IBM

IBM has always been the leader in server hardware. IBM outsources many of the manufacturing processes of their server hardware to other companies such as Hitachi, Western Digital, and QLogic, just to name a few. Those items are created to IBM specifications and are not bought off-the-shelf as is the case with the PC builder Dell, for example. Having these technologies build to spec and assigning a specific part number to every component that goes into the server enables IBM to provide better reliability and support. We consider IBM to be an Enterprise-grade server manufacturer suitable for any sized business.

We chose IBM for two reasons; reliability and support. Using IBM helps our customers increase reliability by reducing downtime associated with hardware failure rates. When there is an issue, IBM dispatches parts and/or service in a timely fashion and doesn't waste our technicians time on the phone running diagnostics. As a result, support costs and downtime are reduced. We have been using IBM servers since 1999 at AIO. Every physical server we use in our own environment is an IBM.