Reader Feedback on What the Heck Is the Midrange, Anyway?

Published: July 28, 2008

by Timothy Prickett Morgan

My dicing and slicing of the demographics of the midrange server market last week elicited an interesting response from a reader, suggesting a much cleaner way of thinking about how to separate small, medium, and large enterprises and their IT departments from each other. Check it out.

Hey, TPM:

Here's an even simpler distinction, call it B and C. There are companies where the decision to buy a server or an application is made by a hired manager and those where the decision is made by the owners.

• To the former, the money comes from their Budget.
• To the latter, the money comes from their Checking account.

I supported a Texas HazMat trucking company in 1982. The owner had no problem peeling off $75,000 every other month to buy a new tractor with a custom paint job, but balked at spending that much for a modern system.

--Doug

Of course, if there is a B and C, this begs the question, Doug: What is A? And would A squared plus B squared equal C squared? My guess is that A is really just C minus B. . . .

But seriously, I think this is a valuable distinction, one that I danced around and never said straight out.

When I talk about being a pissant business to my own IT suppliers and to the IT vendors in the server racket that I talk to on a weekly basis, I always remind them that while I have the ability to cut checks because I am the president, my wife has a slightly different opinion about what money is the company's and what money is supposed to be coming into the home through my paycheck. "A" might simply be short for "A wife is watching. . . . don't splurge." HA!

--TPM

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