picking up server vendor in a global scope..

Wed Sep 2 14:31:16 UTC 2009

On Tue, Sep 1, 2009 at 7:01 PM, Mehmet Akcin <mehmet at akcin.net> wrote:

> Hey,
>
> Let's say you want to pick a server vendor and you don't necessarily want
> to buy from one country and ship it to 50 different locations but instead
> buy them locally in each country, and also have local parties provide
> support.
>
> If you were to compare brands such as Dell, IBM, HP, Supermicro (or any
> other vendor?) which one you would recommend for this kind of approach?
>
> The server specs are fairly standard. Nothing extraordinary.. and expected
> support isn't also 7/24/365 but a decent next day -5 hours M-F type of
> deal..
>
>
IMHO, resellers are your friend. Companies like CDW and Dimension Data
provide excellent programs that maximize your spend internationally and
reduce headaches in purchasing and shipping. Trying to buy country to
country will almost for sure cost you far more than dealing with an
international reseller.

If I had to make a hardware purchase based on requirements I'd obviously
make the approach requirements and cost based and work from there managing
trade-offs. I have excellent experience with IBM and HP internationally. I
can't speak for any others.

Local service is generally not an issue with larger vendors like HP, Cisco,
Juniper, IBM, et. Al. Where a vendor does not have their own in-house
operation they usually have a partner that provides them a white-label
service that is indistinguishable from their own for the most part.

There are a few gotchas dealing with resellers and international. Whatever
money you leave on the table in terms of discounts (hardware, software, and
support) the reseller is going to get. Handling fees are also another large
gotcha. Paying a 5% across the board handling fee on a 1M$ order equates to
a $50,000 fee for managing the shipment of a pallet. All of those fees are
negotiable on an order by order basis.

Best,

-M<

-- 
Martin Hannigan                               martin at theicelandguy.com
p: +16178216079
Power, Network, and Costs Consulting for Iceland Datacenters and Occupants