business suppliers

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Josiahb, Apr 27, 2010.

  1. Josiahb

    Josiahb Gigabyte Poster

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    Ok, I know right at the top of this very forum we've got a pinned thread full of hardware suppliers but I need your help. I've been tasked with putting together a strategic plan for the next 12-18 months for our IT and I'm fairly certain this is going to involve the purchase of another beefy lump of server hardware. Looking around at my usual list of suppliers most of them either a) don't supply what I need or b) supply what I need with a HP label and a huge extra cost.

    This is the first time I've looked at this without going through our outsourcing company, its a test of my shopping skills to start with!

    What I'm looking for is a quad-socket server chassis similar to our most recent server purchase which came in at just under £4500. We've tended to 'roll our own' as this is a major help in keeping the cost down and the budget sensible.

    This whole ramble is basically coming to one question, where do you buy your server kit from?
     
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  2. SimonD
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    SimonD Terabyte Poster

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    Unfortunately the reason that people buy HP is because they tend to be about the best out there.
    From a business perspective I would always go with HP over a self build because you have the backup of a well known company who 'know' servers.

    From a home perspective however I self build, using the likes of SuperMicro boards, HP NIC's and Corsair or Enermax PSU's.

    If I were to suggest suppliers, then have a look at Servers Direct, they have a good reputation but I have never used them myself.
     
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  3. trebor_88

    trebor_88 Byte Poster

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    Thought about leasing a server?
     
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  4. AJ

    AJ 01000001 01100100 01101101 01101001 01101110 Administrator

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    HP or Dell. servers, always and that's always buy from the best company you can afford. You can not scrimp on server esp if they become mission critical
     
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  5. LukeP

    LukeP Gigabyte Poster

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    We use Broadberry - http://broadberry.co.uk/ - for everything custom made (back-up server with 4TB of storage for £1500).

    And for everything branded we use CP - http://www.c-p-ltd.com/ highly recommended on EduGeek.net.
    I would recommend CP to everyone any day.
     
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  6. Josiahb

    Josiahb Gigabyte Poster

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    Unfortunately as much as I'd like to just pick up a couple of off the rack servers the limitations in our budget are far too tight for me to make it happen, in the current climate I can't make a strong enough business case (even though getting hold of processors for our other quad-socket beast is already proving challenging). Trust me, I've already tried!

    That said, thanks for the supplier suggestions and if anyones got any others feel free to let me know!
     
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  7. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    I've always bought my servers direct from Dell.
     
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  8. LukeP

    LukeP Gigabyte Poster

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    I've managed to knock £750 off Dell online price using CP and servers came directly from Dell
     
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  9. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    A Dell Business sales rep can usually do the same or better, as there's one less middleman to pay.
     
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  10. LukeP

    LukeP Gigabyte Poster

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    Probably. We've had no luck dealing directly with Dell unfortunately.
    I have to say though that it was just one off purchase (2 x R710 servers + UPS + switch) and we're not in any kind of business relationship with Dell.
     
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  11. Kitkatninja
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    Kitkatninja aka me, myself & I Moderator

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    When we use to buy Dell servers, I always got cheaper pricing thru a reseller - go figure...

    -Ken
     
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  12. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    Sounds like you had an overly greedy Dell rep. ;) In that case, a reseller is definitely something to consider. But be sure that everything gets listed under your company's name. My supervisor in my previous job used a reseller before I came along, and it turns out that ALL of our servers were listed under the reseller's account! It was a nightmare every time we wanted to get support from Dell! We didn't want to have to go through the reseller every time something came up, because they'd charge us $150/hr for stuff we were perfectly capable of doing! :blink
     
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  13. BrizoH

    BrizoH Byte Poster

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    Resellers always undercut Dell direct in my experience, and I've had a few Dell Account Managers at different companies - maybe it's a Dell UK thing?
     
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  14. SimonD
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    SimonD Terabyte Poster

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    Actually it's not, usually the reseller will always be able to under cut the manufacturer, if they can't then what would be the point of being a reseller.

    I have a friend who designs and sells product X, he has a supply chain that always sell cheaper than he does because if he didn't he wouldn't have a supply chain. Having the supply chain broadens the target audience more than if he only sold direct.

    It's a good idea to never undersell your resellers because you can all of a sudden find yourself out of resellers and out of the market because people don't want to deal with you.
     
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  15. drum_dude

    drum_dude Gigabyte Poster

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    The reseller is most likely holding the kit (and other Dell Kit) in the UK, orders in bulk and also has wider UK customer base. Ordering Dell gear direct seems to take longer to arrive then it would from a 'decent' reseller!

    Kelway was the reseller I used in the last job.
     
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  16. LukeP

    LukeP Gigabyte Poster

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    All Dell asks for these days is a Service Tag. Every device has a unique one. Rang them 2 days ago.
     
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  17. drum_dude

    drum_dude Gigabyte Poster

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    Excellent point there BM! Some of the 'resellers' are less as their prices don't include the Gold 3 year customer support which I think is an extra 150 sheets on top of the product price!

    But for the money, it has been somewhat of a life saver as on some occasions I have had Dell out within 24 hours for server issues.
     
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  18. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    ...but they won't ship you the part if it's registered to the reseller. Like I said, this happened to me. Had to get the reseller to change all of them through Dell.
     
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  19. LukeP

    LukeP Gigabyte Poster

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    Yeah you're right there! They'll ship to the reseller which in turn would have to ship it to you.
     
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  20. BosonMichael
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    BosonMichael Yottabyte Poster

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    ...and charge you for the service, if they're so inclined. Yikes. :blink Which is exactly why we forced them to redirect it to our company's name.
     
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