Because of Dell's history of antagonism toward the channel, many solution providers remain suspicious of the vendor. But Crotty said Dell's managed-services efforts ultimately will help. "I think it's goodness because it's going to bring end-user awareness to the market," Crotty told The Channel Insider during Ingram Micro's VentureTech Network (VTN) this week in New Orleans. "Dell's got a competitive offering. It's going to be good." Dell competitors, in contrast, have kept to what Crotty called an "old-school" approach to by so far forgoing comprehensive managed services initiatives. "They're still applying kind of an old-school channel program development and distribution-engagement model," he said. During a presentation at the VTN event, Gartner analyst Tiffani Bova pointed out that major vendors have fallen behind on managed services while smaller alternative vendors have jumped in. She encouraged solution providers to work with those alternative vendors.