Whitebox: Features

What a difference a year makes. One year ago, we were dazed, dazzled, and beguiled by the arrival of dual-core processors. Offerings from Intel and Advanced Micro Devices had analysts, journalists, IT professionals and enthusiasts all gushing with praise for a bright new multitasking future.

As the whitebox market fights for its life, local players are reinventing the wheel and dishing out a few survival tips. Strength in numbers is a main strategy. It's a classic scenario. By building up a large team which works towards a common goal, the little guys are able to battle it out against larger, more powerful competitors - and make a statement while doing so.

Computer scientists at the University of Texas at Austin are inventing a radical microprocessor architecture, one that aims to solve some of the most vexing problems facing chip designers today. If successful, the Defense Department-funded effort could lead to processors of unprecedented performance and flexibility.

While smaller notebook price tags are great news for consumers, they are a big challenge for vendors and resellers alike. Several players in the market have now introduced models that break the $1000 barrier and the outbreak of a price war is a real possibility.

With dual-core technology promising double-digit performance increases with little or no rise in power consumption, resellers can pitch it as a key differentiator.

While many say there's still a role for the local whitebox player, morphing business strategies from a hardware player to a solution provider is a must in order to stay alive.

All the right components can make up a very good PC. But choosing the contents of your new machine can be tricky, because technology moves so quickly these days. We look at the components market, and asks the question: How do you beat remorse?

With slashed prices and squeezed margins, where can resellers look for some LCD action? Take advantage of revised vendor strategies and do some creative thinking: Analysts have highlighted the multimedia space is a good place to start.

For all the attention being heaped on Moore's Law this week, there's another more important law that chip makers must contend with as they push the limits of semiconductor technology ever further: the law of diminishing marginal returns.

The whitebox industry has traditionally touted efficiency, flexibility and speed to market as key differentiators from tier-one competitors. But with the likes of Dell and HP adopting whitebox strategies, such as targeting the SMB market, the industry is under pressure.