Hardware Vendor Positioning Benchmark, Q1 2008

Forrester used its vendor positioning review (VPR) methodology to evaluate the positioning of eight top hardware vendors across 14 criteria to determine where they are currently positioning themselves on the continuum between information technology (IT) and business technology (BT). We found that six of the eight vendors are positioning themselves as information technology vendors. Cisco Systems and Nortel Networks demonstrate the greatest number of BT-oriented practices and thus position themselves as solution vendors. None of the major hardware vendors is positioned as a business technology vendor. In this report, we illustrate how hardware vendor strategists and their marketing colleagues can use these insights to improve their own positioning.