You have a validated budget, a schedule set for the summer, a finalized infrared design. And then you receive the quote. The figure doesn’t add up. Either that, or the advertised lead time is 97 days, with no guarantee.
Infologo, an IT service provider based in Lausanne and Geneva, has been assisting SMEs in French-speaking Switzerland with this type of project for years, and what we’ve been observing over the last few months with Infologo partner Dell is something new: it’s no longer a question of supply chain, it’s a question of commercial priorities.
What’s changed at Dell in 2026
Dell is now prioritizing its sales and production capabilities for AI infrastructure projects. In concrete terms, customers who don’t fit into this box have their requests handled secondarily. Lead times are getting longer. Prices rise. And the small projects that used to be the bread and butter of Swiss SMEs find themselves at the bottom of the list.
We received this information directly from one of our distribution partners. This isn’t just a rumor circulating in the industry—it’s the current reality of the IT market.
A concrete example: On a project for one of our clients, two small servers and a storage system were quoted at nearly 200,000 CHF. The client demanded a complete review of the quote. At that price point, that’s understandable.
PowerStore no longer the default reference for SMEs
Until recently, the Dell PowerStore was a safe bet for mid-range storage projects. The price positioning has changed. For an SME that doesn’t have an IA project to justify, the PowerStore has become difficult to defend budget-wise.
The alternative we are evaluating for our current projects is the ME5 series, specifically the ME5212. Its performance is well-suited to the needs of a well-managed small business, and the cost is significantly lower. This is not a default choice or a second-best option.
What we recommend to our customers: if your initial design is based on a PowerStore, you need to rework the sizing, not wait for Dell to change its mind.
Advertised lead times are unreliable
97 days is what we were told on a recent request. No guarantee. This figure is purely indicative and may increase without notice.
For a project scheduled for the summer, this means one simple thing: if you order today, you have no certainty of receiving the equipment before September, or even later. And if your migration or infra refresh project depends on this delivery, the whole timetable is in jeopardy.
We’ve learned one thing in this context: explicitly mentioning a connection to a “future AI project” in requests for proposals helps get past certain internal sales filters and leads to a faster response. This isn’t a practice we recommend lightly, but it’s a reality of the market right now.
What we recommend at Infologo
If you’re planning a server or storage infrastructure refresh for 2026, factor in a 12 to 16-week margin on hardware lead times now, regardless of what you’re told in the quotation.
Here’s what we’re doing on our current projects:
- Rework the design towards ME5 alternatives when the PowerStore budget can’t be justified.
- Inform the customer at the scoping stage thatneither Dell’s price nor lead times are guaranteed at this stage.
- Anticipate a possible delay to the project and plan a Plan B (temporary cloud capacity rental, prioritization of critical workloads).
What we advise against: waiting for prices or lead times to stabilize in the short term. There are no signs that the situation will improve until demand for AI projects has subsided.
Of the six infrastructure projects (of significant size) that we have reviewed since the beginning of the year, four required a revision of the initial design due to Dell’s pricing or timelines. This is not a minor trend.
Do you have an infrastructure project planned for this summer? Contact us before finalizing your design, and we’ll tell you right away what’s realistic.
