Agreed... but be careful with broad sweeping statements.
I will usually spec Dell workstations or servers for all the reasons cited (or whatever the client wants it there's brand loyalty), but there's some applications that require a custom touch.
We have a firewall, router, IDS appliance that's about 7" x 9", costs under a grand installed and configured, and consumes around 14W under typical use. It has 4 network interfaces, is wall / panel mount and is tamper resistant. It runs an embedded form of Linux (custom) and administration is by VPN, local web, or serial (CLI). Security is completely configurable with the ability to script responses to threats which execute in real time.
To meet the need, we became the "white box" dealer of this semi-custom device. Reliability is absolutely rock solid in the last 3 years we've had the system deployed; no hardware failures and only 24 minutes of unscheduled downtime in 3 years of operation, with none in the last 14 months... you do the math.
We are testing a derivative of this machine as a small soho file server with excellent results. Other applications we are testing range from VoIP to turnkey application server appliances. The current system serves network, phones, firewall, application and file server for a small office (6 workstations) and occupies a panel 30" wide, 36" high, and less than 3" deep with cable management and air handling. It takes no room even in the tightest office, consuming around 55W at the plug. Our beta client is overjoyed.
My point? This isn't something we can get from a major vendor, and I suspect its not the only time innovation has to walk away from the known quantity of a major brand. If the major brand fits the need, use it. If not, rather than make it fit, build a real solution. The only thing is use real engineering in component selection and construction, otherwise it won't last.
