Channel all the way
In a subsequent one-on-one conversation, we asked Degliesposti why he has chosen to completely phase AMD out of this new server range. He said that he thinks there's plenty of potential in the Opteron range, but that he wanted to wait until the next iteration of the CPU before deciding whether to embrace AMD.
Degliesposti said that he was aiming for ten percent of the EMEA SMB server market by the end of 2010 and that HP and Dell had created opportunities for Acer by continuing to undermine their channel with direct offerings. He confirmed that there will be no server launch in North America for now.
This move indicates that Acer's aggressive growth plans show no sign of abating. It seems to have a winning formula in the consumer mobile PC market and seems to be anticipating the mobile Internet boom nicely. Taking SMB server share by offering its channel-only approach to disenchanted HP and Dell partners would certainly be a major coup.
One area where HP and Dell would appear to be safe from Acer's voracious appetites, however, would appear to be enterprise. Not only are the two US OEMs far more established in this space, but enterprise deals are usually done direct, rather than through the channel.
Having had its channel-only strategy vindicated by Dell's move away from the direct model, Acer's ambitions would appear to be constrained only by capabilities of the channel.
