Bangladesh is primarily an agricultural based economy.  However, in this new world of technology, Bangladesh must transform itself into a IT nation.  Currently there is no large scale production of computer hardware or peripherals.  Some Bangladeshi companies, located on the web, claim to make computers.  In reality, they buy the parts from elsewhere, and assemble the homemade computers in bangladesh.  In addition, Beyond.com has strong web presence on Bangladeshi sites.  Due to these factors, one can conclude that Bangladesh does not produce, export, or develop computer hardware.  However, the bangladesh Computer Samity does hold a computer fair once a year at which there is a section for product launching.
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    Pentium, Intel, Hewlett Packard, Apple, IBM, Seagate--None of these world wide computer hardware manufacturers have formal distribution, sales offices, or dealers located in Bangladesh. However, many shops in Bangladesh offer these products.
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Local Computer Resellers

Clone computers are big in Bangladesh.  In order to fulfill the rapidly growing demand of IT in Bangladesh, CITech Communications was established.  They offer various product and services including hardware and peripherals (2).  Other web companies in Bangladesh have sprung, offering similar services, such as the company 3A (3).  I found 25 computer companies located on the web that assemble computers locally from foreign made components.
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South Korean microchip industries, mainly in Singapore, are Bangladesh's main source of imports (4).
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In a developing country like Bangladesh, all computer stores are equal players.  But some are more equal than others.   For instance, Dofin Computers have a much bigger market presence than anyone else.  With  5,000 clients, this company sells micro computer systems for both home and professional use.  The following is a list of other computer sellers, although they usually do more than just sell computers, (i.e., maintenance, software development, internet).  Most of them are located in Dhaka (4):

    Some companies say they are authorized dealers of products like ACER, Intel, Seagate, IMMATION, etc.  However, when one goes to the web site of these name brand products, there is never a recognized dealer in Bangladesh.  Computer Hardware and peripherals mentioned at one "Genuine Dealer" store include (5):

Acer Personal Computers, Monitors, Scanners & Peripherals
   AcerAltos Server Products.
   Acer Scanner.
   Epson Printers.
   NEC Printers.
   HP Laser and Inkjet Printers.
   US Robotics communication products.
   HP Backup systems.
   IMMATION Super disk drives.
   3Com LAN and WAN products.
   Intel products (As "INTEL GID" - Genuine Intel Dealer).

Here are some features of a hardware & customer service department from one company that portrayed itself as an "authorized dealer" (5):

6 days a week service (Sat - Thu).
Reparing/Trouble shooting on  IBM compatible PCs, Printers, Monitors, and  all ranges of ACER Server products.
Specialization on the reparing/trouble shooting of all kind of notebook PCs.
Highly qualified engineers and technicians for the maintenance service
Well-equiped workshop with all modern equipment facilities
A highly rich stock of spares and accessories.
Customer hotline
Distribution of Computer accessories/peripherals through a "WINDOW," which is a full computer shop.
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Sale of computers fell sharply at the Bangladesh Computer Samity's Computer fair this year (1999).  The price of RAM rose to over Taka 8,000 while it was available at Tk2,300 and 2,700 just weeks before the fair.  Other important computer accessories had high prices as well.  The end result: people couldn't afford new computers this year. Ironically, the slogan for the fair was "computers for all (6)."

Some claim there was an alliance' of big sellers who pushed the high prices, because the rise was unexpected.   However, BCS general secretary Ahmed Hassan attributed new pricing of RAM to international marketing factors such as the fall of production and rise in price rises in Singapore, Bangladesh's main source of imports.   IT experts contradicted him saying the sudden hike at the computer fair here is far from justifiable even taking recent hikes in Singapore into consideration (6).

The local hardware vendors are not ordering from major companies.  They are relying on the alternative IT markets.  IT professionals say RAM and accessories for clone computers procured from the alternative markets are not safe and nobody can give warranty and assure proper after sales service (6).

On company,  PC Bazaar claimed that their organization had escaped the RAM crisis (Hint, Hint, Alternative IT market) and sold more than 400 computer systems along with more than 100 multimedia kits in the current fair. They also sold complete systems (AMD-D6-11-400MHz with 32 MB RAM) at Taka 22,900 which is one of lowest price offered by the participants in the computer fair (6).

350,000 people came to the fair, spread over a floor space of about 100,000 square feet, with four conference centers with public addressing (PA) systems, permanent exhibition facilities for new product launching and separate sites for IT education and Internet Service Providers (ISPs) will remain as permanent seat for the entrepreneurs, the Samity leaders said (6).
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