Dell servers most deliberated

We just looked back at 6 months of IT Priorities data to see which vendors IT pros prefer and avoid for their dominant IT plans. In the server category, we found that Dell is by far the most preferred vendor as well as the most avoided among survey respondents listing server projects as a top priority. IBM and HP appear to be in a neutral position, with nearly equal ratios of preferring and avoiding. Sun has a low ratio of IT managers preferring Sun's server products, with roughly 3 times as many avoiding them.

The latest chart of the week illustrates the findings: 20% named Dell as the vendor of choice, followed by 15% who prefer products from IBM, 14% from HP, and 2% from Sun. Those avoiding Dell amount to 19%; 14% listed HP; 14% for IBM, and 6% for Sun. 

Why Dell comes to mind for most of these IT professionals and with such polarization indicates that the quality and performance of Dell servers is a point in contention, evidently more so than in the case of competing vendors. I’ve heard and read a lot of stories, both bad and good about Dell’s offerings and remember seeing the split in the news Talkbacks.  More recently, it can be seen in this recent discussion string over on TechRepublic.

So if you're actively avoiding or preferring Dell servers, or feel strongly about any of the major server vendor, feel free to share your opinions with your peers here, and maybe we’ll get a better idea at what all the fuss is about.