What Is an OEM (Original Equipment Vendor)?
An OEM, or original equipment vendor, builds products or components that are sold under another company's brand or built into a finished product - for example, a maker of drives, processors or modules that ship inside another brand's hardware. In the channel, OEMs sit on the manufacturing side, supplying the products that partners ultimately sell.
Why it matters to IT channel partners. OEMs are typically the source of the rebate programs partners earn from, not the partners earning them - they design the incentives that flow down the channel. Knowing where an OEM sits helps a partner read the program structure correctly: the OEM sets the rules, and the partner's job is to capture what those rules pay.
Related terms
FAQ
An OEM is a vendor whose products are sold under another brand or built into finished goods. All OEMs are vendors, but not all vendors sell purely as OEMs.
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