The white-box PC space may not get the same level of attention that brand-name systems attract. But it’s a huge market — OEM PC builders contribute to about 30 percent of PC market revenue — and Dell has plans to stake out a bigger share for itself. ServerWatch takes a look.
The name “Dell” is one of the most recognized brands in technology, but Dell the company is going after the no-label PC market in a bigger way in the coming year.
Dell’s (NASDAQ: DELL) OEM business has been around for years, and has quadrupled in size over the last five years, according to Rick Froehlich, the vice president and general manager of Dell OEM Solutions, who said the company is targeting even more growth.
“By all accounts we think we’re the largest supplier to OEMs in the world today. Bigger than Supermicro, and I think they are bigger than HP and IBM,” he told InternetNews.com. Servers sold through third parties to vertical industries made up 12 percent of Dell server revenues last year and that is growing.
Dell launched the OEM business 12 years ago and has grown it entirely organically, no acquisitions or anything like that. “Customers asked us to do this because they were paying a lot of money for a custom white box or had to go to an ODM in China to get it done. They knew we had an efficient supply chain and asked if we could do it,” Froehlich said.