Another kind of company stepped in to fill the potentially chaotic void between manufacturer and reseller. It is the distributor, a company that specializes in the logistical process of getting computers from the manufacturers to the hundreds of resellers that would like to sell them. New configuration capabilities let resellers offer the same customization features as the manufacturers. Distributors balance role as supplier to resellers with increasing demand for customized systems and rapid delivery. It's very difficult to figure out how much business distributors are really doing.
Manufacturers just know that they ship a lot of equipment to distributors.
Resellers just know that the distributors are a good source of supply. End buyers probably don't even know that distributors exist. Only the distributors can really know for sure, but for a niche market segment like the federal government, even they don't. What we do know is that there are some very good reasons for having distributors in the supply chain. Distributors have taken ownership of the logistics of moving products from the manufacturers to the point of sale.