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The major North American computer products and consumer electronics distributor D&H Distributing has identified a specific opportunity for the small, independent VARs that make up much of its customer base. The resurgence in PC sales, bolstered by Microsoft Windows 7 but emerging even before the launch, opens the potential to sell an array of add-on solutions to support new PC purchases, including technologies that take advantage of Windows 7's unique features.

Steady reports confirm that the PC refresh period is in-progress, recently illustrated by an announcement from a major components manufacturer that attributed a 42% rise in Q4 revenue to an uptick in the number of PC shipments. Furthermore, a study from IT management consultants Spiceworks, Inc., which polled 850,000 SMB IT professionals just after the Win 7 launch, showed that the smallest SMB companies were the most eager to upgrade. Forty percent of SMBs with fewer than 20 employees claimed they would make the switch to Windows 7 either "immediately" or "within 90 days" – double the percentage claimed by mid-size SMB companies. These "micro-businesses" often have no separate IT staff and need consultative guidance when purchasing technology, and have always been an important target of D&H's reseller customer base.

Independent resellers have an advantage in the race to secure upgrade sales, since they can create customized, turn-key solutions and provide value-added services that are not always part of the proposition of larger-scale competitors. This may include network add-ons such as firewalls, storage systems, wireless infrastructures and other amenities. While enhancing the value of the systems they support, these add-ons also deliver margins that can surpass that of the commoditized PC units themselves.

"Right now, there's an incredible opportunity stemming from the PC market. If resellers want to take advantage, they'll have to show their customers how well they can meet their needs, producing value and adding capabilities, not just offering the lowest price," said Jeff Davis, senior vice president of sales at D&H. "An independent VAR can go into a small business as a consultant, with customized, value-centric solutions. If a VAR has that coveted relationship where he functions as an off-site IT advisor, he or she is in a good position to profit from the PC refresh wave."

The reseller must be able to tailor and market an overall solution around the new PC architecture, however. That requires knowledge of what products and peripherals might best suit his end-users.

For example, when upgrading a client to a new, Windows 7-based architecture, VARs can offer anti-virus software and upgraded firewalls. They can improve the end-users' overall PC experience, outfitting them with new widescreen and/or flatscreen monitors, complete with fresh input media such as touchscreen capabilities and 3-D desktop features, designed to capitalize on Win-7's unique features. The reseller can streamline an overall networking architecture through high-performance Gigabit switches and wireless hardware. And an infrastructure upgrade may call for increased storage needs, satisfied by NAS units or local hard drives, such as eSATA, USB or firewire devices.

"It's D&H's vision to have its customers constantly thinking about how to make the sale more comprehensive, turning themselves into an essential resource by creating a sophisticated infrastructure," Davis continued. "To do this, they need to know what trends offer the most potential right now, and what products they can combine to fit the bill. If we can identify that for our resellers, we all come out successful."

About D&H Distributing
As the nation's leading technology distributor, D&H provides a wealth of resources to empower solution providers and consultants, delivering a broad selection of SMB categories, products and applications. The company's offerings span server and infrastructure, SOHO and mobile applications, consumer electronics and gaming. D&H's multi-market expertise, account-dedicated sales teams, sterling service and flexible financing options are unmatched in the industry.

With an impressive 92-year history serving as a trusted advisor to the reseller channel, D&H has been able to consistently reinvent itself based upon changing market conditions. The company prides itself on creating business partnerships with an astute focus on ease-of-doing-business, relationships, value, performance and service.

D&H has been named the Cisco Small Business Distributor of the Year, won the Microsoft Licensing Operational Excellence Award six years running, and was recently named Microsoft's OEM Distributor of the Year. The company ships out of five separate locations in North America, including its US headquarters in Harrisburg and its Canadian headquarters in Mississauga, Ontario. For more information, visit: www.dandh.com.

SOURCE: D&H Distributing