JAMESGORBOLD/HARDWAREACCELERATED
James Gorbold has been building, tweaking and overclocking PCs ever since the 1980s. He now helps Scan Computers to develop new systems.
OPINION
Y
ou can tella lotaboutindividuals,groupsofpeople
and organisationsbyhowtheydealwiththe
unexpected.Fromirrationalpanicbuyingtomore
measured responses,thewholespectrumofhumanbehaviour
has been on displayoverthepastfewmonths.
All companieshavetodealwithissuessuchassupply
shortages, peaksandtroughsindemand.Thisisparticularly
true of the computerindustry,whichrequiressuccessful
companies to successfullynavigatearoundcomplexsupply
chains and shortproductlifecycles.Aspartofmyroleat
Scan involves liaisingwithourpartnerstofindthebest
products to useinoursystems,ithasbeenparticularly
interesting to seehowdifferentorganisationsdealwith
the impacts of COVID19.
It has been widelyreportedhowmany
companies have beencancellingeventssuch
as trade shows, conferencesandexhibitions,
so I’m not goingtodwellonthat.What
hasn’t been reported,becauseit’sallunder
non-disclosure agreementsofcourse,isthat
several productlauncheshavealsobeenpushedbackto
later in the year.
However, it’s not all doom and gloom, and despite many
manufacturers still struggling to get their manufacturing
lines fully up to speed again, I’ve seen some great examples
of organised and strategic responses to the current crisis.
For instance, motherboard market leader Asus worked
with Scan and other leading system builders to identify
key models from its product range, and has temporarily
slimmed down its product range to those select models.
This strategy has had multiple positive effects, the most
important one being that, rather than delivering dribs and
drabs of every part of its product line-up, Asus is better
positioned to deliver those key models consistently.
Afterall,whileundernormalconditionsit’s good to have
umpteendifferentZ390,X299andX570motherboards, to name
justthreechipsets,onlya handfulofthese boards are truly
necessarytomeettherequirementsofmostof our customers.
Inadditiontohelpingsmoothsupply,thisapproach also helps
tokeeppricingrelativelystableandsendsa clear message to
purchasingmanagers,customerserviceteams and, ultimately
you– theendcustomer,aboutwhatis andwhat isn’t available.
Scanitselfhasalsoputmeasuresinplace to minimise
disruptionforourcustomers,suchasbuilding more resilient
teamsandsystems.Forexample,dividingdepartments into
threeteams,eachofwhichworkphysically independently
fromeachother,canhelptoslowthespread of the disease.
Inaddition,we’realsoputting an increased
focusonforecastingtohelp our purchasing
teamordersufficientstockofthe right products
attherightprice.That’sa real challenge when
thedollarrateisalloverthe place, thanks to
theturbulenceoftheglobalfinancial markets.
Meanwhile,I’veseensometruly inspirational
responses,includingoneofourcustomers,a top UK university
to which we recently delivered a GPU cluster. This was originally
purchased to run deep learning algorithms for human genomics
research, and has now been temporarily retasked to help look
for a cure for coronavirus.
Readers of Custom PC can do their part too, contributing
spare CPU and GPU clock cycles to the Folding@home project
(see p13). This not-for-profit distributed computing project has
already made some great contributions to medical research
over the years, and recently announced that it’s simulating the
dynamics of coronavirus proteins to hunt for new therapeutic
opportunities. Check out foldingathome.org/start-folding to
download the client onto your PC, and you can join us and
other Custom PC readers on team number 35947.Several product launches
have been pushed back to
later in the yearSTRATEGIC THINKING
James Gorbold discusses smart ways for the PC industry to react to
the coronavirus crisis, and PC enthusiasts can help with research too