Announcing the OEM XL program: Balancing stability with innovation

Dell OEM Solutions exists to meet the unique needs of OEM customers who build their hardware solutions on high quality gear from Dell. Since our inception over 10 years ago we have created programs, services offerings, new hardware offerings, and even influenced the design of mainstream platforms to better fit the needs of our OEM customers. The first big OEM program we offered was the OEM-Ready hardware de-branding program where we removed the Dell brand to simplify our customers’ ability to self-brand the hardware to their needs. The amazing adoption of OEM-Ready has enabled us to expand that offering to most of our rack mount PowerEdge Servers, JBOD storage arrays, and certain client products.

Solving the branding needs was just the first step. As our OEM business grew, it became clear that our OEM customers had a need to better control their solution component stability and improve their lifecycle development time. In general they asked that we help them ensure the platform they choose on day one is available with:

  • No changes to the major components, like CPU and motherboard.
  • Clear advanced notifications on changes to minor components like BIOS, Firmware, hard drives, RAM, etc.
  • Assurance that the systems sold can be repaired in the field for 5 years, and sometimes longer, to ensure the application being deployed will meet the lifecycle needs of the end user.
  • Longer sales life to allow for ample time to develop on and release on the replacement platform.

With these requirements in mind, Dell OEM Solutions developed and soft-launched the OEM XL program in March, 2010, to meet our customers’ needs.

Over the past year we have refined the OEM XL program to include the most popular platforms for these features and to clearly define exactly what can be offered while still providing all the benefits our best in class hardware and services can offer. This month we are formally announcing the OEM XL program with the following capabilities:

Stability: No changes to high impact components, controlled change on moderate impact components, and managed change on low impact components during the lifespan of a platform.

Visibility: OEM XL products include accurate and reliable updates on changes which might occur during the sales life in addition to the already excellent processes available to OEM customers on other platforms.

Support: To ensure all installations are available and running for the desired production life of the platform Dell OEM XL products can be purchased with 5 years or longer field warranty contracts.

Longevity: Sales life extending 12 months after the launch of the next generation platform to allow for development and testing of replacement solutions.

We are excited about this program and are confident we have met the needs of most of our OEM customers to manage change and lifecycles on their OEM hardware solutions.

If you want to learn more about the OEM XL program and how Dell OEM Solutions can help you deliver cutting edge innovation to your customers, please fill out an engagement form.

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About the Author: Franklin Flint