Intel VP Defends Decision To Kill PC Motherboards

System

Intel VP Defends Decision To Kill PC Motherboards

Intel VP Steve Dallman says the company's decision to kill its motherboard business will ultimately result in innovative touch and voice command technology being brought to market faster on desktop systems.

Read the full story here

cheapguys

Let me start off by saying that I am the Glen Coffield quoted in the article. I was an Intel Premier Partner for 5 years and a Channel Partner for much, much, longer. Dear Mr. Dallman, What a crock of s**t. A responsible partner would have had these issues resolved prior to making this announcement. I'm supposed to wait out the next year and jeopardize my company, my employees, and my family waiting to see if some other vendor provides the warranty service I need to survive? You must be out of your f'n mind. You just screwed some of your most loyal customers. I sold all Intel systems which had an Intel motherboard, Intel processor, and Intel SSD all because of the support. I rebuilt my business around this. Now the loyalty is gone. Focusing on new form factors like the NUC? You must be nuc'n futs. This industry gets everything it deserves and is going down the toilet because of these ill thought out decisions and piss poor planning.

cheapguys

One more item. We used to sell MSI, Asus, and other brands. The issue was that as a smaller builder we could not keep stock of RMA buffer to take care of our custoemrs warranty needs. Here's are xperience with Asus. Motherboard goes bad under warranty. At least a day to get RMA authorization, one week to ship board from Florida to California for RMA, Board in CA for 3-5 days, another week shipping board back to Florida--50% of time received repaired board that didn't work. Best case scenario customer machine down 3 weeks. Bye-bye customer. Why is the desktop business dying?

BulletBob

Cheapguys

I agree.

We too used to sell the other brands you mentioned and a few more labels. The fact is, there is no post sales service & support from those guys. Agreed also is that more often than not, the board we received as an RMA replacement was usually no good or worse than the one we returned. Support was poor at best and customer service was non-existent.

We are a small system builder than has been a Channel Partner almost since the programs inception and we have been a Gold partner for the past 3 years. We always felt comfortable with Intel because we know if we had a problem support and a rep was a toll free call away and a replacement board THAT WORKED was 24 hours away. With this type of support we could ALWAYS provide better service than then brand name flagship systems. Also, Intel's service and commitment to it's partners showed just how weak the other motherboard companies were/are.

I don't think Mr.Dallman has ANY idea of just how deeply this will affect partners like your company and my company. There are lots of us out there that DREAD having to go back to the poor service & medicority of these other motherboard vendors. We provide custom systems for many specialty customers from retail to medical to law enforcement and eveything in between. In a sense, we are being thrown to the poor service, lousy product wolves. My dad always taught me that in business you don't put "all your eggs in one basket", but that is what we did with Intel. If my dad was alive he'd be saying I told you so. I just never thought we would "sold out". We are loyal and supportive customers of Intel. Just a day before this lead balloon was dropped I was talking to my new inside rep at Intel. And I went on to tell him just how important Intel products were to my company and just how much I appreciated the fact that, as small as we are, the people at Intel and having the ability to tout the fact that we were a Gold Partner made us feel like we were their most important customer. I told him this, my previous rep and the one before that. I guess it's plain to see Dallman never had this vision. He has no idea how adversely this will impact the channel and I bet he doesn't care. BUT...IF he was willing to ask his field sales staff for the TRUTH on how they feel about this decsion he would NOT like what he will hear.

It sound like you have been in the biz as long as I have (27 years this July) and when decisions like this are made the person making them really has no clue on just how deep the cut will go. What also hurt is if and when (when, not if) he exits Intel the damage he has done to the loyal partners and their businesses will remain. What a legacy huh?

Bob Gregory
Providence RI
AKA "BulletBob"

DukeBruno

As a shareholder in Intel I applaud the company's desire to wind down product lines that are anticipated to decline over the next several years. It's unfortunate that system builders will have to make other arrangements, but if you're still in business 20+ years after starting your companies then clearly you know a little something about adapting to the realities of the marketplace.

Other MB manufacturers will, as Mr. Dallman suggests, improve their RMA processes *if* those companies determine that it makes sense for them to do so.

I have plaques from several product manufacturers on my office wall commemorating our "Partnership." But I am not so naive as to think that any of those companies would hesitate to drop us if they felt it was in *their* best interest to do so.

BulletBob

Most of us in the business over twenty years paid the price dealing with sub standard support and system products. That is why the Intel program meant so much to our businesses. We had a strong reliable partner that will no longer want us. I don't know if your company builds systems but if you do then you have to know what I mean. If you don't build your own branded systems then you cannot possibly understand just how crappy support from other motherboard vendors was before the Intel program.

As for Mr. Dallman's comment that the other companies will improve their RMA process...with all due respects to all. THAT!!! my friend, is being naive! The operative in his satement is the word "if". Well you know what they say about the word "if" don't you? Mr. Dallman asks the channel partners "not to freak out". I really don't see anyone "freaking out". What I do see is a very loyal group of system builders who feel betrayed. And..when 90% or more of the desktop systems you sell are built from Intel branded boards it becomes a genuine concern foor those of us that care about our companies.

Like you, I have the plaques as well. Some are still here, some are long gone and some "never were". The biggest issue will be not so much replacing the hardware but replacing the relationship, replacing the prestiege of the program and replacing Intel with a hardware (motherboard) vendor that will give the same type of service & support Intel gave us in the past and more than likely will do so till the end. To me, the other board manufacturers seem to be more intent on making the slots on their boards multi-colored eye candy with lots of whiz bang graphics on the boxes and who can overclock the highest instead of giving those of us who make our living selling systems to professional users, a stable reliable part with professional service and support.

As for companies dropping partners for their own financial gain? You bet. I agree, that too, is a reality. That is why I try to make it a habit not to stand too close at a bus stop with any high level computer industry execs.

Peace!