OEM businesses require - and then Bell Micro has worked with HP to make sure that those services are in place and available to their OEM partners.

In the case of Teneros, however, there is another unique value that Bell Micro adds in response to unique OEM requirements: Bell Micro has agreed to assist Teneros in bringing their appliance solution to market by offering it to other HP VARs.

Bell Micro is better positioned to help Teneros in its selection and acquisition of the HP equipment than even HP is since it understands Teneros' internal processes and what its specific hardware requirements are for the appliances it is constructing. Understanding how Teneros' appliances are constructed comes into play since Bell Micro has agreed to distribute Teneros appliances to the VARs that buy from Bell Micro. When VARs inquire about the Teneros email continuity appliance, Bell Micro is uniquely positioned to explain what the Teneros appliance does and how it is constructed to help VARs, and ultimately their customers, understand the value proposition that Teneros and HP jointly offer.

The partnership between HP and Teneros grabbed the headlines but the relationship in the background between Bell Micro, HP and Teneros is what made the headline possible. By leveraging Bell Micro's unique insight and access into embedded system manufacturers coupled with its HP partnership, Teneros was able to build a more robust appliance and then use Bell Micro to promote and re-distribute its appliance to VARs and ultimately to end-users. By facilitating these end-to-end relationships and providing everyone deeper insight into the processes, Bell Micro stands poised to create an entirely new value proposition that uniquely positions Bell Micro to answer, and provide, the right combination of products and information that is needed in today's competitive environment.

The New Benchmark by Which Distributors Are Measured

2008-07-03T10:00:00Z

The yardstick for measuring the effectiveness of technology distributors has become exceedingly narrow. Most would agree that distribution competitiveness is currently measured as a function of component price and time-to-delivery for their reseller partners. Competing for new and expanded business opportunity using these criteria is tough, because of the maturity of distribution models and distributor practices which look largely the same from one to the next.

At Bell Micro, leadership appears to be changing the rules of how distributors are measured by gearing up to meet the unique requirements of specialized categories of partners. One such segment of partners is the group called embedded systems manufacturers, also known as Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM) partners. This group designs and offers their own solutions built on embedded technologies, and this group has specialized requirements for how they do business. Bell Micro has been in the business of meeting unique program requirements for OEM partners since the late 90's.

In June 2008, Bell Micro expanded their OEM-Ready programs and product offering working with HP. This is a significant change in the market, providing OEM teams with ready access to market-leading ProLiant server systems along with other HP branded technology systems. These technologies are supported by Bell Micro's proven OEM-Ready programs, which are designed to meet the unique requirements of how OEM organizations do business.

At the same time that Bell Micro has geared up to support OEM businesses, a transformation has been taking place in the OEM world as embedded systems manufacturers switch from designing and manufacturing their own custom motherboards to relying upon "white box" off-the-shelf components and branded equipment in the construction of their systems. What may not be intuitive as this transformation occurs are the hidden costs and risks associated with going from components that one has designed and built from the ground up to using components that show up on your dock in a shrink-wrapped box. It turns out that which equipment you build on - and who you pick to get it from - can make or break you OEM business.

Just some examples of new costs and concerns that should be considered by OEM teams include:

Availability of replacement parts should one fail
Component quality and manufacturing consistency
The design and engineering that went into the manufacture of the component
How well the different components within the white box interoperate
Service and support for these components by the white box manufacturer while in the field

While there are obviously more concerns than this, it brings to the forefront that new forces are now in play. After all, if you are to use generic "white boxes" in the construction of the systems that you put your name on and send out into the field, right now you are the one taking all of the risk. So if an internal component fails, or some components don't work together as designed, who is your customer going to call? Anyone who thinks that your customer is going to hold anyone accountable other than you, the OEM, is kidding themselves.

These are the exact concerns that Bell Micro identified among its clients and that it is looking to address through its new distributor relationship with HP. By partnering with and distributing HP's line of products, Bell Micro brings a "brand" new value proposition that embedded systems manufacturers, and even their customers, need to consider that go well beyond the traditional price and delivery benchmarks by which distributors are so often evaluated.

Watch this space as we explore the many ways in which Bell Micro OEM-Ready programs combined with HP product technologies offer unique ROI advantages to OEM business teams. We will also highlight Bell Micro executive leadership responsible for transforming distributor business practices and you can also visit Bell Micro's home page at http://www.bellmicro.com to see how it is transforming itself in today's competitive envirionment. We invite your active feedback and participation: let us know the questions you would like us to ask and answer as we cover this exciting market segment.