After having seen Oxford Systems Integration provide quick, reliable service on the PC side, customers are now more open to engaging with the solution provider on the server end, Roller said. "What we're all seeing out there [in the server market] started with the level of consistency and capability with [custom-built] PCs. People are thinking more about the costs with PCs than with the features. That's carrying over to servers."
Other white-box players also say server activity is rising. "We're seeing quite a bit of new business each month," said John Llewellyn, marketing manager at Personal Computer Systems, a Knoxville, Tenn.-based system builder and solution provider that makes desktop PCs and servers. "We're starting to head more strongly into the corporate area, too."
Llewellyn said Personal Computer Systems is positioned strongly against branded computer vendors, in part, because it has also been providing a greater lineup of offerings along with the hardware, such as server management seminars and a nascent look into higher-end integration.
Besides detecting continued brisk business in the custom server field, the CRN survey found that the channel's optimism about overall IT spending remains at or near all-time highs. Overall, solution provider expectations for IT spending were virtually identical to the levels during the height of the dot-com boom in May 2000, with forecasts for notebook sales leading the way.
"The difference I've noticed between the last six months and now is that people are going out to buy something as opposed to thinking about buying," Roller said. "That is a great thing."
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