Pricing Evaluation Service: Enterprise ComputingAN IDC DATABASE PRODUCT

IDC's Pricing Evaluation Service: Enterprise Computing product provides vendors and resellers with the intelligence and analysis necessary to create winning price and product positioning strategies. The product covers all servers (enterprise and workgroup), including blades. Clients can access real-time pricing, promotions, and specifications through IDC's Pricing eValuator Web site. Clients can also receive detailed analyses on current and future price trends and access to robust analysis tools.

Markets Covered

This product covers the following segments of the enterprise computing market:

Enterprise servers

Industry-standard servers

System software

Subjects Analyzed

Throughout the year, this product will address the following topics:

Impact of pricing on emerging distribution channels

Declining reseller and vendor margins

Opportunities in a maturing market

Winners and losers in the protracted price war

Multiple sources of components fueling a supplier price war

Emerging pricing trends in corporate procurement

Key Questions Answered

Our research addresses the following issues that are critical to your success:

1. How do component costs affect overall system prices and vendor

selling strategies?

2. What are the defining issues and predictors of pricing over the next

year?

3. Which vendors initiate/dominate price leadership in the

marketplace?

4. How do technology changes affect the procurement decisions of

major corporate buyers?

Price Collection Methodology Overview

Source: IDC

International Data Corporation (IDC) is the premier global provider of market intelligence, advisory services, and events for the information technology, telecommunications, and consumer technology markets. With more than 1,100 analysts worldwide, IDC offers global, regional, and local expertise on technology and industry opportunities and trends in over 110 countries. IDC's analysis and insight helps IT professionals, business executives, and the investment community to make fact-based technology decisions and to achieve their key business objectives. Founded in 1964, IDC is a subsidiary of IDG, the world's leading technology media, research, and events company. To learn more about IDC, please visit www.idc.com. Follow IDC on Twitter at @IDC.

IDC Corporate Headquarters: 5 Speen Street, Framingham, MA 01701 P.508.872.8200

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Companies Analyzed

IDC's Pricing Evaluation Service: Enterprise Computing product analyzes the product strategies, competitive positioning, financial viability, and overall strategic direction of major providers in the enterprise computing market in the United States, Canada, most European countries, and many

countries in Asia. Companies tracked include

Dell, HP, IBM, and Sun.

Timely Delivery and Support

Internet access to data and analysis tools is provided via IDC's Pricing eValuator Web site. The tools and services available to clients include the

following:

Price and specifications database includes list-, street-, and

distributor-level pricing as well as specifications, historical pricing,

and product availability information.

Configure-to-order pricing database captures pricing for each feature of every configuration that a vendor presents on its configure-to-

order Web site. For example, a vendor might have more than 5,000

individual features that can be built into unique system configurations. This database reports any change to an individual

feature, such as a charge for incremental memory, and its impact on

the price of an overall configuration.

Promotions database includes detailed information on current

promotions and rebates. Full promotion descriptions, pricing, and

valid offer dates are included.

Product comparison builder tool matches clients' products with peer products from competitors and updates pricing and differences on a

daily basis.

Quick-response IDC updates detail price and promotion changes

and new product announcements as they happen, emphasizing fast

delivery of pricing data, so clients can react rapidly.

Custom consulting is available for special projects.

Product Snapshot

Source: IDC