CRN Article Discusses ConXts Sales

Sales are expected to increase for ConXts.

The article “The Dell Factor” by John Longwell and Edward Moltzen of CRN magazine discusses whether or not Dell is still intimidating the custom solutions market at this time.

Per the article, at one time, Dell dominated the custom solutions market. Over the years, Dell customers have been displeased with the level of service and reliability that has been offered to them. Therefore, they are seeking services from smaller local businesses who can provide this for them.

As directly quoted from Mr. Longwell and Mr. Moltzen’s article, Travis Flake, president and CEO of ConXts Technologies, Tulsa, Okla., which sells about 80 percent of its systems to local school districts, though, said Dell remains a factor among customers who still compare his systems to Dell's on price. "We're winning bids, but we're having to cut margins," he said.

Still, Flake is anticipating a good year of growth in 2007 for other reasons, and it really has little to do with Vista or multicore processors or Dell. He said education customers tend to run their PCs and until they don't work anymore and buy solely on need. Now, they seem have the need to refresh their PCs and the money, thanks to the economy and the success of a number of bond elections. "Last year [we saw] more smaller orders," he said. "It wasn't the large 500-system orders, but I think that climate has changed a little bit, and I know there's a lot of stuff on the horizon for us, so we'll probably see an increase again."

In closing, most system builders are positive about the year 2007. Although Vista and multicore processors are not the only factors, new technology always helps.