Helps explain the shortfalls.
WORLDWIDE SERVER MARKET REVENUES OFF TO SLOW START IN
1999, SAYS IDC PRICING PRESSURES AND WEAK JAPANESE MARKET
IMPEDE GROWTH
Story Filed: Tuesday, June 22, 1999 8:58 AM EST
FRAMINGHAM, Mass., Jun 22, 1999 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Just released first-quarter
1999 server data from International Data Corporation (IDC)indicates continuing weakness in the
worldwide market for servers. Q199 figures reveal a total revenue decline of 0.5% from the same
quarter a year ago. A significant revenue drop-off in emerging economies exacerbated the overall
decline.
The Western European server market grew by 6% over Q198 in revenues to just under $3.8 billion
in Q199, while the Japanese market declined by 4%over the same period. Server factory revenues
in the United States grow by 5% to$5 billion, up from $4.7 billion one year ago.
Q199 Worldwide Highlights -- Compaq Computer grew its server revenues by a lackluster 0.6%.
Allits major product lines experienced slow growth, including its traditional PC server business,
which grow far slower than the general PC server market.
-- Market shares in Japan revealed steep revenue declines from local
vendors Fujitsu and NEC, which both lost ground to American competitors IBM, Sun
Microsystems, and Hewlett-Packard.
-- Average selling values (ASVs) for all servers declined again in
Q199, continuing a trend of pricecutting. Q199 prices were down over 20%, compared with the
same quarter in 1998.
-- In Q199, Dell and Sun Microsystems both continued impressive revenue
growth, surging 73% and 33%, respectively, over the same quarter last year.
-- The top-five server vendors earned 66% of the market's revenues, up
from 58% in Q198. This upward trend points to continued consolidation inthemarket.
"Nineteen ninety-eight was a weak year for the server market, and the numbers indicate this
sluggishness is pushing into 1999. Trouble in emerging markets, economic difficulties in Japan, and a
worldwide trend toward lower pricing are constraining overall growth," said Jim Williamson,
research manager for IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker.
IDC's Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker is the premier quantitative tool for analyzing the global
server market on a quarterly basis. The Worldwide Quarterly Server Tracker includes quarterly
shipments (both ISS and upgrades) and revenues (both customer and factory), segmented by
vendor, family, model, region, operating system, price band, CPU type and architecture, and
channel. |
