To maintain supplier flexibility and manage supplier partnership bargaining power, Dell maintains strategic partnership with a large number of suppliers, procuring parts from multiple sources. While some parts can be easily shipped. Dell requires suppliers of some parts, such as computer motherboards, to be located nearby. Because Dell is often one of their larges customers,Dell’s suppliers often open facilities within a 20-mile radius of Dell manufacturing Plants. These include Eagle Global Logistics Cerqa Copyright, which handle computer parts and components and manuals and software, respectively. Due to the oligopolistic/monopolistic nature of the high-teach industry, Dell is forced to contract exclusively with a few suppliers who have control over key capabilities in the value chain. For example, Dell deals almost exclusively with Intel and Microsoft as its suppliers of microprocessors and operating systems. However, Dell is also investigating opportunities with other suppliers. Dell has begun shipping servers equipped with the Linux operating system rather than Microsoft windows, and while currently Dell only offers “one AMD (Advanced Micro Devices) desktop but no AMD notebooks … a year from now, it's probably going to be different," states Darrel Ward, Dell's director of product management for business client product group.