Some vendors are always on feds' minds

Federal IT workers can name dozens of vendors--some more often than others. CDW Government Inc., IBM Corp. and Dell Computer Corp. generated the highest unaided awareness ratings for a reseller, integrator and direct-selling manufacturer, according to a new survey from Market Connections Inc. of Fairfax, Va.

The research firm asked 600 civilian and Defense Department IT employees to name the companies in each of the three categories that first came to mind without prompting.

Along with CDW-G of Vernon Hills, Ill., and GTSI Corp. of Chantilly, Va., two consumer-oriented resellers earned high awareness scores: CompUSA Inc. of Dallas and Minneapolis-based Best Buy. Hewlett-Packard Co. and IBM were the highest-rated direct-selling manufacturers after Dell, while Lockheed Martin Corp. and Northrop Grumman Corp. rounded out the top three integrators, the survey found.

Survey respondents said recommendations from co-workers and Internet Web sites are their largest sources of information about IT.