Tech Reseller CDW Tries Healthy Focus; Likes Sector's Growth Outlook; New unit tailors packages of hardware, software to a health field that needs tech.(INTERNET & TECHNOLOGY)

Byline: DONNA HOWELL

One of the largest tech product resellers has prescribed health care as a growth tonic.

CDW sells everything from software to modems -- more than 1,000 brands in all. Last year it sold $6.3 billion in tech products and services to business, government and education customers.

Now the company has created a unit to tailor tech product packages to the health care market. Analysts say CDW might soon target several other vertical markets in a bid to boost growth.

Revenue at the Vernon Hills, Ill.-based seller of tech goods and services rose at least 36% a year in the 1997-2000 tech boom, but has since slowed. Sales rose 10% last year.

But targeting a specific sector has paid off for CDW before. It hopes to repeat the success it had when it targeted government.

Today, its CDW Government unit is growing faster than the company, says Pacific Crest Securities analyst Andy Hargreaves. The unit accounted for a quarter of CDW revenue before the health care unit was set up under its wing. It now accounts for about 30%.