(IDG) -- Corporate users want PC makers to commit to a guaranteed life cycle for components in desktop models. They say the dizzying pace of desktop upgrades is causing endless woes, such as the ensuing component-based incompatibility problems that cost too much time and money.

Despite efforts by some leading PC makers to keep their PC lines more stable by offering models for 12 to 14 months, corporate users remain frustrated with component changes within models over time. It doesn't help that the pace of model releases based on new chips has increased in frequency about 30% during the past two years, according to figures from Dataquest, a research firm in San Jose, Calif.

The issue isn't performance. "It seems like every six months we're hopping to a new CPU, [which] presents massive service and support problems," said Dave Geiver, senior technology officer at First Premier Bank in Sioux Falls, S.D.

MORE COMPUTING INTELLIGENCE

IDG.net home page

Computerworld's home page

Computerworld "Emmerce"

Get Media Grok and The Industry Standard Intelligencer delivered for free

Reviews & in-depth info at IDG.net

IDG.net's personal news page

Questions about computers? Let IDG.net's editors help you

Search IDG.net in 12 languages

Subscribe to IDG.net's free daily newsletter for IT leaders

News Radio

Computerworld Minute

Fusion audio primers

Indeed, ongoing research conducted by Dataquest shows that corporate users -- notoriously fickle when it comes to whom they buy PCs from -- want longer life cycles because supporting multiple configurations of PCs costs more money than a standardized environment.

But even in a standardized environment, there are variations. For example, within one product family, models purchased at different times may contain different components and thus require operating system tweaks or different drivers to ensure they run properly.

Geiver said he's frustrated that his company has only about three months in which it can get PCs that are absolutely identical in the component configurations and peripherals.

Inconsistency among newer and older versions of PCs from the same maker recently led to problems between video cards on users' desks and essential remote control software the company uses. "We had PCs that couldn't view what was being controlled," Geiver said.

He isn't alone.

"Our latest PCs and their problems are related to device manager conflicts and [Accelerated Graphics Port] graphics," said Jim Snively, information technology manager at Sun Oil Co. He predicted that a good part of the PC support issues he has to deal with would go away if models could be stabilized for at least one year. His estimate on the time frame he has to secure identical-model PCs is far less: three to six months.

Vendors say they can guarantee that PC lines will be offered for a certain length of time. But, both vendors and analysts pointed out that components are more volatile. IBM and Round Rock, Texas-based Dell Computer Corp. said that although component consistency varies, they try to make sure compatibility issues are kept to a minimum and that they notify customers of changes before they make them.

The problem, IT managers said, is that tech support people have to spend extra time determining the exact configuration of the PC before they can even begin to solve the problem.

Dataquest analyst Martin Reynolds advised corporate buyers to anticipate PC life cycles, which range from three to four years, conservatively estimated -- and plan new purchases accordingly, so they don't buy piecemeal too often.

Some ways users are trying to combat the issue is to limit the number of PC makers they deal with and plan purchase numbers ahead as much as possible.

Users' complaints aren't limited to short life cycles, though, said Roger Kay, an analyst at International Data Corp., a sister company to Computerworld. They also list obvious things such as lack of availability or inability to get PCs fast enough when they need them. Also at the top of the list are things such as out-of-the-box failures, poor service and "things like, 'We called for support and they couldn't help us,'" Kay noted.