The vendors' overriding strategy, of course, is to provide customers as much of a "one-stop shopping" experience as possible.

For instance, the Oracle and Sun (and those other 60 or so vendors Oracle has over the years) offers a broad array of hardware and software options-a stacked and stuffed portfolio if there ever was one. The tagline: "Software. Hardware. Complete."

But is that what customers actually want?

Not exactly, according to a new Forrester Research by senior analyst Scott Santucci. (Forrester surveyed 166 North American enterprise business and IT decision-makers who have a say in purchasing IT products or services.)

A large portfolio of vendor capabilities, in fact, is less of a with customers than most vendors think, Santucci writes. "In briefings, vendor marketing professionals and business unit leaders spend a tremendous amount of time talking with industry analysts about how their approach is different from that of their competitors," he states. "In contrast, only 16 percent of executives find a vendor's products, services or capabilities to be the most important factor separating them from the pack."