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Intel urges SMEs: Don't delay PC refresh
Summary
Chip giant Intel urges small and medium-sized enterprises to avoid lengthening their PC refresh cycles as a cost-cutting measure during the recession.
Topics
Chip giant Intel has urged small and medium-sized enterprises to avoid lengthening their PC refresh cycles as a cost-cutting measure during the recession, reiterating that security risk and maintenance bills could cost companies more than if they were to purchase new PCs.
The call came after a recent study found that 43 percent of medium-sized businesses and 26 percent of small businesses intend to delay their PC upgrade plans. The study, conducted by market research consultancy Techaisle between February and March, involved 630 companies in seven countries — Australia, Brazil, China, India, Italy, the UK and the US.
According to Techaisle, desktops that have been in use for over three years are 28 percent more likely to be attacked by a virus than those that have been used for less than three years. In the case of notebooks, older machines were 58 percent more likely to suffer a virus attack. Older desktops and notebooks were also likely to have greater downtime from virus incidents, compared with newer systems.
In addition, 49 percent of SMEs experience power supply failure on PCs that are older than three years, compared to only 11 percent for machines with a shorter lifespan. Hard drive failure also affected 33 percent of SMEs with older PCs, compared to eight percent for newer systems.
Techaisle also found that for older PCs, small businesses spend an average annual maintenance cost of $545 (£330), while medium-sized businesses fork out $709.
Citing a separate report from J Gold Associates, Robert Crooke, general manager and vice president of Intel's business client group, pointed out that PCs in their first year cost an average of $126 in repair costs. With competitively priced PCs that start from around $540 for a desktop, SMEs could benefit from having their maintenance costs lowered and having systems that are less susceptible to virus attacks, he said Friday in a web briefing with Asia-Pacific media.
"Customers are taking a risk in [delaying refreshes] — they're more likely to be attacked by viruses on their notebooks and desktops, experience system failures, and maintenance costs are going to go up," noted Crooke.
Tony Liao, assistant vice president of sales and marketing at Taiwanese hardware vendor Gigabyte, noted that many SMBs did not upgrade to Windows Vista from Windows XP, so there had been a gap in the PC refresh cycle. However, with the more "user-friendly" Windows 7 due to launch later this year, SMEs would be "looking to upgrade" their systems, he said.
Techaisle research showed that over half of the SMEs surveyed are already in or about to enter a phase of higher maintenance costs.
Talkback Most Recent of 28 Talkback(s)
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someitguy7929th Jun 2009 -
Sometimes pesimism only breed ignorance!!
Here's something you haven't thought of (and I'm guessing with such a closed mind, it may have been some time since you even HAD an original thought... that someone else didn't give you!!). Most modern systems are x64 compatible. x64 hardware allows the use of a x64 operating system (not just Windows, before someone screams Fanboi!!). A x64 OS means far greater stability, security and performance - no matter what your choice in OS.
So in all honesty - no matter what you think of Intel's actual motives - there is actually very good reason to keep to healthy upgrade cycles.
kaninelupus2nd Jul 2009 -
Hey guys, our bottom line means more than yours. Here's why...
What a friggin joke. "Buying our new stuff is cheaper than using what you have! Really it is!"
I guess those "Windows7 Capable" stickers aren't ready yet.
snafu_7729th Jun 2009 -
I'd be interested in knowing how they arrived at the correlation between...
...older PCs and malware. I can't see why an older system would be any more likely to get malware than a brand new one assuming all other things being equal (i.e. operating system, patch level, and anti-malware)
ye29th Jun 2009 -
LMAO @ their press release - techaisle the data creata
http://techaisle.com/Techaisle%20SMB%20Cost%20of%20Repair%20press%20release%20042809.pdf
Basically, they surveyed businesses with 1-19 employees aka no in-house IT department and who probably relied on bundled a-v products from pc vendors.
From their pdf
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About Techaisle
Techaisle is a market research and consulting company providing actionable data and lead generation on emerging markets. Techaisle believes that companies need a consistent source of normalized market intelligence data on emerging markets Techaisle?s core premise is that data is inherently more valuable when it can be aggregated, made available in real time and delivered as an answer to a specific question. Techaisle has pioneered a business model, very different from the traditional market research organizations, providing flexible data delivery, sales & marketing data Integration to manage opportunity vs. planning, online slicing-dicing for all market opportunity data analytics, customer segmentation that is easily understood, easily deployable and drives actual sales. Techaisle?s ReadyRespondent database can be leveraged for marketing services including channel lead generation in emerging markets.
Survey data and analytics referred to in the release are available for purchase. For more information on Techaisle or our global products, please visit www.techaisle.com or call 408-914-2989.
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"Techaisle has pioneered a business model, very different from the traditional market research organizations, providing flexible data delivery, sales & marketing data Integration to manage opportunity vs. planning, online slicing-dicing for all market opportunity data analytics, customer segmentation that is easily understood, easily deployable and drives actual sales. Techaisle?s ReadyRespondent database can be leveraged for marketing services including channel lead generation in emerging markets."
aka we can come up with whatever data you need to help you sell crap
lmao
snafu_7729th Jun 2009 -
...was thinking the same thing...
Whats sad is that you'll have some idiot exec that will eat this up.
storm14k29th Jun 2009 -
Sshhh....
I am trying to get a new i7. You are ruining my chances.
nucrash29th Jun 2009 -
True, but unfair and limited
Execs have for more important, time consuming, and financially important to the company then saving $50-$150 a year per machine, especially if youare talking about companies with less then 20 employees. Sure they'll eat this up, because they are presented with limited information and unless they have someone to tell them otherwise, they won't waste their time researching every little thing that comes across their desk. Nothing would get done if that were the case. It's not a perfect situation, but its the lesser of two evils.
"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."
gnesterenko29th Jun 2009 -
Intel to customers, "Buy More!!!"
How can you explain an OS from an older PC being compromised when you have a new PC running the same OS?
Sounds to me like some one hasn't been patching their systems. WSUS is free from Microsoft with a Windows Server.
I don't get this at all. While I understand hard drive failures, and I understand Power Supply failures; I don't understand the increased number of infections.nucrash29th Jun 2009 -
Thats ebcause
its FUD designed to sell overpriced i7 products. Hard drives are cheap to replace without the need to do the whole system. Same thing with power-supplies. A new machine wouldn't figure into any of the problems they mentioned althought it WOULD resolve them all, just in the most inefficient and backwards way possible.
"The views expressed here are mine and do not reflect the official opinion of my employer or the organization through which the Internet was accessed."gnesterenko29th Jun 2009 -
With our new processors viruses won't bother you any more! We dedicated
a core or two to run them exclusively!
Zukuzu29th Jun 2009 -
nucrash29th Jun 2009
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RE: Intel urges SMEs: Don't delay PC refresh
Is INTEL saying that the rubbish they sell us now is not as rubbishy as the rubbish they sold us previously? Or are they saying that Microsoft sold us rubbish in the past that they've fixed - or is better at least - now?
Why did you (ZDNet) carry this rubbish?
I've been selling systems to SMEs for over 20 years and I can tell you they don't spend a fraction of the figures quoted in this "research" on maintenance and support.
In the first year(s) they're ruthless exploiters of warranties. In later years they wait for the tipping point in the upgrade cycle and then go to PC World/Staples and buy up the "almost the latest thing" systems.
And all the while they are bombarded by manufacturers offering to sell almost the latest thing systems direct; often with finance, free support etc.
This report is worthless and INTEL should know better. And, anyway, who buys INTEL? No one. Everyone buys DELL, HP, Fujitsu-Siemens, etc. INTEL have been so good at burying their stuff inside every PC you can buy - almost - they've completely obscured their own brand and any value purchasers might attach to it.
It's different in the corporate world where you have company geeks who care, and know, about these things. In the world of the SME it's all about price and service.
No SME I've ever come across bought (an) INTEL. A lot of them think they bought a UPS! (The delivery company not the power supply).
brian.smith@...29th Jun 2009 -
Let me correct a point here.
In later years they wait for the tipping point in the upgrade cycle and then go to PC World/Staples and buy up the "almost the latest thing" systems.
This should say :In later years they wait for the tipping point in the upgrade cycle and then go to PC World/Staples and buy up the cheapest clearance POS systems.
When it comes to technology, I have seen some SMEs place it dead last as far as they are concerned. I had a customer who was still running Windows 3.11
I have yet another client who is running a dos based application on Windows XP using Windows file sharing. The complain about the performance on their 2.1 GHz Celerons with 256 MB of RAM running the latest from Symantec Antivirus.nucrash29th Jun 2009 -
Intel needs a better business case for me to buy sooner
How many applications do small and medium sized businesses use that require more than a 7 year old Pentium 4 3GHz processor and 2 Gigs of ram? You should always upgrade whatever is the slowest thing on the computer, and for most companies, that's the user.
Companies would get a better return on investment by training people.
The last time I checked, Antivirus programs didn?t care how old the machine was.
Is Intel's purchasing advice from the same people that asked Microsoft to lower the "Vista Ready" requirements so it could sell more motherboards with horrible built in graphics capabilities? I?m sure they have our best interest in mind.
Unkk29th Jun 2009
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