The Victorian government has revealed the approved suppliers for its end user computing panel, in a major shakeup that has seen Southern Cross Computer Services oust Lenovo as the prime contractor for Lenovo devices.
The end user computing panel – worth up to $65 million a year – is split into five categories: desktops; notebooks; Apple devices; Chrome devices; and mobility devices.
Categories for mobile, Chrome and Apple were all introduced under the new arrangement, which commenced on 1 November. (See full panel below.)
Southern Cross Computer Systems has secured a place as the Lenovo supplier for both the notebooks and mobility categories.
It's a huge win for the 2013 Australian Lenovo Business Partner of the Year, said managing director Mike Sakalas.
While securing a place on the panel is not a guarantee of business, Sakalas said he was "over the moon" to lock in a spot.
"It is more about the opportunity. There are a number of people on the panel so you still have to win hearts and minds – you still needed a strong device.
"We think we are representing a fantastic brand with Lenovo and it has been well received with the government. We worked very hard on [the tender]; we put a lot of time and effort into it and we dearly wanted to win."
In the past year, Lenovo represented about 18-20 percent of Southern Cross' revenue – more than $10 million of business for the PC maker, said Sakalas.
Southern Cross represents the full suite of Lenovo desktops, notebooks and tablets, and is also strong on the x86 side; Sakalas said Lenovo's recent acquisition of IBM's System x was "a good marriage for us".
The opportunities are significant – spend on the panel in the 12 months to 31 October 2014 was $40 million, a government spokesperson told CRN. "Total spend across the previous five-year [State Purchase Contract] was less than $65 million per annum," he added.
It is understood that Lenovo did bid for the panel, so missing out would come as a blow; the vendor was an approved supplier to VicGov under the previous five-year arrangement.
Lenovo did not respond to CRN's request for comment.
"Why didn't Lenovo get on independently?" asked Sakalas. "I would say they make great technology; we do the procurement, asset tracking, loading SOEs, we do a loads of things that complement [the device].
"We have been selling Lenovo and selling device-as-a-service for a long time. This is core to what we do and Lenovo back us," he added.
The government spokesperson said the panel represented a dramatic shift in the way technology is rolled out to Victorians.
"We recognise that mobility is an essential requirement for all new and renewed government systems and, as a government, we will increasingly use mobile devices. We also fully understand that Victorians expect to engage with government anywhere and at any time on mobile devices."
The new panel caters to 'Bring Your Own Device' strategies from individual departments and across the board.
"The government recognises the opportunities in BYOD to improve employee productivity and are developing a whole-of-government policy position due to be delivered in February 2015," said the spokesperson.
Another winner under the new arrangement is trans-Tasman integrator Datacom, which has been appointed as the sole supplier for Apple devices.
Datacom is an Apple Authorised Education Reseller and claims to be the only certified Apple Professional Development (APD) organisation in Australia.
End User Computing Panel
- Desktops: Acer, Hewlett Packard
- Notebooks: Acer, Dell, Southern Cross Computer Systems (Lenovo)
- Apple Devices: Datacom
- Chrome Devices: Acer, Hewlett Packard
- Mobility Devices: Acer, Datacom, Toshiba, Dell, Samsung, Hewlett Packard, Southern Cross Computer Systems
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