Use AMD Opteron card to grab big server discounts

WANT A DISCOUNT ON SERVERS? Try playing the game of the two biggest server makers, but play both at once, and you are pretty much guaranteed to win. HP has a cunning plan to crack Dell accounts, and Dell has a defence mechanism. Between the two, you can save big time.

HP has had Opteron servers for a long time, but tends to treat them as happily as a leper asking to snuggle up on a cold winter night. It will sell them to you if you ask, but from what several customers tell me, will never offer them up front. The one exception to this is if you are a Dell customer, and then HP leads off with Opterons. Yes, AMD is the one thing Dell can't offer, and HP knows it. Pretty smart, eh?

So, what does Dell do to counter that which it cannot offer? It competes on price. I was told that Dell has a team set up specifically to counter customers tempted to stray and buy AMD parts, and they are "tasked" with making the offer so tempting that you won't refuse. The logic is that if you don't stray at first, you will stay on as a happy customer. Pretty smart, eh?

So, if you read The INQUIRER (µ), you are obviously smarter than they are, and you can exploit this to your advantage. Just in case you are new to the site, let me point it out. You get a quote from Dell for whatever you need. Then go to HP and say you are a happy Dell customer, but just because you are feeling feisty, and heard about those AMD thingies, you thought you might see what all the fuss is about.

Then, armed with an HP quote with the magic word 'Opteron' on it, call your Dell rep. Tell them that HP sent you this really neat quote on AMD devices, and ask in your best 'moron' voice if it sells them too. Dell may well tell you how badly AMD devices stink, and you really want to go Intel.

Then you will be sent you a really hilarious set of benchmarks, and Dell will do its darnedness to convince you that you are under the spell of the evil HP minions of darkness. Stand firm and say you are going to go with the AMD line because HP really convinced you it is a better way. Try not to laugh at the Dell sales person, it will shatter the suspended disbelief.

Then wait for the discounts and they will come. If they don't you can always go back to HP and work on them a bit. Either way, you should save a good chunk of money, only 10% of which needs to be sent to me at the above address. Pretty smart, eh? µ