Revived spending by small Asian firms on information technology is creating fresh opportunities for the Windows-on-Intel (Wintel) computing platform to remain a fixture in many organisations, despite growing interest in Linux.
Wintel systems are at the centre of Hewlett-Packard Asia-Pacific's expanded Smart Office initiative, an IT upgrade program for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) supported by about 40,000 HP partners across the region.
'We see more SMEs adopting the Wintel open-standards approach because it remains the most practical and cost-effective solution for various IT environments,' said HP Asia-Pacific small and medium business marketing director Clarence Cho, noting the widespread use of Intel processor-based server and desktop computers running Microsoft's Windows operating system.
He said HP also sold Linux-based machines and its own proprietary Unix systems, but the company's mission was clear: 'To help SMEs get more business results from their IT investments'.
The strategy has paid off for HP, which claimed about US$21 billion in annual SME sales.
Mr Cho estimated HP's SME sales in the region were up 12 per cent in the quarter to January 31, helped by partner systems integrators, value-added resellers and independent software vendors who offered business-automation systems designed for SMEs.
Citing the latest from New York-based consulting firm Access Markets International (AMI) Partners, Mr Cho said the Asia-Pacific IT market for SMEs would be worth US$102 billion this year. That would increase about 20 per cent a year to create a $177 billion market by 2007.
